Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan sang the praises of cheesy song and dance numbers and bell-bottom slacks in an impassioned defence of Indian commercial cinema at the Berlin Film Festival.

In town to promote his 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om, Khan on Friday argued that the gratuitous musical numbers and melodramatic plot twists that often turn foreign audiences off his films were, for him, their greatest strength.
“It’s kitschy. There’s no denying that,” he said.
“It’s a lot of colour. It’s a little louder than loud. But that’s the kind of people Indians are. We do express ourselves a little loudly. We get angry louder, cry louder and laugh louder.

“I would like to introduce different aspects of my country, without apologising about the fact we make a certain type of cinema,” Khan said.

Rather than mainstream Indian films learning from Hollywood, he believes that  Western blockbusters should consider borrowing from Bollywood, and put storytelling before special effects.
‘No Hollywood role’

Khan said he had no illusions about his prospects of ever getting a Hollywood role, and confessed no real interest in even looking for one. “I’m 42 years old. I’m a little bit brown. There is no space or place for me,” he said.  But with mainstream Indian films receiving more exposure abroad , Khan acknowledges that his industry will be forced to make some compromises for the overseas market.