"Shah Rukh?" asked the distinctly Indonesian voice as I sleepily gripped my handphone. Shah Rukh? Who? Then I remembered that some guys I had met the night before had called me Shah Rukh Khan and I had left it at that. We had exchanged numbers at some point. And now this ... "No, this is Neh-ru" I said in jest, "Jawa-har-lal Neh-ru." The man on the other end hung up.

Shah Rukh Khan is the most recognizable Indian in Indonesia today. I don't mind being called Shah Rukh Khan five times a day. I must confess though, that I bear absolutely no resemblance to that startlingly good looking, traffic-stopping heartthrob. Gandhi would look handsome next to me. But when in doubt, or in jest, all Indian men are Shah Rukh Khan.

Bollywood has certainly renewed an Indian cultural presence here, in Indonesia, after the Majapahit kingdom crumbled aeons ago, after Nehru walked off the podium at Bandung in 1955. For every atavistic Ramayana wayang performance in Bali and Java, there are perhaps a hundred Bollywood movies viewed.

I am constantly besieged with people inquiring after the meaning of lyrics from Bollywood songs: "Mister, what is Dil Toh Pagal Hai? (my heart is wild)" asked the man refilling my handphone, or "what do you mean by Dum maaro dum? (go on, take a hit)" inquired the long haired teenager on the bus as a conversation opener.

This phenomenon is not limited to big cities, nor is it particularly recent. I was in a small village in Kalimantan about a decade ago working on a documentary film. This place was way upriver, in the real interior I assure you. As I went down to the bank to wash my clothes a group of middle aged Dayak women started laughing at me and then broke out into "oh made in India, made in India...", the chorus lines from a Bollywood hit from back when. This love for Indian movies dubbed in Indonesian clearly cuts across all demographic cleavages.

Night clubs in Jakarta with hefty cover fees blast reversioned movie dance hits while pembantus (housemaids) will quietly iron clothes watching a 1970s Amitabh Bacchan re-run. I so want to shake the hand of the man who does the Indonesian voice over for the Big B. His intonation is so mean, so apt, so Lawaaris. And even when the cheaply made, appallingly tacky, Bollywood produced, Mahabharata television series aired in the 1990s many people were glued to their TV sets.

But sadly, there is not really much else going on between Indonesia and India. Sure there are diplomatic visits and some improvements in trading but its nothing to write home about -- only about 2 percent of Indonesia's imports are from India. My parents generation had however, seen a different nature of interaction between the two countries, at first during the aftermath of World War II and then during Sukarno's non-aligned nations dream.

I grew up with a story that rivals anything that Bollywood might be able to conjure up -- of a daring mission during which ace Indian pilot Biju Patnaik flew a Dakota aircraft through stormy, Dutch patrolled skies and rescued Sutan Sjahrir. When the Dutch threatened to shoot him down Patnaik had famously replied, "Resurgent India does not recognize Dutch colonial sovereignty over the Indonesian population,"

In 1995 as part of Indonesia's 50th year celebrations Patnaik was awarded the rare "Bintang Jasu Utama." But Biju siapa? Maybe a heady Bollywood song and dance biopic might help remind us of those glory days.

Nehru's presence in Indonesia is of course better known. But whatever does remain of the famous meeting of non-aligned nations in 1955? There was a stamp issued in India, in 2005 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bandung conference. It bears Nehru's image to the left and those unmistakable pillars and flags from the conference to the right.

Shah Rukh Khan arguably has more prominence in Indonesia than Nehru ever did. While that is uncomfortable to come to terms with, one has to accept that despite its often tacky, mediocre, downright silly productions Bollywood has culturally penetrated in areas and numbers that political ideology could not.

Of course, the advent of new beamable, copyable, easily-viewable media has helped this. And thus, the cultural intercourse spanning the Indian ocean, between the two countries, for millennia has reached epic proportions again.

But could this then be the basis of a more durable bond that could be parlayed into trade and improved bilateral relations? We appear to have two gigantic democracies, both open to free trade now, with vast human and natural resources within a few hours of flying time a few days of cargo ship travel.

Add to this the thought that if you're a little tired, or have had a couple of drinks, it becomes very difficult to distinguish between a Dangdut duet and a Bollywood ballad. Like it or not, in this post-Reformasi era of the New World Order, a pirated DVD of Om Shanti Om has more socio-cultural salience than a stamp, a statue or a shadow puppet. I thus implore marketing guru's and political strategy Imam's to ponder over this and possibly devise some new directions for better relations -- both cultural and fiscal.

I wouldn't mind getting in touch with my inner Shah Rukh Khan if it gives Indians and Indonesians more reasons to hum together.

The writer is a documentary filmmaker and is currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan. He can be reached at SandeepR@UMich.edu

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