Beth Watkins is a self-confessed Bollywood addict, and is part of a growing tribe of Bollywood fans in North America.

Her interest in Bollywood underscores a growing trend that Bollywood films appeal to a wide audience who are not necessarily from Asia or Africa, the traditional domain of Hindi films.

Pico Iyer summed it up very nicely when he said, “The notion of America is so large that often when we ask people about American culture they say Michael Jackson and Madonna. But American culture at this point has also incorporated phenomenon like Bollywood and Ravi Shankar.” In his first book, Video Nights in Kathmandu, (1988) Iyer recounts how in his travels around the world one of the first questions he often gets asked is about Hindi films.

Beth’s fascination started about a year ago when she watched her first Hindi movie Mujse Dosti Karoge? (Will you be my friend?). The three hours of of histrionics (as critics of Bollywood like to describe Hindi movies), and the song and dance routine, the whole package worked for her, and Beth became a convert to Indian films.

Interestingly, Beth reads up about Bollywood from another American’s blog called Gorilla’s Lament.

Beth can reel of names of movies, actors, songs, locations…she knows everything about “fillums.” “The top few I can tell you, though, and they switch around in order – Kandukondain Kandukondain, Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Tum, and Main Hoon Na. She struggles to name her favorite stars since so many vie for her attention.

Rani Mukherjee is one of her favorites, and she likes Lillet Dubey. “I haven’t seen films Aamir Khan very much, but he’s so impressive, no matter what he’s doing” She counts Saif Khan as one of her favorite actors.

I asked her, “What about King Khan, Shah Rukh?” Beth replied, “And despite my initial confused reaction to him, I have a very hard time resisting the charm of Shahrukh, of course, and I almost always really enjoy his performances (especially Swades -that was amazing).”

Beth’s fascination with Bollywood has translated into a general fascination with India, and when she is not watching films, she is busy catching up on her reading on India. She hopes to travel to India soon, and also is keen to organize an India exhibit in her university town, where she works at the museum of world culture.

I guess that Bollywood is no longer the opium of the Indian masses alone.

This interview was originally published in 2006.

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