Click to play videoLhasa: For an Indian on the streets of Lhasa, the strains of Indian film music are unmistakable.
Bollywood is India's big brand ambassador, even on the roof of the world, but there's a twist. Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, they're all big hits here.
So what if they're not actually singing in Hindi or that no one here can remember their names!
In a land where Tibetans worry about being swamped by China and the West, Indian pop culture is welcome by contrast.
One of the reasons is the large number of Tibetans who go to India as refugees and return carrying pirated CDs.
The opening of the commercial route through Sikkim has only added to the unofficial trade. But also it’s how a new generation of Tibetan singers popularise their own songs cashing in on Bollywood’s timeless popularity.
“The song is Tibetan and the image is Hindi movies, it’s become the fashion. Big posters of Indian actors and actresses. I like the Hindi movies,” says a tourist guide Ngutup.
And this one should bring a smile to even the most tear-stained and sindoor-laden small screen star. Indian soaps are being translated into Tibetan and Chinese at local Tibet TV.
"Indian soaps are watched everywhere, and are getting more and more popular in rural areas now,” says President, Tibet TV, Dan Zeng.
So when officials say more than 80 per cent of Tibet’s population of approximately 2.8 million watches the channel, even I am tempted to reach for Tibetan TRPs.
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