Just as varied as the cinema they watch, the bloggers too come from different backgrounds and are a story in themselves. Take Stadtman. An “ageing hipster” from San Francisco’s Mission district, he played in a couple of popular bands in San Francisco’s post-punk scene in the 1980s. Now working as a singer-songwriter, Stadtman makes what he calls fussy, idiosyncratic pop music under his name and with a duo called Zikzak. “The original Don started my fixation with Indian action films of the ’70s. My first impressions were typical of the non-Indian viewer raised on Hollywood films. So it’s an action movie, there is a bomb in the brief case and a car chase. But now the hero is running through a meadow and singing and he really loves his mom. And now he’s crying!” says Stadtman, who believes that in order to become a true addict, one has to embrace those differences.

The ease with which these movies can be accessed is another reason why Bollywood is so popular. Most bloggers prefer to watch movies from the ’70s while actively avoiding most the ’80s and almost never bothering with the ’90s. Apart from searching for titles in the neighbourhood Indian store, there is a large number of titles available for rental from online services such as Netflix and Nehaflix. And once all the bloggers have acquired the same movie, they organize Watch Alongs: Online friends, including non-bloggers, watch the same movie at their respective homes and chat online while viewing. It is the social aspect of the experience that makes it so satisfying, says Watkins. “We spend time together and exchange ideas in the immediate context of the film,” she adds.

... contd.