I live in a city with a large desi population, and so I have had the opportunity to discuss my interest with Indians who have a variety of different perspectives on it. For the most part they are delighted - if perplexed - by my taste for Indian movies.

I feel that I can’t say what Indian film should or should not do, as it’s not my culture and not my medium. I watch as an outsider and part of its appeal is the window it gives me into the lives of people in a different culture, with a different baseline.

My instinct says that Indian film is wonderful and it’s serving its own audience well, and so it should not go out of its way to seek the approval of Western audiences and Western “authorities” like Academy. Still, in the modern era of Indian film, the rise of the multiplex has given filmmakers a lot more freedom - a movie no longer needs to be all things to all people, and there is room for a lot more experimentation and range than there might have been in the past. So if there are filmmakers who are inspired to tell stories that resonate with an NRI audience or even a non-Indian audience, they should do that, and hopefully their efforts will not be dismissed as “pandering”.