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Transcript

Parag Khanna: Bollystan was a mix of Bollywood, which is the way in which people think about Indian culture, as this all borders on composing, if culture essence that is Indian, and it's everywhere. And stan is just the suffix that means country.

And to me, Bollystan is this global Indian culture that knows no borders, and is everywhere were the Diaspora is, and even were it isn’t, it sort of infects audiences and gets people watching Bollywood.

But it wasn’t really just it up Bollywood. It was Indianness more broadly; an Indian culture and the ways in which India can project itself as a global presence, even if it isn't the global economic or strategic heavy weight. And that, Bollystan, would in a way, be a pillar of that strategy of making India a great power, even when it isn’t.

Recorded on: 3/3/2008