The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight found its Indian audience through the same mechanism as most successful Hollywood films in India — word of mouth from urban multiplexes extending to the broader audience through the week. Heath Ledger's Joker operates in a register of comic villainy that translated without friction: the anarchist who has no plan is a universally recognisable threat. The film's India gross was modest by Hollywood standards; its cultural impact — in design, in meme culture, in subsequent villain performances — was large.