Stuttgart

They find the love stories all the same, the dances absurdly funny, songs ridiculously timed and the duration a bit too long. Yet, Bollywood and Beyond, organized by the Filmburo Baden Wurttenberg has emerged as one of the most popular film festivals in Germany in the last few years. Sukhada Tatke gets to the bottom of this phenomena.

They find the love stories all the same, the dances absurdly funny, songs ridiculously timed and the duration a bit too long. Yet, they look forward to the annual fixture in their lives where they can come elegantly dressed in sarees, tie their hair the Indian way and stick a fashionable bindi on their forehead. It sounds astonishing to me, but a huge number of women from Stuttgart throng the Indian film festival every spring and immerse themselves in the star-studded, glamourous movies. Perhaps that is why, Bollywood and Beyond, organized by the Filmsburo, Baden Wurttenberg, has emerged as one of the most popular film festivals in Germany in the last few years.

The organizers of Bollywood and Beyond say that the demand for Indian films and Indian culture is increasing rapidly. This year, the film festival will begin on July 20-24, and will show a total of 40 films, including Dhobi Ghat, No One Killed Jessica, Udaan, 7 Khoon Maaf and Mee Sindhutai Sapkal.

"The festival does not limit itself to mainstream Bollywood Hindi-language films, but will also screen several regional language films, short films and documentaries that deal with the subject of India," says Eliza Melzer, head of programme. Apart from Indian films, there are also films made by directors outside India, but the subject is basically Indian.

When I came to Stuttgart and people heard I was from Mumbai, most of them proudly told me about this film festival. Several of them asked me if I had met King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan. I can understand that people in India are crazy about Bollywood and its stars, but it came as a surprise to me that many people in Stuttgart are ardent followers of this film industry as well. But what is it about these films made in faraway Mumbai that endears them to people of this small region in another continent? Surely these films, with their improbable plot-lines, mandatory song-and-dance sequences and exaggerated emotions must be something of an acquired taste for the European palate, accustomed as it is to quieter, more realistic traditions of storytelling?

"It has to do a lot with Indian culture. People have begun to look at India as a place which can teach them something. They love Indian food, dances and so on. And Bollywood offers them all this," explains Melzer. "It opens a window to a culture completely different from ours," she adds.

Fair enough. But, the big question is: what is this obsession with Shah Rukh Khan? At first I was amused when a lot of people here asked me if I had seen him, if I liked his movies and so on. Later, the amusement turned into puzzlement. What is it about the man that makes him so popular? I found the answer while talking to 48-year-old Christiane. “He is so handsome. He acts beautifully. His eyes are intense,” she says. Her own eyes, meanwhile, brighten up while she talks about him. It is obvious that she - like so many others in India and all over the world - has been charmed by Shah Rukh Khan's aura of the quintessential romantic hero. I am tempted to ask her which her favourite SRK film is. “I don’t really remember. The stories are all the same,” she says. But Christiane says she has seen all his films, “even though my husband gets very irritated,” she adds laughingly.

It is probably this reason why organizers feel the need to have at least one movie of Shah Rukh Khan every year. “Although we love to screen movies of Aamir Khan with his different productions and roles-- he comes up with a surprise with every new film--we do our best to have Shah Rukh Khan on the list. He is definitely an audience puller,” Melzer says.

Thirty-year-old Angela has another theory about this “young man who doesn’t grow up”. “He is over 40 but has been successfully playing roles of a young man. That shows his talent as an actor,” she explains. When asked what she likes most about him, she says, “His ability to cry. For European women, it is very heartening to see tears well up in a man’s eyes,” she adds.

I find this a little difficult to understand. We Indian women mostly dismiss Indian men for their “macho” or “masculine” inclinations, especially because they take the maxim “boys don’t cry” a bit too seriously. We often point to the men of the west to show our men how they should behave. I hope Indian men reading this observation are not offended, and I truly hope they don’t burst into tears for being portrayed this way.