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When I was a little girl, I loved watching Bollywood films. I loved the colors, the drama, the caricatures and most of all, the songs, which were complete with high-energy, boys-versus-girls choreography.

Being from an Indian family, I had access to hundreds of these movies on videotape. I just couldn’t get enough of them no matter how formulaic they were.

Boy meets girl, one family doesn’t approve, the pair overcomes some form of adversity and somehow eventually live happily ever after in a whirlwind of song and dance and bangles and bindis. There is usually a villain and a subplot that escalates into a fist fight, accompanied with the customary punching sound effect that resembles a gunshot more than the sound of fist on flesh.

As I grew older and became more Westernized, I left Bollywood behind and started to prefer films that I considered more artistic and songs that I felt were more thoughtful.

Since those days, nothing that I’ve watched on the silver screen or on TV has given me that same sheer and utter glee.

But it seems that the Obama girls in the White House are experiencing the same glee that I did when I was their age. They’re not watching Bollywood films, though — they’re watching Fox’s “Glee.”

The Obama gleeks, as the TV show’s fans are called, must have done some tugging at Mama Obama’s sleeve, because the whole cast of the show is set to perform at the White House for Easter next month.

The American TV show, which airs in Indonesia on Star World, seems to have gleeks all around the world enchanted and entertained. Like those films I once watched with such delight, “Glee” is full of color, drama, hit songs and killer choreography.

The show is about a high school club of song and dance enthusiasts whose performances become intertwined with their capricious teenage dramas. They sing and dance to disco, classic Broadway numbers and recent hit songs by artists like Rihanna and Avril Lavigne.

Just as every Bollywood film has its token villain, “Glee” has Sue Sylvester, a gym teacher and coach of the Cheerio cheerleaders, who is out to sabotage the Glee Club, as well as its leader, Spanish teacher Mr. Shuester.

Principal Figgins is like a Bollywood film’s jester. He is a straight-faced man of action with hilarious one-liners and very suspicious skeletons in the closet. And with his Pakistani accent, he comes across like he was plucked straight out of Bollywood.

But why exactly do viewers lap up such formulaic entertainment, week after week? Or India’s case, for decades on end? Perhaps it is a combination of knowing what format to expect and the anticipation of what sing-along tunes will come up.

In India, which has the largest film industry in the world, even the poor go to the movies. Many movie theaters offer cheap tickets, and even if it means digging deep, plenty of poor Indians shell out their rupees to see their idols perform.

It’s a chance to escape. What better escapism is there for the have-nots than one that includes not just color and beauty, but songs and storylines that offer a sense of justice and hope?

Perhaps it’s not so different in the developed world, particularly in the United States. As many now have to tighten their belts, “Glee” is their weekly hour of escapism. It helps viewers forget about their day and allows them to believe that all the world is a stage and that maybe, just maybe, everyone has their part.

If you’ve ever felt like a misfit, “Glee” is on your side. In this world, being unusual or an outcast is celebrated. The Glee Club has nerds, a marginalized gay guy, a wheelchair-bound dancer, an overweight diva and a pregnant cheerleader.

And there must be a lot of us who identify with these oddballs because the show’s ratings are through the roof. “Glee” won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy in January and gleeks, including Indonesian ones, seem to be popping up all around the world and uniting online.

But if you don’t identify with these misfits and if the singing and dancing irks you a little, you can still embrace the show’s spirit and find something else that charms you. After all, everyone deserve a little glee.

 

Angela Dewan is a freelance journalist based in Jakarta.