Shikha Dalmia, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Reason Foundation, discusses why the forces of radical Islam fear the rise of Bollywood culture on the subcontinent.
She says: "The hope was that if can't change the middle east by pointing guns at it, then Hollywood is going to do it. But the problem is that Hollywood is very, very different. It's very alien. But the one force that actually speaks to their concerns is Bollywood, India's film industry. "
"Young people in the middle east are just lapping up Bollywood.. It comes from the same cultural cloth. It reflects the kind of issues that Muslims are dealing with. The same kind of clash between tradition and modernity that Bollywood and India are dealing with."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/radical-islam-fears-bollywood_n_857020.htmlWhile I disagree that "it comes from the same cultural cloth"(there are significant differences between Indian and ME cultures) I do agree with her that the Bollywood movies speak to the ME audiences, especially the younger generation in a manner that is not found in the usual Hollywood staple.
Her Video interview is found in the link given above.
This report tallies in well with What the former UN undersecretary general Sashi Tharoor mentioned in his TED talk about soft power.
(Which by the way is one of the best speeches I've heard in recent times..not surprising that it was by Tharoor an eloquent orator)
Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power
http://youtu.be/EiTrl0W1QrM^^ from 7.50 min mark onwards on the video
Bollywood movies are "officially" banned in Pakistan and were Banned in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule(now they are not)but were still the most popular form of entertainment in those countries. The same goes to most of the middle eastern and African nations.....making up the constituents who make the Bollywood reach an audience of nearly 3 Billion...more than Hollywood's reach
It's not surprising indeed that the spread of Bollywood threatens Islamic fundamentalism at a deeper levels than bombs and missiles can. The latter can destroy buildings but the former can target fundamentalist ideologies itself. At the end of the day, Islamic fundamentalism cannot be defeated by the gun, but only by changing the perception of the people.. by offering them something better than that which the fundamentalists are offering.