BOLLYWOOD BUFFS: Seminar speakers at the pavilion; Safina Uberoi (below) on the Bondi beach

The mostly Australian crowd clapped for every run and cheered every six as Aamir Khan and his Lagaan team hit the silver screen. For once, the Bondi beach was deserted as the Bollywood on Bondi festival featured a special screening of the Oscar-nominated Bollywood blockbuster at the pavilion set up on the beach.

For Australians, India has suddenly become more than just cricket. It was evident as they turned up in large numbers at the first-ever festival of mainstream Indian cinema Down Under. With the overwhelming success of Monsoon Wedding, Bend It Like Beckham and the festival curator Safina Uberoi's My Mother India in national theatres this year, the Australians are seeking out Bollywood.

"I wanted to bring Indian cinema to Australia with a big bang, and what better place to do it than Bondi, the famous beach which is the bindi on the fair face of Sydney," says Uberoi who was "amazed and delighted" at the audience response. "They hooted, clapped, cheered, sighed and heckled their way through the films," she remarks.

Bollywood on Bondi is part of the annual Carnivale, which celebrates multicultural music, theatre, dance, films, visual arts and literature. The Australian social fabric is a rich tapestry of migrants from 200 countries. Here, pizza, sushi and laksa are a gourmet's everyday delight and bhaji is fast catching up.

"In presenting Carnivale, we showcase and experience the artistic excellence and traditions that span the many communities that comprise Australia." says Jorge Menidis, artistic director of Carnivale

For German student, Kino, who loves Hindi film music of the 1950s and '60s, viewing Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam was a dream come true. She confesses, "I don't understand the lyrics, but the music transcends language barriers." The audience patiently bore the disappearing sub-titles and snapping of the reel during the screening. And as they watched 1942, A Love Story, the claps and whistles reminded one of theatres back home.

"Australia is ready for Bollywood," declares John Winter, who is producing The Film, a romantic comedy meant to appeal to the Indian and western audience. "This is a real opportunity to show that Indian films have been evolving and developing with a high-level of sophistication," he adds.

Australians are intrigued by Hollywood's greatest rival. A seminar where the speakers included scriptwriter Anjum Rajaballi of Legend of Bhagat Singh fame, social historian Rashmi Doraiswami, journalist and critic Madhu Jain and film producer Anupam Sharma, helped dispel some of the mystique.

Says Rajaballi said, "The idea of this festival is to make cinema accessible to a non-Indian audience, to understand it in its cultural context. The narrative is important and once westerners allow themselves to be familiar, they are able to engage and enjoy it."

In recent years, Australia is being sought out as a preferred shooting locale. In the past four years, over 70 Indian feature films, television serials, commercials and music videos have shot sequences in Australia, spending A$3 million a year. What started as a trickle is now a deluge of Indian film shoots.

Anupam Sharma, director of Films and Casting Temple (fact), is coordinating an increasing volume of Bollywood productions in Australia. "This festival has set the right tone. With more Australian film professionals involved in the Indian film industry as Bollywood comes to Bondi, Aussiewood too is going to Mumbai."

-Neena Bhandari in Sydney