CULTURE-ASIA: 'Bollywood' Is Big in South-east Asia (1) An Inter Press Service Feature

BANGKOK, Nov 18 (IPS) - Sorayuth Sihapong was already an avid fan of Hindi films while he was growing up in a small village in southern Thailand.

Now a lecturer in Bangkok college, Sorayuth still swears by the products of India's giant Bombay-based film industry that have become television and video store staples in Thailand and Malaysia, as well as in makeshift cinema halls in Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

Simplistic in their themes and melodramatic much of the time, Hindi films nevertheless remain the last Indian influence in a region that derives a lot of its language, beliefs and traditions from the ancient South Asian subcontinent.

Indeed, M R Chakrarot Chitrabongs of the Thai National Culture Commission says the popularity of Hindi films in mainland South- east Asia is but an expression of the continuing connection people in the region feel toward India.

"The two great cultural influences in this region for centuries have been India and China," says Chakrarot, who is the Commission's external cultural relations division director.

"While China gave us our material habits like cuisine, crafts and work ethic, it was India that provided the spiritual side like religion, art and entertainment," he says.

Since they first made their appearance in mainland South-east Asia decades ago, films from India's 'Bollywood' have been enjoyed by people who find their own social values echoed by the plots that champion strong family ties, loyalty to friends and the fight against injustice.

Even the dances and songs that are key features of Hindi films are faintly familiar, since the dances and music of mainland South- east Asia bear the heavy influence of India. Film songs that are translated into the local languages usually become smash hits themselves.

Indian soldiers posted as part of the U.N. peacekeeping troops in Cambodia last year discovered to their surprise the popularity of Hindi films even in the war-torn country.

Stationed in the central Cambodian province of Kampong Cham, the Indian battalion won many friends among the locals by organising a daily public show of Hindi film songs on their video players.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service