Coming home via Bollywood

• A highly qualified doctor settled in Detroit talks nineteen to dozen about Hindi films, can’t get over the Shah Rukh Khan show she attended a few years ago.
•  In New York, it’s not just the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards ’s chosen venue the Metlfe Stadium that is packed to capacity. The hotel in New York’s Times Square, where star attendees of IIFA were put up, too, was swarmed by NRI fans. 
•  If young students of New York University are only too enthused to pitch in extra hours as volunteers for IIFA, mature women masquerade as journalists and gatecrash. 
•  Actual media interactions are interspersed with frenzied cries of “We love you Salman” and even hardnosed journalists can’t resist a selfie with the superstar. 

Bollywood, we all know, is a universe in itself. The fact that its reigning stars are treated like demigods is no secret either. But across the seas where Indian diaspora yearns for all things Indian, Hindi cinema means and symbolises something else altogether. Bollywood connect is, in fact, the simplest and the easiest way to touch base with their roots without actually getting there. As a renowned poet says, “Woh tarse hue log hain...” indeed it’s an insatiable urge.

In her book Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City, Madhulika S. Khandelwal talks of how Bollywood has played a big role in firming up the Indian identity. Among those who first realised that Indian immigrants had an inherent need to connect with their Indianness were directors such as Subhash Ghai, Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar. As their popular films Pardes, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kal Ho Na Ho dealt with NRIs deeply entrenched in their cultural ethos, the narratives became a mirror image as well as a cementing glue. Though much of these films came in the 1990s, the bond has since grown. In the intervening period scholars have often wondered, “Does cinema connote India for the NRIs?” 

Filmmaker Yasmin Kidwai who has decoded star power and Bollywood’s multiplier effect in her documentary, Filmistaan: The Euphoric State of Bollywood, agrees. Talking about the universal appeal of Bollywood, she says that the Ministry of External Affairs had asked her to make the short film precisely for its impact on Indians settled abroad. Dr Preeti Bhardwaj, a film enthusiast, puts it succinctly, “Hindi films are a bridge back home and reaffirmation of our cultural values.” Kidwai goes one step further, “In Bollywood, NRIs see an image of picture-perfect India where family values are intact, where a son touches his mother’s feet, where festivals haven’t lost their traditional sheen and weddings are celebrated with desi pomp and show.” 

US-based Shalloo Thukral agrees, “We left India decades ago. So when we go back the India that lives in our dreams and our memories is no longer the same. Indian movies, however, package the same Indian ethos, traditions and wedding customs we yearn for and those that are an inextricable part of our memories.” 

 The one instant relatable factor of Indian cinema is indeed its music and dance that is sorely missing in foreign films and something that the immigrants miss dearly. The love for Bollywood’s typical song-and-dance sequences manifests at not just NRI marriage functions, many of their other celebrations have Bollywood themes and have a sizeable share of Indian songs and dances. More recently, attired in colours of the Tricolour, Independence Day celebrations in August saw American-Indians groove to patriotic songs. 

Besides, they are always game to watch their favourite stars as and when they get an opportunity. So, shows of Indian stars are always a big hit. Probably, this is why Sabbas Joseph of Wizcraft International Entertainment decided to base the prestigious IIFA awards in international waters. In IIFA’s 18-year-long journey that began from London and has since spanned 15 countries, the fervour to see Indian stars up close and personal has only grown. However, it’s not just IIFA which has had no dearth of fans willing to pay handsomely for a closer look at their favourite stars. Jospeh reminds how in a short span of two months this year alone the Times Square in New York has been home to two shows by nearly the same set of Indian stars.

Khandelwal writes in her book how the first mega show in early 1990s featuring Amitabh Bachchan paved the way for many more star-studded concerts. Today, Dr Bhardwaj thinks paying few hundred dollars for the entry ticket is a small price to pay for a peek at her favourite star Shah Rukh Khan, who, anyway, rocks the overseas market. His films, even those which were not big boxoffice grossers in India like Dil Se, went on to enter the top 10 in the UK box office charts. Many others like Dilwale and Raees, too, did better in the international market. His latest flick When Harry Met Sejal too had a decent run overseas. 

Reasons why Shah Rukh Khan is very much a badshah abroad are not too difficult to decipher. In film after film he has played the perfect NRI poster boy, sometimes even a bad boy, who looks dapper in international labels yet would refrain from eloping with his beloved. In Kidwai’s film he admitted that he was selling Indian values in Ralph Lauren package. NRIs also look up to the fact that he is no star-son propelled by the oars of nepotism but has come up by his own dint. 

Actor and producer Sonu Sood who was part of SRK’s Happy New Year world tour isn’t surprised at the NRIs’ enthusiasm. “When even I go abroad, I feel cut off from India as neither the local channels nor the newspapers cover what we Indians love most. If I was in their shoes, I, too, would jump at the slightest chance to reconnect with my country. And cinema does seem to be the perfect route that connects all the emotional dots and fills voids.” 

Singer Sukhwinder Singh of Oscar-winning song “Jai Ho” fame has been witness to teary-eyed audiences, especially when they listen to songs like “Chitthi aayi hai”. His own blockbuster song Chak De India has never failed to elicit a standing ovation. It’s not only traditional markets but even countries such as Mauritius where he has found an instant connect.” 

A majority of first and second-generation Indians settled abroad, remain steadfast loyalists and cinephiles. Rise of Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and earlier AR Rahman in the west, too, has given NRIs a strong reason to hold their heads and stars in high esteem. What makes them root for their own is not just sheer glamour and glitz but also the evolving content and growing admiration for its actors. As Kidwai says, “There is a sense of belonging and ownership.” 

At least 43 per cent of Bollywood's box-office collections come from the overseas market, according to a study by Assocham-Deloitte.

No talk of India’s soft power is complete without referencing Bollywood. Daya K. Thussu, a professor of International Communication at the University of Westminster, wrote about it in his book Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood. Riva Ganguly Das, India's Consul-General in New York, acknowledged it whole-heartedly at the 18th edition of IIFA, New York. Call it India’s biggest export or hail its soft power, indeed, cinema as seen at the world stage is not just entertainment but something far more significant and impactful. 

Once Indian immigrants were dismissed as confused desis who believed in the adage, ‘When in Rome do as Romans do’. Today, they are global Indians only too eager to wear their patriotic hearts on their branded sleeves and see it throbbing loud and clear in Indian movies. Clearly, when Khandelwal analyses how growing ethnic community in New York has gradually become “more Indian”, Bollywood’s role and influence can’t be undermined.