India, March 23 -- The sci-fi drama Project Hail Mary is running worldwide successfully, but there is a small asterisk next to worldwide there. The film, which features Ryan Gosling in the lead, has minted $140 million globally in its opening weekend and is yet to be released in India. That postponement happened as it would have clashed with Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar The Revenge.

Ahead of the film's India release, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller spoke with Hindustan Times about the growing popularity of Indian films globally and how RRR benefited Indian cinema.

During our conversation, we pointed out that a couple of decades ago, the Indian film would have moved its release date to accommodate a big Hollywood studio film. No...