# Buddies in India
**Buddies in India** (大闹天竺) is a 2017 Chinese action comedy film directed by Wang Baoqiang in his directorial debut, in which a rich heir travels to India to recover his late father's will, escorted by a street fighter. It was released in mainland China on 28 January 2017, the first day of the [Lunar New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/lunar-new-year) holiday, and became one of the most discussed cases of a film earning a large box office while receiving very poor reviews.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / English title | 大闹天竺 / Buddies in India[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) |
| Director | Wang Baoqiang, his first film as director; he also stars[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) |
| Release | 28 January 2017 (Lunar New Year's Day), mainland China; 100 minutes, Mandarin[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) |
| Lead cast | Wang Baoqiang, Bai Ke, Yue Yunpeng, Liu Yan; cameos by Chen Peisi, Zhu Shimao, Huang Bo, Wang Zulan, Liu Haoran; Liu Xiao Ling Tong in a special role[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) |
| Box office | 755 million yuan total, 19th among 2017 releases in China by one count and 17th on Maoyan's year-end list[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/rankings/year?year=2017) |
| Reception | Douban score fell to 3.8 the day after release and settled at 3.7[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html) |
| Awards | Most Disappointing Film, Director, and Screenwriters at the 9th Golden Broom Awards (2018)[4](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7179617249036435460) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and cast
The story opens with a conflict between the Shengtang Group, a real-estate company, and Wu Kong (Wang Baoqiang), a holdout homeowner and monkey trainer. When the group's president Tang Zong (Chen Peisi) dies suddenly, he leaves a final instruction that his son Tang Sen (Bai Ke) must travel to India to find the will, accompanied by Wu Kong, while Tang Zong's brother (Huang Bo), who wants the company's assets, sends people to pursue them along the way.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1093343.html) Yue Yunpeng plays Zhu Tianpeng, an Indian local guide, and Liu Yan plays Wu Jing, a mysterious beauty; the four are thrown together on the journey to India.[6](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2017/01-23/8133183.shtml)
Critics and viewers quickly noted that the four main characters' names echo the pilgrims of *Journey to the West*: Tang Sen recalls [Tang Sanzang](https://www.edgepedia.org/tang-sanzang), Wu Kong is named for Sun Wukong, Zhu Tianpeng for Zhu Bajie, and Wu Jing for Sha Wujing. Instead of fetching scriptures, they fetch a will, and the film maps episodes such as the Women's Kingdom, the Spider Cave, the Flaming Mountain, and the Bull Demon King onto a modern road trip.[7](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1095039.html) • [8](https://m.maoyan.com/moviedp/248935?_v_=yes&channelId=60008)
## Production
The project was announced in May 2015 at a China-India film cooperation event in Beijing held during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to China.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) It was one of three films made under the China-India co-production arrangement, alongside *Xuan Zang* (2016) and *Kung Fu Yoga* (2017).[9](https://repositorio.comillas.edu/rest/bitstreams/507617/retrieve) Shooting ran from 3 April to 11 August 2016, on locations in China and India.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722)
Wang Baoqiang said the idea came from a childhood "Wukong dream" he shared with his younger brother, who could not join him at the Shaolin Temple because of the family's finances; he promised to teach his brother martial arts when he returned.[10](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0208/c40606-29064624.html) He described the film as a family comedy combining humor and kung fu, with father-son and brotherly affection at its core, and said the script went through 18 drafts.[6](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2017/01-23/8133183.shtml) The screenplay is credited to Shu Huan, Ding Ding, and Zha Muchun.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) The film was produced by eight companies, including Wang Baoqiang's Le Kai Hua Pictures and Enlight Pictures, with Enlight handling distribution.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1093343.html)
## Box office and reception
The film opened on 28 January 2017 against four other comedies in a crowded Spring Festival slot, taking 188 million yuan on its first day.[11](https://m.haiwainet.cn/middle/3541083/2017/0217/content_30744737_1.html) Its release had drawn unusual attention because of Wang Baoqiang's highly publicized divorce proceedings in August 2016, which led many supporters to pledge to "contribute" to its box office.[5](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1093343.html) Within the 2017 Spring Festival window it earned 583.50 million yuan, third behind *Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back* and *Kung Fu Yoga*.[12](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/UploadFiles/file/20260204/202602041202002832.pdf) Its total gross was 755 million yuan, ranking 19th for the year by one count and 17th on Maoyan's year-end list (756.11 million yuan).[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html) • [3](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/rankings/year?year=2017)
**Polarized reception.** The film's commercial success and critical failure diverged sharply. Its Douban score dropped to 3.8 the day after release and settled at 3.7, making it a rare sub-5 film among recent big sellers; by 2024 it held 3.7 from 126,740 ratings.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html) • [1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) During the holiday period it scored 3.9 on Douban, 5.7 on Mtime, and 7.5 on Maoyan, last among the four holiday blockbusters on every site.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1094325.html) Common criticisms targeted the stale plot, forced gags, exaggerated acting, and rough special effects; a Tencent review described the film's saturated reds, greens, blues, and purples as like watching a kaleidoscope for an hour and a half.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722) • [8](https://m.maoyan.com/moviedp/248935?_v_=yes&channelId=60008) A NetEase review took a milder line, calling it not a clever comedy but a commercial action film suited to the holiday mood that a whole family could watch comfortably.[1](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722)
Wang Baoqiang responded on CCTV-6's *Today's Movie Review* in February 2017 that he accepted both praise and criticism, acknowledged the film's flaws, including special effects split among three companies under time pressure, but rejected the label of a bad film.[10](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0208/c40606-29064624.html) At the 9th Golden Broom Awards in 2018, the film and its makers were named Most Disappointing Film, Most Disappointing Director (Wang Baoqiang), and Most Disappointing Screenwriters (Shu Huan and Ding Ding).[4](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7179617249036435460)
## Significance
The film became a standard example of the gap between box office and reputation in the Chinese holiday market: a scholar's survey of commercially successful but poorly rated films lists it alongside *Monster Hunt 2* and *Transformers: The Last Knight* as a film that earned over 700 million yuan with a Douban score below 4.[14](https://file-lianxh.oss-cn-shenzhen.aliyuncs.com/Lectures/2021-3-Text/%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%86%E6%A3%89-2021-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%B7%A5%E4%B8%9A%E7%BB%8F%E6%B5%8E.pdf) Commentators attributed the divergence to the Spring Festival's family-audience demand, which a slapstick holiday comedy fits regardless of reviews.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html) A 2017 academic reading argued the film's negative reception reflected its rootedness in the creators' rural sensibility rather than the urban middle-class values that drive mainstream road comedies.[15](https://art.alljournals.cn/relate_search.aspx?aid=01839A6741D8327BEBE4C3ECB9D5744A&ctl=4&etl=0&language=0&pcid=AEE0F63FADC7DCDA)
## References
1. [大闹天竺（2017年王宝强执导的电影）, Baidu Baike](https://bkso.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E9%97%B9%E5%A4%A9%E7%AB%BA/16966722)
2. [孟晶 (2019). 从《大闹天竺》看国产喜剧片的得与失, 电影新作](https://m.fx361.com/news/2019/1115/11002000.html)
3. [2017年票房排行榜, 猫眼专业版](https://piaofang.maoyan.com/rankings/year?year=2017)
4. [大闹天竺, 快懂百科](https://www.baike.com/wikiid/7179617249036435460)
5. [〖JMedia〗《大闹天竺》口碑扑街宝宝输了，光线又会是最大赢家吗？, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1093343.html)
6. [《大闹天竺》欢闹昆明 王宝强: 这片圆了我的梦, 中新网](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2017/01-23/8133183.shtml)
7. [《大闹天竺》能复制《泰囧》的票房奇迹吗？, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1095039.html)
8. [大闹天竺, 猫眼电影](https://m.maoyan.com/moviedp/248935?_v_=yes&channelId=60008)
9. [Joint projects, Comillas Repository](https://repositorio.comillas.edu/rest/bitstreams/507617/retrieve)
10. ["大闹天竺"争议不断 王宝强：有缺陷但不是烂片, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0208/c40606-29064624.html)
11. [有何启示？复盘春节档票房大战, 海外网](https://m.haiwainet.cn/middle/3541083/2017/0217/content_30744737_1.html)
12. [2017年春节档票房排名前五名影片, 中国电影报](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/UploadFiles/file/20260204/202602041202002832.pdf)
13. [《大闹天竺》六天票房5.6亿，悲情营销没能拯救王宝强处女作？, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1094325.html)
14. [王分棉 (2021). 中国工业经济 lecture paper](https://file-lianxh.oss-cn-shenzhen.aliyuncs.com/Lectures/2021-3-Text/%E7%8E%8B%E5%88%86%E6%A3%89-2021-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%B7%A5%E4%B8%9A%E7%BB%8F%E6%B5%8E.pdf)
15. [《大闹天竺》:底层欢喜与新中产价值观的抵牾, 北京电影学院学报 2017(2), 期刊界](https://art.alljournals.cn/relate_search.aspx?aid=01839A6741D8327BEBE4C3ECB9D5744A&ctl=4&etl=0&language=0&pcid=AEE0F63FADC7DCDA)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action comedies › Action comedies, 2000 to 2019*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license