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Far from India,

at home at the movies

By Ekta R. Garg

My mom and dad moved to the U.S. from India in the mid-1970s, bringing with them some personal possessions and a fierce love of culture and family. They also brought with them a love of Hindi films, so I grew up watching them. My parents joined a growing group known as NRIs (non-resident Indians), people who made a dramatic move 10,000 miles away from home for a better life, and they became a new and unique audience for Bollywood to target. Hindi directors didn’t immediately realize the impact NRIs—and their spending power—would have on Indian cinema, but my generation changed all that.

   

We saw the emergence and rise of the “Three Big Khans”—Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Shahrukh Khan—actors who have dominated Bollywood for the last 20 years. And it was Shahrukh—the first filmi love of my life—who made history with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ as it's known), a landmark film that established NRIs as a crucial Bollywood audience and changed the way NRIs were regarded in India.

Prior to this hit film, most NRIs in movies were depicted as one of two types of characters: either they were completely clueless about India (and life in general) and made laughable attempts at speaking Hindi, or they were malicious villains, which reinforced stereotypes that that's what happened to people who went abroad, to velait. Those of us living in velait knew the reality, but that reality didn’t appear in films until DDLJ showed that Indians could be Indian outside of their home country, too. The film made me proud to be an NRI.

As a second-generation NRI, I’m well aware of the differences between me and my Caucasian counterparts. If someone asks me where I'm originally from, I hesitate to answer, because for me that’s a loaded question. I'm an American who grew up in an Indian household. I’m bilingual but spend a lot of my time speaking English. I was born in the U.S., my parents were born in India, and I feel at once at home and also displaced in both countries. Likewise, I enjoy movies from both the U.S. and India.

Fifteen years have passed since DDLJ released, and today, many directors focus on making movies specifically for the NRI market, and I appreciate these dedicated efforts to entertain people like me, to cater to our likes and dislikes, to show our struggles and triumphs.

In fact, it’s hard to find a Bollywood movie today that doesn’t have an NRI element in it. In Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (2000), Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor traipse across Europe and fall in love. The thriller Ajnabee (2001), Bipasha Basu’s debut, takes place in Switzerland. Saif Ali Khan and Preity Zinta explore friendship and love in Australia in Salaam Namaste (2005). Ranbir Kapoor woos girls on three different continents in Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008). Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone go from London to San Francisco to India to find love in Love Aaj Kal (2009). In this year’s Raajneeti, Ranbir Kapoor plays an Indian citizen studying in the U.S. The list goes on and on.

Some bemoan the fact that directors are making too many movies for the audience to which I belong, but I like to think these directors also do it because of an increased awareness of who NRIs really are.

   

I’m not attracted to Bollywood movies solely because they speak to me as an NRI. I primarily love Bollywood for the same reason many other people do—because it's a unique style of filmmaking that's profoundly emotional. 

   

And I can’t imagine my life without the music. I spent my early childhood listening to Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, and while I may not be able to keep track of all the new singers in Bollywood now, I still appreciate the beautiful lyrics and captivating melodies. People complain about the music these days, too—that it’s a far cry from the golden age of Hindi film—and there is some merit to that argument. But I like the work of A.R. Rahman and Ismail Darbar as well as the tunes of yesteryear music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Shankar-Jaikishan.

Aamir, Salman, and Shahrukh are in their mid-40s now, and all three still command a lot of attention at the box office. These actors were instrumental in bringing change to the industry and giving NRIs like me a voice in it. A new generation of young actors on the scene are well aware of the fact that Indians all across the globe have their eyes on Bollywood. Imran Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, and Shahid Kapoor are poised to topple the Three Khans for supremacy. Whether they do or not, I’m excited about being a part of the worldwide audience—NRIs and all—that gets to watch what's next for Bollywood.

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