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Ohioan, a native of India, shares love of Bollywood

Sheri Trusty

CLYDE — Amar Pandey grew up in a close-knit, lower middle class village in India, where neighbors helping neighbors was a natural part of life.

“ ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ — that’s the culture I was raised in. It had a very dense population, and I was constantly watched by aunts and uncles — not biological ones, but neighbors,” Pandey said. “If I was in trouble, my dad knew before I did.”

His family wasn’t wealthy, but it learned to stretch its resources.

“We learned to do more with less. That was my mom’s philosophy,” he said. “Coming from those beginnings, I learned to appreciate what I have.”

One of the things he learned to love as a child and still appreciates as an adult is Indian movies. The Indian film industry, called Bollywood, is as popular in India as Hollywood is America.

“I was just thinking on the way here that my first exposure to movies was when I was 9. I’ve always enjoyed watching movies,” he said.

Today, Pandey is a husband, father, successful businessman, and chairman of the Federation of Indian Associations in Columbus, where he said about 24,000 Indians make their home. In addition, Pandey is a huge Bollywood fan, and he traveled to Clyde Public Library on Saturday to give a presentation on Bollywood and Indian culture.

At the age of 22, Pandey moved to America, settling originally in South Carolina. He had recently graduated from college in India and moved to the states seeking greater opportunities. He said he experienced culture shock at first.

“It was like, at the age of 22, being dropped on another planet and left to fend for yourself,” he said.

But it didn’t take long to feel settled — the Americans he met made that happen.

“The beauty I found is, the culture here is so embracing. I started in South Carolina; that’s the Bible Belt. They were very open, very warm and welcoming,” Pandey said.

Although Pandey has a strong and clear command of the English language now, he initially had a strong accent that the southerners mistook for something other than Indian.

“I had a very bad accent. To them, I had a Yankee accent,” he said.

Even though Pandey has immersed himself in American culture, he does not want to lose ties to his Indian heritage. He eventually returned to India for an arranged marriage, brought his bride to the states and stayed connected to other Indians living near him. He also maintained his Indian roots through his love of Bollywood.

“I’m a big fan of Bollywood. Indian and American movies are quit different. The whole premise of the audience is so different,” he said.

Pandey explained that Indian films are similar to Hollywood musicals of years past. Almost all Bollywood films are musicals.

“They have song and dance and lots of drama. It’s a huge production like they were here in the 1950s and 1960s. Bollywood never got away from that,” he said.

The local Bollywood program was organized by Clyde Library employee Lisa Trenter, who became a huge Bollywood fan after discovering an Indian movie online.

“I just happened to come across one and fell in love with it. They’ll have 100 dancers and a big wind machine. It’s a big production. I’ve noticed they are very family-friendly. They rarely even kiss, and the violence isn’t gory,” Trenter said. “And I love the Indian culture. Every Bollywood movie I can get my hands on, I watch.”

Bollywood actors are even more esteemed than Hollywood actors. When popular Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan was in an on-set accident a few years ago, Pandey said the “country came to a standstill. People stopped everything and started praying. Actors are revered, almost like gods.”

Many Bollywood movies can be rented through the Clyde Library’s Clevnet system; viewed on Netflix and Hulu; or found on YouTube. That easy access is good for Pandey.

“When I grew up, movies were my biggest source of entertainment, and that feeling has never gone away,” he said.