Bangkok:
Thailand may be thousands of kilometres from India, but Bollywood cinema is making an impact here.
There is a legion of Indian film fans in the Thai capital and now hundreds of Thais are training to master the rhythmic, alluring, and acrobatic art of Bollywood dancing.
Many Thais don't understand all of the Hindi lyrics, but that doesn't stop them from dancing like professionals.
"We don't know what each Indian song means, so the master will explain the meaning every time," says Siriwan Wangvilai, who took up Bollywood dancing just a year and half ago. "He tells us this sentence means so and so. Dancing is not just dancing, but we get a feeling of the dance too and we can put emotion into it. And it helps to burn fat too, so dancing helps to get your body in shape."
Bollywood dance instructor Nareen Nyathi grew up in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Four years ago he began teaching Bollywood dance classes in Bangkok.
He now leads three or four classes a week, and he has as many as 500 Thai students.
"Basically, they love Indian culture, so they see many Bollywood movies, and they love to listen to Bollywood music all the time," says Nareen. "And when they come here, when they listen to Bollywood songs, they may not understand the language, but they understand the language of music. It's really good. And they get involved automatically in that and they go with us. When we teach, they go with us like anything. If anybody sees them, they will feel that they are Indians."
As many as 85,000 Indians live in Thailand. Most are Sikh and live in Bangkok's historic Indian district known as Pahurat.
But most Bollywood dance students are ethnic Thais who've fallen in love with Indian cinema.
India has become the largest film producing nation in the world and the availability of elephants, lush jungle, exotic beaches, professional crews, and relatively low production costs, has brought many Bollywood film sets to Thailand in recent years.
In 2003, 31 Indian films were shot in Thailand.
The number rose to 104 in 2009, according to Film Journal International.
In 2009, Thailand was given the top locations award at the Locations World Exhibition and Conference held in Mumbai.
Thailand hosted Bollywood's annual film awards, known as the International Indian Film Academy awards in 2008. The gala event was held at Bangkok's posh Siam Paragon Theater, and was a hit with thousands of Bollywood film fans in Thailand.
Rujapa Chiddrattantham has trained in Bollywood dance for over two years and says she it helped her lose more than 10 kilogrammes (1 stone 8 pounds).
"The reason I like Bollywood dancing is first because of movies," says Rujapa. "I've seen many Indian movies. I also like the way they dance, the way they use body language. I like it a lot. Their way of dancing is strange and looks like fun. It doesn't matter if the song is slow or fast, we are able to, like for slow songs, we are able to dance fast steps. Even when the music is slow, we can dance with very quick movements."
The dance classes are an hour-long and the workouts are intense.
Their teacher says Bollywood dance is excellent aerobic exercise, but it also stimulates the mind, because dancing involves a lot of mind-body coordination.
Most of the students are women, but there are some very enthusiastic and talented men in the classes.
"When I was younger, I used to like watching Indian movies," says tour guide Anu Promkun, who has been Bollywood dancing for four years. "And I like Indian songs, because the songs are very different and more difficult to understand than Thai songs," says Anu. "If anyone wants to listen, they have to go all the way to Pahurat , so I registered and think that it works the body, at almost every body part, because in Indian dancing required you to use many positions."
As Indian cinema grows, the chances are more classes like this will crop up in other parts of the world.
These Thai dancers are showing you don't have to be Indian to jive to "O Re Savariya".
There is a legion of Indian film fans in the Thai capital and now hundreds of Thais are training to master the rhythmic, alluring, and acrobatic art of Bollywood dancing.
Many Thais don't understand all of the Hindi lyrics, but that doesn't stop them from dancing like professionals.
"We don't know what each Indian song means, so the master will explain the meaning every time," says Siriwan Wangvilai, who took up Bollywood dancing just a year and half ago. "He tells us this sentence means so and so. Dancing is not just dancing, but we get a feeling of the dance too and we can put emotion into it. And it helps to burn fat too, so dancing helps to get your body in shape."
Bollywood dance instructor Nareen Nyathi grew up in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Four years ago he began teaching Bollywood dance classes in Bangkok.
He now leads three or four classes a week, and he has as many as 500 Thai students.
"Basically, they love Indian culture, so they see many Bollywood movies, and they love to listen to Bollywood music all the time," says Nareen. "And when they come here, when they listen to Bollywood songs, they may not understand the language, but they understand the language of music. It's really good. And they get involved automatically in that and they go with us. When we teach, they go with us like anything. If anybody sees them, they will feel that they are Indians."
As many as 85,000 Indians live in Thailand. Most are Sikh and live in Bangkok's historic Indian district known as Pahurat.
But most Bollywood dance students are ethnic Thais who've fallen in love with Indian cinema.
India has become the largest film producing nation in the world and the availability of elephants, lush jungle, exotic beaches, professional crews, and relatively low production costs, has brought many Bollywood film sets to Thailand in recent years.
In 2003, 31 Indian films were shot in Thailand.
The number rose to 104 in 2009, according to Film Journal International.
In 2009, Thailand was given the top locations award at the Locations World Exhibition and Conference held in Mumbai.
Thailand hosted Bollywood's annual film awards, known as the International Indian Film Academy awards in 2008. The gala event was held at Bangkok's posh Siam Paragon Theater, and was a hit with thousands of Bollywood film fans in Thailand.
Rujapa Chiddrattantham has trained in Bollywood dance for over two years and says she it helped her lose more than 10 kilogrammes (1 stone 8 pounds).
"The reason I like Bollywood dancing is first because of movies," says Rujapa. "I've seen many Indian movies. I also like the way they dance, the way they use body language. I like it a lot. Their way of dancing is strange and looks like fun. It doesn't matter if the song is slow or fast, we are able to, like for slow songs, we are able to dance fast steps. Even when the music is slow, we can dance with very quick movements."
The dance classes are an hour-long and the workouts are intense.
Their teacher says Bollywood dance is excellent aerobic exercise, but it also stimulates the mind, because dancing involves a lot of mind-body coordination.
Most of the students are women, but there are some very enthusiastic and talented men in the classes.
"When I was younger, I used to like watching Indian movies," says tour guide Anu Promkun, who has been Bollywood dancing for four years. "And I like Indian songs, because the songs are very different and more difficult to understand than Thai songs," says Anu. "If anyone wants to listen, they have to go all the way to Pahurat , so I registered and think that it works the body, at almost every body part, because in Indian dancing required you to use many positions."
As Indian cinema grows, the chances are more classes like this will crop up in other parts of the world.
These Thai dancers are showing you don't have to be Indian to jive to "O Re Savariya".
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