Vijay Sethupati Starrer Maharaja Breaks Record At China Box Office, Film Inches Closer To Enter ₹100 Crore Club

Tamil suspense film Maharaja released in China on November 29, 2024, becoming the first Indian cinema to be screened for Chinese audiences after the normalisation of ties between the two countries following the agreement to resolve the standoff in Eastern Ladakh. Vijay Sethupathi starrer has taken Chinese cinemas by storm and now the film is slowly inching towards ₹100 crore mark.

Maharaja becomes highest grossing Indian film in China?

The spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India, Yu Jing took to X handle and lauded the film’s performance in China. She wrote, “Maharaja has become the highest-grossing Indian film in China since 2018, reaching Rs 91.55 crore. Well done”.

According to a report in Maoyan, a cinema ticket sales portal, the film collected around RMB 13.37 million (Rs 15.6 crore) on its opening day in November 2024. The film, which was highly rated at 8.7/10 on Chinese movie review site Douban, is considered "one of the highest-rated Indian films in recent years."

Maharaja becomes First Indian Film to Be Screened In China 

State-run Global Times reported on Tuesday that the film currently holds a high rating of 8.7/10 on Chinese movie review site Douban and is regarded as one of the highest-rated Indian films in recent years. Wang Peiyu, a Douban film critic, told the Global Times that, “The strength of Maharaja lies in its distinctive cultural expression and unique narrative techniques”. “As a suspense film, it uses editing techniques to cleverly conceal the key actions of the protagonist, interspersing numerous subplots to confuse the audience.

“Through cross-cutting, it creates a feeling of simultaneity and carefully constructs a labyrinthine narrative,” he noted. Helmed by Nithilan Swaminathan, the movie revolves around Vijay's character who is a barber. He tells the police that his "Lakshmi" is missing after a home robbery, but the police begin to suspect fishiness in his tale. 

The movie also stars Anurag Kashyap, Sachana Namidass, Mamta Mohandas, Natarajan Subramaniam, Abhirami, Aruldoss, Munishkanth, Manikandan, Singampuli and Bharathiraja in pivotal roles. Maharaja marks the 50th movie of Vijay. It grossed ₹4.7 crore on its opening day and went on to mint ₹52.6 crore in the opening weekend. The film became the fastest worldwide grosser for a Tamil film in 2024 and the fastest film of Vijay Sethupathi to reach the ₹50 crore mark.