Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate, we have selected some iconic Indian and Chinese pop culture crossovers in entertainment and beyond.
Kung Fu Yoga
The 2017 comedy-action film Kung Fu Yoga, was the first project to emerge from the 2014 Sino-Indian film co-production treaty, which was formalised during President Xi Jinping’s visit to New Delhi in the same year. The treaty allowed joint film productions to be treated as domestic, bypassing strict Chinese import quotas, alongside the aim of strengthening diplomatic ties and bridging the cultural gap between the two neighbouring countries.
The film presents Jackie Chan as an archaeology professor at the famed Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi’an, who teams up with a young Indian professor from Rajasthan, played by Disha Patani, to locate India’s lost Magadha treasure in Tibet. Director Stanley Tong ensures that Chan’s renowned slapstick comedy and innovative stunts are incorporated into his character as he goes up against a group of mercenaries led by Indian actor Sonu Sood, who portrays the film’s main antagonist.
The lighthearted tone of the film is reflected in its grand finale: a vibrant, high-energy Bollywood dance sequence choreographed by Farah Khan, featuring a 62-year-old Chan showing off his best thumkas in a maroon sherwani.
7aum Arivu
Directed by A. R. Murugadoss, the 2011 Tamil film takes creative liberties with the historical legend of Bodhidharma: a real-life Buddhist monk who brought martial arts to China. It stars Suriya as Aravind, a circus artist and fictional descendant of Bodhidharma, whose combat skills and knowledge of ancient medicinal remedies are revived by a genetics research scientist, played by Shruti Haasan. The rest of the plot follows Aravind’s attempts to stop a Chinese mercenary with hypnotic powers from starting a biological war against India.
The ambitious storyline blends sci-fi elements with historical fiction, though critics felt the film leaned more towards commercial tropes that dulled its cinematic potential. Nevertheless, the film remains a cultural touchstone for reintroducing Bodhidharma’s legacy to Tamil audiences worldwide. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, historical sources on the legendary monk’s life are practically non-existent, though contemporary accounts credit him with establishing the Zen branch of Mahayana Buddhism.
Max Chernov (Andy Lim)
Based in Singapore, Max Chernov is a Russian YouTuber who interviews expats about their lives abroad. With around 430,000 subscribers, one of Chernov’s most viewed videos to date is about a Singaporean Chinese named Andy Lim, who lived in India for 15 years. Titled “Lies about India spread by foreigners”, the video garnered 1.9 million views and praise in the comments section from Indian netizens for Lim’s accurate description of the country’s merits and flaws.
The Singaporean moved to Tamil Nadu in 2006 to build up sales for a local electronics manufacturing company right after completing his diploma. Lim even picked up conversational Tamil to better understand his coworkers, which was highlighted by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in a 2024 LinkedIn post as an example of how Singaporeans should get to know India better – in all its fascinating colours and opportunities.
RELATED STORIES
12 Feb 2026 20:26
