Mumbai, Apr 22: Thriller drama "Andhadhun" emerged a major box office draw in China raking in a record collection of over Rs 300 crore (USD 43.4 million), the makers announced Monday.
The film, featuring Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte and Anil Dhawan in key roles, is a murder drama at the centre of which is a pianist who may or may not be blind.
Produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Matchbox Pictures, "Andhadhun", which released in China as "The Piano Player" is directed by Sriram Raghavan, known for his dark films such as "Ek Hasina Thi" and "Badlapur".
"Andhadhun" was one of the best reviewed and best performing films of India last year.
The film has now become the third highest ever Hindi language film after "Dangal" and "Secret Superstar", Ajit Andhare, Chief Operating Officer, Viacom18 Motion Pictures said.
"I am delighted that the approach of picking unusual stories stands rewarded not only in India and diaspora market but with a completely new market and audience in China. An Indian film has exceeded Hollywood tent-poles like "Shazam!".
"This success also dispels the belief that Hindi films need to have a social issue to succeed in China box office. It's a great moment for Indian cinema," Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Studios told PTI.
Ayushmann said he feels both "overwhelmed" and "humbled" to see "Andhadhun" becoming a Rs 300 crore blockbuster in the neighbouring country.
"The people of the country has loved our devilishly clever thriller directed by one of India's finest filmmakers Sriram Raghavan and the credit goes to him for his vision to redefine the thriller genre.
"'Andhadhun' is making India proud and I'm delighted to contribute in this huge cinematic moment for India. It feels great to be appreciated for your hard work not just in India but also in China. They have really showered a lot of appreciation for my craft and I just can't thank them enough. I wish I get the chance to travel to China soon and meet as many people as possible and just say thank you," the actor said in a statement.
China has emerged as a huge market for Indian films in recent years, with Aamir Khan's "Dangal", Salman Khan's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" and Irrfan Khan's "Hindi Medium" doing well.
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Alappuzha (Kerala) (PTI): The Congress on Friday sharply reacted to the Income Tax Department's notice to the grand old party to pay a penalty of over Rs 1,750 crore and said the officials were being used as the "gundas" of the ruling BJP.
Addressing the media here, AICC general secretary in-charge of the organisation, K C Venugopal, lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and accused it of trying to "financially strangulate" the opposition parties during the election time.
Venugopal said the Modi government was trying to make the Congress party bankrupt.
The Income Tax Department has served a notice to the Congress to pay over Rs 1750 crore, hours after the Delhi High Court had rejected its petitions challenging the tax reassessment proceedings against it.
"Usually, the political parties are exempted from paying taxes. However, this penalty is in the name of delay in filing returns. The Narendra Modi government is doing this with the specific purpose of bankrupting the Congress party at a time when we are facing elections," Venugopal said.
He said a nationwide protest will be held tomorrow and the day after as the BJP was "exploiting" the central agencies to target the opposition parties.
"They are attacking the opposition parties using the government mechanism. This is a move to butcher democracy," Venugopal added.
He also claimed that the BJP too has not paid any returns, but they were safe from IT Department notices.
"Our accounts were freezed earlier and now our funds have been blocked. The BJP regime is exploiting the government machinery to target the main opposition party as they know that they will face a huge setback in the upcoming elections," he said.
Venugopal said as per the notice, the Congress has been asked to pay Rs 1076.35 crore as penalty and Rs 692 crore as interest.
The Delhi High Court on Thursday rejected petitions by the Congress challenging the initiation of tax reassessment proceedings against it for a period of four years by tax authorities.
The High Court said that the pleas were dismissed in terms of its earlier decision refusing to interfere with the opening of reassessment for another period.
The present matter pertained to the assessment years 2017 to 2021.
In the earlier petition, which was dismissed last week, the Congress party had challenged initiation of reassessment proceedings pertaining to the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17.
On March 22, the high court, while rejecting those pleas, said that the tax authority had prima facie collated "substantial and concrete" evidence warranting further scrutiny and examination.