June 2018 \ Diaspora News \ DIASPORA—FIJI
BOLLYWOOD—A CULTURAL BRIDGE

Laakhon hain yahan dilwale.... That evergreen Mahendra Kapoor number from the 1960s played out in the boutique island resort here—bringing smiles to a group of Indian tourists

By Radhika Bhirani

Laakhon hain yahan dilwale.... That evergreen Mahendra Kapoor number from the 1960s played out in the boutique island resort here—bringing smiles to a group of Indian tourists. But more than that, it testified to how Bollywood connects the over 40 per cent Indians in this archipelagic state to their roots, underlining their lives in what is deemed to be one of the world’s happiest nations.

Rajnesh Prasad, 40, is clueless about which part of India his family came from. He hasn’t visited his ancestral country yet, but knows in his heart that he will, one day. A driver, he speaks Hindi, is a fan of megastar Amitabh Bachchan, and loves watching Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s movies.




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