Do North Koreans love Bollywood blockbusters?

The answer might be yes. North Koreans are reportedly watching Bollywood hits, such as Bajirao Mastani and Krrish, when they are not celebrating a “successful” hydrogen bomb test. According to a report by The Hindustan Times, the Pyongyang International Film Festival, which is organised every year since 1987, has been screening Indian films for decades. The festival website has a complete list of films screened at the biannual event since its inception. The list mentions Bollywood hits including Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, starring Ranbir Kapoor, and Krrish, starring Hrithik Roshan. Films such as Ram Leela, starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, and Singh Saab the Great, starring Sunny Deol, were screened in the festival in 2014. The festival screened an even a bigger number of Indian films in 2016. The Tamil film Kanavu Variyam, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bajirao Mastani, Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar is Back, SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning and Kangana Ranaut’s “Many Weds Manu Return” (the perils of using Google translate), were screened under the Informative Screening category. Nicholas Bonner, a China-based filmmaker who helps to coordinate the foreign films shown at the festival, told the Guardian through email: “It is a very positive way of cultural engagement and showing North Korean citizens another view on the world. The audiences love them.” Indian films spiked in popularity among the North Koreans in the last few years. The film festival had screened mostly propaganda films for decades. The few international titles that passed the thorough screening process, such as Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it Like Beckham, were heavily censored. Films, like most outside media, are restricted and regulated in North Korea. Foreign made films about the isolated country have even less chance of slipping pass the censor board.