By REBECCA WALSH
Packed inside Auckland's Mahatma Gandhi Centre, hundreds of pairs of eyes are mesmerised as Bollywood comes to town.
On stage, dancers dressed in saris and gold jewellery move to the energetic sounds of techno-styled Bollywood music. Younger members of the audience, unable to keep still, make up their
own routines.
This year there were so many entries for the Bollywood dance competition at the Diwali Festival of Lights that the organisers had to shortlist 15 entries.
It is the sort of dancing that can be the making of a Bollywood movie - Bollywood is the name given to the film industry of Bombay, which produces more than 800 films a year.
"Everyone loves it, says Geethanjali Kurian, programme officer for Asia 2000 which organises the festival.
"It's so popular, you have a leading actress do a [fancy dance] item ... and that can sell a film."
It also helps if the dancer is a woman, and particularly beautiful, Jatinder Singh admits. His personal favourite is Aishwarya Rai.
"She's very good and very beautiful. She was Miss World and she's an excellent dancer."
Performer Thesara Jayawardane from Mt Wellington has been learning Indian and Sri Lankan dance since she was seven and relishes the combination of the old and new that is Bollywood dance.
"They haven't forgotten the culture of it but every day they take new steps. It might be from salsa, or rap. Some have more breakdancing."
The 24-year-old civil engineer is also a big fan of Bollywood movies.
"I love watching them. It takes you to a new world. It's very romantic ... "
Tens of thousands of people turned out for yesterday's festival featuring an Indian fashion show, traditional food stalls, a fireworks displays and an exhibition of rangoli artworks.
Working away from the crowds, one of India's top rangoli artists attracts a steady stream of admirers.
Abhay Gadkari has been practising the traditional Indian art of creating detailed designs and images using coloured powder for about 30 years.
Sitting cross-legged, Gadkari carefully sprinkles the combination of coloured marble scrap and sand. He has already spent 15 hours producing the picture-perfect replica and will work on it for another four or five hours.
"Patience is as much a requirement as a batsman looking for a century," he says.
But the meticulously crafted work cannot be moved and Gadkari says it saddens him every time he has to leave a work behind.
"If anybody can come up with a technique of preserving them it would be good."
Five days in October
* Diwali is known as the Festival of Lights and is one of the most popular Indian festivals.
* It is celebrated to welcome in the New Year.
* It also symbolises the vanquishing of darkness that engulfs the light of knowledge.
By REBECCA WALSH
Packed inside Auckland's Mahatma Gandhi Centre, hundreds of pairs of eyes are mesmerised as Bollywood comes to town.
On stage, dancers dressed in saris and gold jewellery move to the energetic sounds of techno-styled Bollywood music. Younger members of the audience, unable to keep still, make up their
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