When junior Veeda Scammahorn went to her friend’s birthday party in seventh grade, they decided to watch a movie. While the first option was “Harry Potter,” Scammahorn did not want to watch it because she had not finished the series yet. Her friend instead played a Bollywood movie, and while it was something new for Scammahorn, she said she got into it very easily.

Scammahorn said, “It reminded me of ‘High School Musical,’ but a hundred times better. It reminded me of a musical, but instead of just all the singing, there was also really good dancing from actors like Hrithik Roshan. It was a really fun and upbeat thing to watch, and I loved it.”

Bollywood is the name of the Indian movie industry based in Mumbai. Its growing influence in America can be seen with many music videos such as Iggy Azalea’s “Bounce” and Coldplay’s “Hymn for the Weekend,” incorporating an Indian and Bollywood theme. Additionally, many American TV shows and movies incorporate Bollywood in some way. Recently, Priyanka Chopra, a Bollywood actress starring in the American television series “Quantico,” won the 2016 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series, making her the first South Asian actress to win a People’s Choice Award. In Carmel, the local Regal 17 movie theater has started to play more Bollywood movies, even putting cardboard cut-outs of movie characters near the concessions.

“It’s really exciting to be honest. It shows that America is truly a melting pot, and there’s more than just one cultural aspect here,” Scammahorn said. “It doesn’t matter if (the movie’s) in a different language or that it has a different race starring in it. It’s more about, ‘hey this is a really good movie, and we should go see that.’ It’s like watching a French film or a German film. People go see those movies, so why not Bollywood?”

Scammahorn was introduced to Bollywood by Indian junior Bhavi Sarda. Sarda said she grew up with Bollywood because that was what her parents always watched. She said she shared her love for Bollywood with her friends because it’s a part of her childhood that is close to her, and her friends have generally enjoyed watching it.

“I think it’s just the singing and dancing as a part of the story and the movie. It kind of makes it a musical, but it’s not. Also, the plot lines aren’t unfamiliar because a lot of the Bollywood ones come from English movies, so it’s not something they haven’t seen before. It’s not foreign to them,” Sarda said.

  Priyanka Chopra is not the first Bollywood actress to act in Hollywood. For example, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starred in “Bride and Prejudice” and played the villain in “Pink Panther 2,” and Amitabh Bachchan played Meyer Wolfsheim in “The Great Gatsby.”

Ramu Chinthala, President of the India Association of Indianapolis (IAI), said that more TV shows are starting to have Indian characters. He said Bollywood is not only influencing the media, but also are impacting American populace with the exposure to another culture. 

Chinthala said, “I think it started in 1994, when Aishwarya Rai became Miss World. So we have the glamour and acting talent, and slowly the world is recognizing that. That’s one of the reasons Priyanka Chopra won. Also A.R. Rahman won three Golden Globe Awards for Slumdog Millionaire. That itself indicates how much influence Bollywood music itself has in the world, not just in America.”

Bollywood’s influence has also helped spread Indian culture. The IAI helped in the creation of the Indian Cultural Festival at the Carmel Clay Public Library, whose target audience was children and families. The IAI also celebrates India’s independence by hosting an India Day celebration at Monument Circle. Chinthala said they have been hosting the event for six years, and India Day has a growing number of non-Indian attendees every year. The IAI uses Bollywood as a way to educate people about the Indian culture.

Chinthala said, “We want to celebrate our traditions and culture, but we also want to outreach to the community to show our culture. Bollywood is our medium to reach out to non-Indians easily. They are attracted to the music and dance, and through that they learn the Indian culture easily.”

Sarda and Chinthala both said that many people, Indians and non-Indians alike, are mainly attracted to the singing and dancing aspects of Bollywood. Scammahorn said she too likes that a lot of Bollywood music is upbeat and more about having fun, as well as the fact that “the slower songs have more of the voices and have a sweetness to them.” She said she also likes the fact that Bollywood movies are a lot deeper than Hollywood movies, and she likes that she can relate to the stories in Bollywood.

“When I watch a movie, I can see myself dancing and being a part of a song or movie because I feel the same emotions that the actors do,” Scammahorn said. “Also, when it comes to romance in Bollywood compared to some romantic comedies in America, Bollywood sings about love. They don’t have people really making out or anything major like that. It’s more of a girl meeting a guy, and a love at first sight thing. It’s really cool to see how the two main characters evolve without being so touchy and feely. That’s different, and I like that.”