• Also because of the music?

They love the music, they love the visuals.

• And there’s always a happy ending. Almost always.

Foreigners like that.

• But in the last one, there wasn’t one happy ending, there were two happy endings. Or three or two-and-a-half?

There were lots of happy endings. It had irony attached to the last one. I remember watching Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham at Cannes with French, Italians, Germans. And they didn’t know. They don’t have a concept of interval. So when the film stopped and the lights came on, they all walked out. They thought that was the end of the film. “How Dark!” they said. “We didn’t think Bollywood was so dark.” I said: “The film’s not over yet.”

We have very in-your-face emotions. We tug at your heart strings. Not like their subtle cinema. That’s what I think attracts them. They feel almost therapeutic after they watch our films.

• We talked about music. I think one big contributor has been this new bhangra beat. You always have one of those like Shah Rukh Khan in your movies.

Indian music is doing very well globally. It has this huge impact everywhere. I know so many people who don’t understand the language but they like the beat, the thump of our music

And I always have these item numbers. I love larger than life cinema, larger than life visuals, larger than life music. I like energetic music. I always tell music composers who I work with: Don’t compose a song that will grow on me slowly. I want that instant appeal.

... contd.