Hrithik Roshan, often eulogised as the Greek God of Hindi cinema, should have been in People’s Republic of China by now. The 46-year-old behind last year’s biggest hit, War, was all set to fly there late last month to promote Super 30, the 2019 biopic of mathematician Anand Kumar, ahead of its release in April. But the great disruption triggered by coronavirus has put paid to all his hopes. His Chinese fans will now have to wait indefinitely for their long-awaited date with Da Shuai (‘extremely handsome’ in Mandarin), their nickname for one of their favourite stars from India.
As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the globe, nobody knows when Super 30 will finally hit the screens in China. Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced last year, has recently come out of a 76-day lockdown, but the situation appears to be far from normal. Under the present circumstances, it is difficult to even hazard a guess as to how long will it take for the Chinese movie market to bounce back.
Does the uncertainty signal the end of the...
