The book, Pop Empires Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea by S. Heijin Lee, Monika Mehta and Robert Ji Song Ku discusses the rise of Bollywood or Indian movie industry in India and in the West.
Kristen Rudisill, an Ethnic Studies Professor at Bowling Green University writes in her essay, Expanding Diasporic Identity through Bollywood Dance in London talks about the popularity of Bollywood dance among British Asians in London.
As one can see from the above Bollywood Dance video, a Bollywood dance sequence is complicated, elegant, exquisite with beautifully dressed Indian women and men dancing together, singing, and having sentimental romantic scenes. Western audiences are drawn by the sentimentality of the Indian love scenes and the happy dancing couples.
At Bollywood Dance Schools like the Kalaria Honey Dance Academy, young British Asians are inspired by Bollywood movies to learn Bollywood dancing so they can dance just as gracefully as the beautiful Indian dancers in the Bollywood movies. At the local store, the Kalaria Bollywood Dance workout video is sold out. (Rudisill,180).
Not only do the young British Asians want to dance like their favorite Indian star, they also want to dress like them sparking an interest among the young in Indian fashion and clothes. Every year, the academy has an annual dance performance where dance students dress up in authentic Indian clothes and dance to the music of their favorite Bollywood movie.
Kalaria teaches Bollywood dancing while promoting Indian culture. The second generation British Asians start to love listening to Indian music, wear Indian fashion, eat Indian food, to the delight of their first generation Indian parents. Both British Asians and Westerners love to perform Bollywood dances at social gatherings in London.
I know my parents would have been thrilled if I and my brother had taken such an interest in Chinese culture when we were growing up. However, I do remember my aunts and uncles singing Chinese opera at home and then performing Chinese opera in public and my parents and I would go to these Chinese opera performances.
I highly recommend Pop Empires to anyone teaching Asian American Studies. It provides an interesting look at both Korean and Indian popular culture. If you want to know how to watch Korean and Indian movies on American TV, the last chapter of the book goes over which cable providers broadcast these movies, but you have to read the book to find out :)
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