Bollywood in Morocco

Romantic landscapes. Enchanting souks. Affable people. Bollywood. This blog takes a magical, mystery tour of Morocco. That is the fascination of Bollywood  films  and music.

In other past trips  to other countries  found  occasional bar or restaurant playing Bollywood music.  However none can  match the penetration of  Bollywood  as it is seen  in  Morocco.  In Morocco, we did not see even one Indian origin tourist,  not even one form UK or USA based Indian . However irony and surprise  is  that Bollywood films and music is very popular in Morocco.

Street vendors, shopkeepers and  strangers often greet us with “namaste” call  me Shah Rukh khan,. At  Essaouria, the beach town, at fisherman’s whorf, several vendors started inviting us for lunch and competing among themselves. Finally we decide to pick one based who sings the best Bollywood song.


Most Moroccans speak Berber, though Arabic is the official langauge. So they have no big natural  linguistic advantage in singing  Hindi songs.   But they do have  special attraction of  Bollywood. 

They just knew we were from India. Moroccans, who devour Bollywood films with a bigger appetite than the Russians, want you to be an Indian even if you are a Pakistani. Hey lady, this is special for you because of Shah Rukh," a salesman says to sale his merchandise. When Aamir khan, Amitabh Bachhan visited Morocco, they were treated like king

Here is  a  2.5min video clip of that.  You may see the faces of the "artist" at the photo-album pf  Essouria 
 

 

 Recent Bollywood film  Raees  was  supposed to be shot in Gujarat. The Right wing  in India did  not allow Pakistani actress  Mahira to come to India.  Shah Rukh Khan and Mahira visited Morocco to shoot two Raees songs. Per our guide  Kamaal in Marrkech , Shah Rukh Khan is  personal friend of the king and  stays in palace.

When I see  Netfilx or even Amazon Prime , they have  very  limited stock of the Bollywood films. When  Vinod Khanna passed away ,I wanted to see some of  his old classic  film. Netflex, Amazon prime had no choice.  If the see the  global popularity of Bollywood , they will fix their act. 


There are also few  fascinating circles of the history at Morocco. 
Tangier, like Mumbai, was a Portuguese colony. And both were given to the British as dowry for Portuguese queen Catherine Braganza who married British king Charles II.
 Morocco was first to recognize  USA when it got independence from UK.
Raees  to be shot in  Gujarat ended  up  being shot in Morocco.