Indian films have been released in overseas markets since the latter half of the 1940s. Some of these have had significant commercial success and been nominated for awards. Although the first Indian film to have worldwide released was from 1952 (Aan, directed by Mehboob Khan), Indian films mostly saw success in a few regions. At the time, the most significant market for Indian films was the Soviet Union. gaining considerable success and occasionally leading to Indian-Soviet co-productions. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Indian film industry also expanded in East Africa, which, after the Soviet Union, accounted for one of the largest shares of overseas revenues. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the most significant market has been the South Asian diaspora. China, India's geograp