Dancing into people’s hearts – the Bollywood way!!

Imagine you are over 6,000 km away from India setting your foot on an Island in the Baltic Sea where the chill in the weather has almost reached your bones. You encounter barely 12 people during your first few hours on the Island. And the first person you talk to refuse to let go of your hand and keep blabbering about Bollywood, when he comes to know that you are from India.

Well this happened to me as I was traveling with a farrago (always wanted to use it after Mr. Shashi Tharoor enlightened us) of mixed nationalities - one from China, one German, one half Canadian, one half German and of course myself an Indian. We reached Kuressare in Saaremaa island of Estonia in the afternoon, but did not see a single soul. As we took a stroll and zeroed in on a nice restaurant for our early dinner, an old man walked in and intrigued by our diversity struck a conversation and then it veered towards Bollywood.

This was not the first time that the goodwill towards Bollywood had come to my rescue in a foreign land. Before Estonia I was backpacking through Russia and colour of my skin did little to hide my ethnicity or origins. I had never felt as conscious of my skin colour as I did in Moscow. My not knowing Russian also did not help the case. Even in that scenario a young 'Ruski' in a restaurant asked me where I was from. On hearing the name India, he immediately said ‘Namaste’ and with a grin on his face said 'Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, beautiful’.

Studying in Germany has been the first time I sat foot outside India. In Goethe Institute in Göttingen where I was learning my first lessons in the ‘almost secret language’ of German. One day I heard a popular Hindi song "Tum paas aaye, yun muskaraye". Nothing startles you more than hearing the language of your sub-conscious mind in a foreign land. 

Celebrating Diwali in Erfurt through Indian Abend

I immediately turned around to see a group of young Indonesian students singing the song aloud. Bumping into me they asked me for the meaning. 'You came close, you smiled in a way, it was magical' with a big smile on my face. The students burst into peals of laughter and went away singing the song louder.

Then I moved to Erfurt, a quaint town from the erstwhile East Germany. When I reached, Indians or rather brown skinned people were very few. A friend's mother came to visit him briefly. Dressed in a salwar suit and a big bindi she was walking through the markets when some youngsters started following her. One of them pointed towards her red Bindi and shouted animatedly "Bollywood, Bollywood!" Bollywood nights in Erfurt were organised at regular intervals and if you know Bollywood dance, entry was free! 

Hindi serials too are a rage in Indonesia

Well this was not the last time I had met Bollywood enthusiast. Most recently I was in Indonesia and I rolled on floor laughing after an Indonesian man belted out a Hindi film dialogue on knowing my identity. With his hands folded in Namaste, he said: "nahi nahi,  mujhe chor do. Mere bache Hain!" Turns out the person was watching the wrong sorts of Hindi movies.

The power of Indian cinema in boosting India’s soft power is really understated. All that dancing around trees and shedding copious amounts of tears on the silver screen has obviously earned India admirers across the world. There are 24 hours Bollywood channels in different countries, what India needs to do is use the medium more consciously  and effectively.