Star-struck foreigners

Many of my foreign friends are fans of Hindi film. The masala of singing and dancing, romantic love triangles and unadulterated desi culture is what draws them in. They like Bollywood. They love Bollywood. Bollywood is in their blood— as Akshay Kumar in Jaaneman might say. Take Megan Nass, a Melbourne television producer. An obsession with Shah Rukh Khan led to a meeting with her hero when Chak De! India was filming down under. Erica Reddy, a mother of two, is another Bollywood afficionado. When one of her daughters bagged a part in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Erica got the chance to catch SRK and Rani Mukherjee at work in New York. As an Oxford University student, Charlie Henniker turned Bollywood junkie when he discovered Priyanka Chopra in a dressing gown and Salman Khan in a sherwani shooting Salaam-e-Ishq at his doorstep.... [read full story]