Nightwatch: Bollywood NIGHTS

Club music can get a bit stale, can it not? There's only so much Soulja Boy a person can take. But if you look hard, you'll find some gems in our little club scene.

One of the best and most musically explosive is the monthly Bollywood/bhangra dance night hosted by Nasha Entertainment.

Once a month, two DJs -- Nittin Bhalla and his brother Amit -- pack a different nightclub with young professionals from the Twin Cities' Indian community looking to unwind. The major pull is the music: big, anthem-like Indian club music that might sound faintly familiar to American clubbers, but also dramatically different. Soulja Boy, it ain't.

There's nothing like seeing DJ Nittin drop a song that's never been played on commercial radio, and suddenly have hundreds of amazingly well-dressed people going crazy on the dance floor.

See for yourself tonight, when Nasha Entertainment celebrates three years of bringing Indian dance music to the Twin Cities with a party at Envy in downtown Minneapolis.

Bhalla, 28, a stock analyst by day, dance-party DJ by night, began throwing small parties while at college in Wisconsin, where his parents still live ("Go, Packers," he said). When he moved from Madison to the Twin Cities after graduation, he found few events where the metro's young Indian community could come together and party.

Thus, his Desi parties were born. Three years later, they draw 200 to 400 people every month, and not just Indians, but people from Nepal and Tibet, and your average clubgoer, too. (The term Desi -- pronounced "Dai-see" -- might be unfamiliar, but it's commonly used instead of "Indian" within the community. "You won't hear anybody say 'There's an Indian party going on. We'll say 'Desi,'" Bhalla said.)

Now about that music. One thing you should know about Indian pop culture is that it's all about the music. And much of the music comes from the hundreds of movies churned out each year by Bollywood, India's film industry. India supposedly produces more major movies than any other country, and musicals dominate the list. Bhalla said this year's biggest song is "Beedi," a fast-paced folksy pop hit featured in the film "Omkara," an Indian version of Shakespeare's "Othello." While the movie bombed at the box office, the soundtrack was a smash, as is often the case for Bollywood productions.

But Bollywood music isn't the only style dominating the dance floor here. There's also bhangra. Its booming sounds are familiar to American listeners as the drum-heavy beat co-opted by hip-hop artists such as Missy Elliot and Timbaland, who mined the style for the hit "Get Ur Freak On."

While the main bhangra instrument, the dhol (a two-sided barrel drum), is actually quite old, contemporary bhangra has became a favorite in India's Punjabi region (where it originated) and among Indians in the U.K. Artists there such as Panjabi MC, who has worked with Jay-Z, have found breakout success. The style has become especially popular for its remix capabilities. Britney Spears even had a bhangra remix on her 2003 album "In the Zone."You can dance to anything if you put that dhol beat on it," Bhalla said. "You could even take a Frank Sinatra song and put that dhol beat on it."

While Bhalla and his brother often DJ the nights themselves, they've developed enough clout to bring in Bollywood and bhangra artists from overseas. Last year, bhangra/Bollywood star Bally Sagoo performed to a capacity crowd at Trocaderos.

"That one was huge," Bhalla said. "Nobody has ever really thought of Minneapolis as a city that could host those types of artists."

For larger events like the Sagoo show, Bhalla often teams with others among the Twin Cities' few Desi promoters, including Desi Productions and ProVibe DJs.

Beyond the music, regulars say, the monthly parties are the best place to meet other young people in the local Indian community, which is quite diverse.

Ankita Patel, 27, of Maplewood, is originally from Kenya, which has a large Indian population. She's gone to these dances since they began and has met other Indians from Kenya there -- something she didn't think she'd do in Minnesota.

"I think I made most of my friends from going to these parties," said Patel, who works as a clinical research associate at a medical firm.

Tonight's party also will celebrate Diwali, a major holiday throughout India. "It's equivalent to Christmas or New Year's," Bhalla said.

Patel said she's looking forward to it because, without any relatives in Minnesota, it's her chance to celebrate Diwali with people of a similar background.

"It's always a good turnout," Patel said. "You'd think that if they have these so often, the parties might die down. But that's never the case. People are always waiting to go to the next one."

thorgen@startribune.com • 612-673-7909