“Joel, are you tall?”

“I’m tall average.”

Vera and I stare at him blankly.

“You know. Like upper middle class.”

Since Kate started going out with Avi (of Indian Mauritius background), she’s become a fan of Bollywood. Bollywood films are fairy tale musical extravaganzas. They are epic (read: long), full of spontaneous singing and dancing. They are always love stories with happy endings — all without the audience ever seeing the lovebirds kiss, let alone “get it on”.

However, the new Bollywood film Salaam Namaste shows (or at least suggests) the main characters going all the way. The blatantcy is unprecedented.

Unsuspecting, Kate and Avi went to the Thursday night showing of Salaam Namaste. Kate described it to me. “The movie is set in Australia. The main characters are like, kissing, which was shocking enough. But then they go into a white gauzy tent on top of a hill. You can’t see anything but you can see the shadows! You could see what was going on. CONTROVERSY! I hissed to Avi, ‘Close your eyes! Close your eyes! …Otherwise, take notes.’ It was so romantic…”