Two of Bollywood's biggest stars, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, did touch down in Times Square last Friday night, as their film opened around the world. Director of the film Mani Ratnam and AR Rahman, who composed music for the film, were also present.

Guru is the story of Gurukant Desai, a villager who becomes a polyester mogul. At the vast AMC Empire 25 theatre on West 42nd Street, it got a high-profile American debut that many said was unusual for a movie without the apparent crossover credentials of a Bollywood film like Bride and Prejudice.

Things are changing for Indian cinema. Seven Hindi-language films each made more than $2 million last year at the United States box office. Only one of them, Water, had an American distributor.