I was waiting my turn at the cash counter of the bank recently, observing different kinds of people walking in. It proved to be a good pastime. Just then a woman — perhaps from Iran or Iraq — walked in with her daughter in tow. After they collected their token and settled down in a chair beside mine, the daughter, she must have been around seven or eight, busied herself counting the notes that her mother was to deposit. From their cheerful banter I gathered that they spoke Persian, when suddenly a ringing phone that played a famous song from Dhoom 2 distracted the little girl. The currency notes automatically faded from her attention as she broke out into the song, ‘Crazy kiya re...’ Her fluency with the language, as she went on to sing the entire song took me by surprise.

The oft-repeated observation that Bollywood was going global had never really seemed more apt. Select Indian films garnering rave reviews at international festivals from a critical jury are one thing. Listening to a regular kid from another country sing an entire Hindi song so flawlessly is quite another.

In fact, of late, my visits to multiplexes in Pune have been quite a revelation. On any given day, the number of non-Indians standing at the ticket counter to watch a regular masala movie seems to be rising. City-based Germans, Norwegians, Sri Lankans, Iraqis, Koreans — they all seem to be aware of the latest Bollywood flick playing at the theatres. Even during a late night show at a theatre, don’t be surprised to find a couple of African students sitting next to you, glued in to the movie in spite of the obvious absence of sub-titles.

... contd.