Oregon Public Broadcasting

Indian-style films have enjoyed greater attention in the U.S. after “Slumdog Millionaire” swept the Academy Awards last year.

Now there's even a TV spoof called “Bollywood Hero.” But Bollywood is more than just spectacle to thousands of immigrants who have made the Northwest their home.

Correspondent Anna King found a small Bollywood theater in Kirkland and has this report.

Microsoft and other Northwest high-tech companies have attracted thousands of immigrants from the East. So it's natural on the weekend they want to relax – Bollywood style.

Arif Amaani loads the movie reel into the projector to start one of the movies. Bollywood films are becoming more popular with western audiences since “Slumdog Millionaire” swept the Oscars last year.

Arif Amaani: “Ok this one is going OK. We always have to check to make sure.”

Arif Amaani owns this small theater company in Kirkland. He starts the reels himself up in the stuffy projection room.

The crowd is sparse tonight. No blockbusters have opened. But when a big movie is released on the same day around the world, Amaani says hundreds of people buy tickets.

He says Bollywood is sort of like a cultural time machine.

Arif Amaani: “They come to watch not just films, they come to watch their people their culture, they go back to their homeland. And on these films you can see the people, you can see the culture and you can see the costumes. But most of all our films come from the heart. If you sit down and watch one films, it has values, it has respect for elders, it has friendship aspects it has traditions. And you see everything in one film.”

Amaani emigrated to the Northwest from Bangladesh with his family. As a kid he noticed how much he loved watching Bollywood stars. So, about 10 years ago, while still in his 20s he started this theater company.

At first he used credit cards to buy movie reels and rent a theater screen once a month. Now business is thriving, meaning he'll never become the engineer or doctor his parents wanted.

Arif Amanni: “I like to be different than most people.”

Outside, more than a dozen family members try to decide what film to watch. Everyone weighs in from the sari-wearing grandmother to young boys sporting saggy pants.

The matriarch of this family is Hina Sanghvi. She agrees that Bollywood movies are more than just entertainment.

A large family on vacation in Kirkland, sits together to watch Bollywood's Kambakkht Ishq. They say Bollywood films reflect their culture and remind them of home.

Hina Sanghvi: “Ah well first of all, it's my culture I come from there so I relate to it, miss it over here so.... Our movies always have singing and dancing. Most of them are musicals. And costumes. And it's very emotional, a lot of love stories.”

But it's a comedy the family finally decides on, called Kambakkht Ishq.

This film is a good example of how Bollywood and Hollywood are overlapping. This one even stars Sylvester Stallone.

In India and Bangladesh there are markets and piazzas where people meet and renew friendships. Here, Amaani says those gatherings often happen at his theater.

Arif Amaani: “No matter how well you are living in a certain place, you always miss your home.”

Amaani has recently opened another theater in downtown Seattle that books live comedy and music, western and Indian-style. He hopes to open another, bigger Bollywood theater soon.

Online:

Totem Lake Cinemas