SEATTLE – A line of sleek dancers in their 20s and 30s snakes around the outside of the night club, but bright colors from traditional Indian clothes break up the usual jeans and shirts. Music pulses from inside where men and women drink, flirt and dance, but it’s far from the typical dance beats.
Here, Bollywood reigns.
Shelly Kamran, an employment headhunter by day, throws these club nights where mostly Indian-American professionals dance to upbeat tunes that are often sung by vibrato voices and infused with pop, hip-hop or techno.
The Indian-American population has grown in Seattle and its suburbs. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people in King County who identified as Asian Indian has more than tripled in ten years – from 4,973 in 1990 to 15,827 in 2000.
And with this growth has come the introduction of popular Indian music and film to the Seattle area.
Bollywood films – Indian Hindi-language commercial films that derive their industry name from the fusion of the words Bombay and Hollywood – have become famous worldwide for their musical numbers, epic length and often lighthearted and melodramatic flair. And their songs are the Indian equivalent of Top 40 music in U.S.
In Seattle, two club events that play popular Indian music – I Heart Shiva and The Bollywood Project – are flourishing. Their promoters say they’re at capacity during their monthly and bimonthly events.
And the owner of Totem Lake Cinema, a Kirkland theater that shows Bollywood films, said he’s seen a 20 percent to 30 percent growth in the number of customers the past couple years.
Other cities have seen an increase in interest in popular Indian music and films as well.
Jay Davhi, a New York-based Bollywood and bhangra deejay, said the club scene for popular Indian music has grown in New York, with one event now held weekly.
And Lalit Chopra, president of Indian Movie Center theater in San Jose, said he’s seen about a 25 percent growth in the number of customers during the past couple years.
At The Bollywood Project, people crowded on the dance floor to bounce their shoulders up and down, jump, and shout along with the mostly Bollywood music.
“The music really makes me dance. I can move to it,” said Nayav Khan, 22.
These Bollywood nights, which started about four years ago as a mixer that drew about 250 people, are now held about once a month, Kamran said. And between 400 and 500 people come each time.
“Bollywood is all about color and fantasy and being flamboyant, and I think that’s what attracts people to it,” Kamran said.
At I Heart Shiva at the Baltic Room, people dance in front of a large screen behind the deejay that shows larger-than-life clips from music videos and Bollywood films.
Deejay Manpreet Wadan, 29, plays mostly bhangra, music from the state of Punjab grounded by hyper dhol – Indian drum – beats. He also mixes bhangra with American hip-hop and rock.
“Something that people are familiar with is twisted up a bit,” he said.
His music has drawn a strong non-South Asian crowd – which he estimates to make up on average half the crowd, he said.
Wadan, a car dealership manager, started the nights about five years ago and it is now a bimonthly establishment at the club, drawing about 300 people each night, he said.
Born and raised in India, Wadan started the club nights because he saw a lack of Indian music on the club scene, he said.
It’s why Happy Jawa, 28, goes to such club nights.
“I am from India and that’s what I have grown up listening to,” said Jawa, who works for Microsoft.
But it’s not just people of Indian descent that are hooked.
Andrea Briggs caught the bug for Bollywood music and film when she started to take belly-dancing classes. At The Bollywood Project, she was dressed in a sparkling, lime green, midriff-bearing Indian top with matching green bangles she bought for the night.
“The music is so joyful,” said the 27-year-old project manager.
Bollywood films also draw some non-South Asians to Totem Lake Cinema in Kirkland, a suburb east of Seattle.
“They’re not all sexed up, they’re kind of sweet and romantic, and they’re the kind of thing you can watch with your parents,” said Rachel Babson, 30, a social worker.
Here, dramatic posters of Bollywood films feature mega-stars such as Aishwarya Rai, and crispy samosas are on sale at the concession stand.
“I’ve been here with my non-Indian friends and they’ve kind of loved the experience,” said Virat Chiranaia, 25, who works for T-Mobile.
Bollywood films differ from Hollywood films because they try to embrace multiple genres including romance, songs, drama and action, he said.
The film he had come to watch featured the type of musical numbers Bollywood has become famous for: The main actress, donning opulent saris, sang and danced at a rice paddy, in front of a waterfall, while paddling a boat, and on a mountaintop.
“If anybody watches it, they get addicted,” owner Arif Amaani said.
The theater, which started about 12 years ago at a single screen theater, expanded into a three-screen space five years ago, Amaani said.
But for the Indian-American population, the theater is more than just a place to watch films, Amaani said.
“It’s a place where everybody in the community gets together and they see their culture in front of them,” he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
