Prabhas' 'Baahubali' to Salman Khan's 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan': 8 Bollywood posters that got a makeover in Asian countries

Bollywood is quickly gaining ground in the global market. As US President Donald Trump recently said, "All over the planet people take great joy in scenes of bhangra, music and dance, romance and drama, and classic Indian films…” Hindi moves are rising to claim their stake over the global market.

However, while trying to appeal to the foreign audiences, filmmakers usually package their films differently, even if it means merely tweaking their posters. While at times they add a few changes, filmmakers usually go all out to change the entire poster to match sensibilities of their Asian audiences.

'Baahubali' to 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' and 'Dangal' - take a look at some prominent Bollywood film posters that were changed when the films released in the Asian markets.

SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali- The Beginning’ not only captured the imagination of the Indian audience, but it also won fans in Asian countries. The fictional war drama starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah in the lead roles broke all box office records in the Indian market and proceeded to lay siege over the Asian markets when it released in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, among other European and Latin American countries. A look at the two posters for their respective markets shows that while the Indian one focused on the warring brothers, the other packed in some dramatic scenes and didn’t leave out the female cast.

Even though ‘Om Shanti Om’ marked Deepika Padukone’s debut in the Hindi film industry, she was the centre of attention on the poster for the Asian audience, that only featured Shah Rukh Khan at the bottom. Meanwhile, in Bollywood, the Badshah got his due place in the centre of the poster that featured a side-profile of Deepika.

Bollywood actress Sridevi had marked her return to the big screen with the 2014 film ‘English Vinglish’. The film’s poster featured the actress donning a simple saree and small-town avatar amidst the backdrop of the big city. While the poster did give us the crux of this inspiring story, it is interesting to see that when the film released in Japan, the makers opted for a minimalist poster. Not only was this film a hit at the box office, but it also won critical acclaim for its story and stellar performances by its cast.

After the success of ‘Baahubali- The Beginning’, there was no doubt that SS Rajamouli and his team would prep the sequel ‘Baahubali 2- The Conclusion’ for a bigger stage. Not only was the film made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil, but it was also later dubbed into Hindi, Malayalam, Japanese, Russian and Chinese to reach its large fan-base. To appeal to the Asian audience, the makers blinged up an otherwise dull poster of just Prabhas and Anushka Shetty. While the Indian poster just focused on the two leading stars, the other featured a fleet of elephants, an army ready for battle and a huge palatial structure in the background.

The poster of ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, a biographical sports drama by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and starring Farhan Akhtar in a lead role, got a dramatic and impactful makeover when it released in Japan. The Indian poster featured Farhan running and breaking through barb wires amidst a fiery backdrop to depict the India-Pakistan partition. The Japanese poster, on the other hand, showed the character’s journey in a mirror image that depicted his run for survival as a child contrasted by his run for victory at the Olympics.

For Irrfan Khan's 'Hindi Medium', the Indian poster featured the lead stars in two drastically different avatars with a school in the backdrop. But, for its release in Japan, makers released a rather minimalist poster which featured the title in a range of fonts styles and scripts.

Aamir Khan's 'Dangal' won over the Indian audience and was appreciated when it released in China and Japan, apart from other Asian markets. Interestingly, the film's poster got a major makeover to depict Aamir as a strict father figure to his two nervous daughters as they stood in the wrestling ring. Meanwhile, the Bollywood film poster saw the girls hold their own besides their father in between rustic small-town lanes.

Salman Khan's 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' captured hearts in India when it hit screens in 2015. The comedy-drama had its release in China and Japan, two year later, in 2017 where it won critical acclaim and also earned a nomination for Best Foreign Film in China's 2015 Douban Film Awards. While most of the film's posters released with minor changes, the team also released a minimalist poster featuring a still of Salman and Harshaali Malhotra in the centre with the title written in different scripts.