New Delhi: Based on Arthur Golden's international best selling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha had a rather lackluster debut in Japan.
Over 1,40,000 people watched the Hollywood movie, which grossed $1.5 million, said distributor Buena Vista International Japan.
The movie released under the title Sayuri ? after the lead character ? tells the story of a girl from a poor fishing village who is sold to a geisha house and goes on to romance a rich businessman.
Based on Arthur Golden's 1997 novel, which sold more than four million copies in English and was translated into 32 languages, Sayuri is directed by Rob Marshall of Chicago fame and co-produced by Steven Spielberg.
The film stars Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe.
If Golden's book lingered on the epochal tension of a subculture rooted in tradition at a time when tradition was being blasted away, the movie prefers to keep its eyes trained on the catty rivalries and casual cruelties that make up the life of a geisha-in-training.
But the book came under fire in Japan, where many people resented equating high-end geishas ? who practice a centuries-old tradition of entertaining men ? with prostitutes.
Adding to the controversy, was the casting of Chinese actresses in the principal roles that caused some grumbling in Japan.
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