Dangal may be the most popular Indian movie in China, amassed a staggering ₹1,300 crores in China alone out of its total box office total of over ₹2,059 crores. But it definitely wasn't the first Aamir Khan movie to cross the 100 crore mark in China. In fact, it was his comedy movie PK.
Three weeks of its release, PK earned over ₹114 crores in China, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film in China before Dangal took over its record.
The top three earners at the Chinese box office are Aamir Khan starrers: PK, Dhoom 3, which earned approximately 25 crore, and 3 Idiots. Aamir Khan's movies like PK, Dangal and Secret Superstar became massive blockbusters.
Earlier this year, Aamir Khan opened about how piracy made his 2007 film 3 Idiots made him a star in China. He contributed its massive hit in the country due to illegal downloads and word-of-mouth.
The Bollywood superstar added: "The credit goes to the Chinese audience for accepting a film from a different culture and giving it love and respect. It was all organic and I had no role to play in it,” he added.
The youth from both China and India relate to ideas of academic pressure and challenging authority. No wonder they binged on 3 idiots! In fact, Aamir Khan's popularity in China could be attributed to the strength and relatability of his plots. In fact, it may be safe to say Aamir is more popular than Shah Rukh Khan with Chinese audiences due to his socially relevant themes.
At the Waves Summit 2025, the actor-filmmaker even discussed the possibility of an Indo-Chinese production starring talent from both nations.
“I feel that the audience in China, their cultural flavours, and the emotions of people there are very similar to the emotions of Indians. So, the Chinese audience reacts in a very similar way to content like people do here. That’s what my experience was when I was watching a couple of my films on the big screen in China," he said.
"The way the audience was reacting to Dangal. There was absolutely no difference between an Indian audience and the Chinese audience reacting to the film. It was almost identical.”
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