Who are you?

Name - Nicki

Alias - ApunBindaas

Location - Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Nationality - American

Ethnicity - Hmong

Fave Bollywood working actor by talent - Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kay Kay Menon, Manoj Bajai

Fave Bollywood working actress by talent - Konkona Sen Sharma, Kajol, Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta
Fave Bollywood stars, in general - John Abraham, Bipasha Basu

Fave Bollywood oldies star - Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Kumar Gaurav, Hema Malini, Zeenat Aman, Tina Munim, Rati Agnihotri

First Bollywood film - Seeta Aur Geeta

Fave Telugu stars - Allu Arjun, Siddarth, Genelia, Kamalinee Mukherjee
Fave Tamil) stars - Surya, Sneha

First Telugu film - Bunny

First Tamil film - En Swasa Katre

First Kannada film - Julie
First Marathi film - Savarkhed Ek Goan

Yes, I am really non Desi. I know my knowledge of Bollywood cinema makes many people doubt me. Some people even have mistaken for being from Northeast Indian before. My nationality is Hmong. Most people don't even know what the heck that is. Read here for a Wikipedia article on the Hmong people .

As a little girl growing up in Atlanta, GA, USA, I watched Bollywood movies that were dubbed in Hmong or Thai from my parents. They were huge Dharmendra and Hema Malini fans. Growing up, I later realized that the versions I was watching were only half the size of the original. Most of the songs were cut off. How could they? I love the music and dancing. In my teens, I started to watch only the Bollywood versions, even with out English subtitles. During that time, it was hard to find VHS with English subtitles and DVDs were not popular yet. My mom used to purchase me Stardust magazine (I know, but that was the only magazine available back then, not like it is now - thank goodness for the Internet). When I read about a movie I wanted to see, I would write it down and my mom would rent the movie for me.

As I grew older, my parents became impatient with the English subs and will only watch an Indian movie that is dubbed in Hmong/Thai. My passion for Bollywood cinema never stopped me! I'm more obsess with it than ever.

Now in my early 30's, I started to watch other Indian cinema too - Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, etc (depending on who is in the movie). I started this blog when people ask me about my thoughts. I have many favorite stars but two stars that stand the most to me are Bipasha Basu and John Abraham. I love them for many reasons. Both are well round overall. They may not be the best looking or the best actors but I like them for a combination of looks, personality, charm, acting, etc.

I'm into trendy things. Even though I grew up watching Bollywood, I still love all the movies that are being released nowadays. I generally love anything. I love all the hip things and even traditional films. If you got it, flaunt it. I don't let real life personality interfere with the star's talent on screen. For example, I can not stand Kareena Kapoor's real life personality but I love her films and will watch her films.

The name ApunBindaas was a nickname I have had for a while. I wanted a name that was cool in Hindi. One of my friends told me that I could be Bindaas since I like all the sexy, hot Bollywood hunks and divas. Apun was added on since it was slang and just thought it was cool so I've been using that user id for all the Bollywood message forums.

My main focus on this blog is to talk about films that are generally known as "underrated" or "underappreciated." Or even just not those huge blockbuster hits. Of course, I will have some post on huge hits.

Wanna know anything else? Just ask away.

My blog on my Hmong peeps.