BEIJING: Dangal, a film about a father who trains his daughters to become world-class wrestlers, has broken a box-office record in China, where its focus on feminism and tough love has resonated with audiences.

Dangal has raked in 776 million yuan ($112 million) since it opened on May 5, official data showed on Monday. Box office monitoring site mtime.com says this makes it the highest-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in China. Universal’s The Fate of the Furious holds the box office record in China for any film, raking in 2.7 billion yuan in receipts since its debut on April 14.

The movie was released in India on Dec 23 last year and quickly became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, beating the 2014 science fiction film PK.

Dangal is believed to have made around $233 million in worldwide box-office sales, according to industry estimates. It made around 3.87 billion rupees ($60 million) in India alone, analysts say.

Gender discrimination and strict parenting are among the themes in the film. The issues appear to have struck an emotional response with Chinese audiences.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017