The Chinese poster of the movie at a cinema in Yichang, Hubei province.[Photo by Liu Fengjun]

"It's a diplomatic gesture, but it will also influence our industry in the long term," says Yang Jinsong, director of Alibaba Pictures. He says that it also shows India's ability to maintain "cultural independence" and counter Hollywood pressure.

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Pop culture saves cinema

Yang expects the cooperation will help Chinese cinema learn from India's experiences in making a local industry boom amid Hollywood's global expansion. Since 1994, Chinese theaters have been dominated by Hollywood blockbusters in the foreign films category. "Now, when screening foreign films, we also need more diverse choices," he says.

The highly praised Bollywood comedy 3 Idiots was screened in China in 2011, and earned about 110 million Indian rupees ($1.76 million) from Chinese box offices. However, it is a rare example of an Indian movie doing well in China in recent times. Bollywood romance Awara (1951) still remains the most popular Indian movie in China.

According to the current Chinese policy, only five Indian movies are allowed to be listed among 34 foreign movies that are officially screened on the Chinese mainland every year, the Hindustan Times reported.

Hollywood movies pour into China and leave little room for other foreign movies to be viewed, Wang Yiwen, a professor from Beijing Normal University, told China Daily in a previous interview.

Analysts also say that Chinese audiences may have looked at India's entire movie world on the basis of some earlier cliche-ridden Hindi films that featured too many songs and dances.