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On Thursday, a big-budget Bollywood action-thriller called Jawan will premiere in cinemas across India, where the film has seen record-breaking advance sales, and thanks to the persistence of Eureka resident Alpesh Natha, the movie will also be showing at the Broadway Cinema in Eureka.

Natha, who was born and raised in Eureka to parents of Indian descent, has been emailing management of the Oregon-based theater chain Coming Attractions over the past two years, urging the company to bring Bollywood films to the local community — the whole community, really, but especially those who trace their roots back to South Asia.

“The South Asian community in Del Norte and Humboldt counties, it’s more intimate — it’s not like the Bay Area or the big city where there are thousands of people of South Asian descent,” Natha said. This small size binds the local folks of South Asian descent together. “We like to have things for our community that speak our languages,” as Natha put it.

His parents actually moved to Eureka from South Africa in 1978, joining a wave of migration from the Indian state of Gujarat, in particular. During the 1970s and ‘80s, many from this region moved to the United States to open businesses, often going into the hospitality industry.

“A lot of motels in Humboldt and Del Norte are owned by Indians who flocked here during that movement,” Natha said.

Over the past 45 years, Natha’s parents have seen the size of the local South Asian population fluctuate, but the community has remained tight-knit, often organizing its own social events. However, they’ve been lacking for movies on the big screen.

“When we were growing up, Bollywood movies were strictly for people who spoke Hindi,” Natha said. “Now, well … interest has grown among all ethnicities. And now they have subtitles. When we grew up, I don’t remember subtitles. So [now], people who are rusty [speaking Hindi] can watch Bollywood movies and enjoy the language.”

People who’ve never been to Asia can enjoy them, too, he added. “They can learn about the culture in India and see what things are like over there.”

Based in Mumbai, the Hindi cinema industry (nicknamed Bollywood) is a commercial juggernaut, producing hundreds of movies annually, many of which feature elaborately choreographed musical numbers, big-budget action set pieces and state-of-the-art computer effects. 

Last year’s RRR, for example, an anti-colonial action drama in the Indian language of Telugu (meaning it’s not technically a Bollywood film, though it bears some similarities), is a maximalist epic that grossed $160 million worldwide and landed on several U.S. critics’ “best films of the year” lists. (It rules, in case you haven’t seen it.)

Hoping to see some of that Bollywood spectacle on local movie screens, Natha kept emailing Coming Attractions. During the COVID pandemic, while the movie industry sputtered, company reps told Natha that they were having trouble get a hold of distributors of Hindi cinema.

One of several posters for Jawan.

“But then, magically, like a month ago, they called and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got a movie! Tell your people!’” Natha recalled. Now, he’s hoping lots of locals show up to see Jawan, which promotional materials describe as “a high-octane action thriller” that pits a man out to rectify society’s wrongs against “a dreadful monstrous outlaw who knows no fear.”

In India, big-budget movies are often released around major holidays, when crowds flock to theaters. The release of Jawan, which stars mega-popular Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, coincides with Janmashtami, a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of the deity Krishna.

Natha hopes Coming Attractions will program its next Bollywood film during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, which arrives in late November.

“So we really need people go come out and watch it,” Natha said, referring to Jawan. “Anyone who enjoys cinema, come out. … Make it successful so the Broadway keeps bringing Bollywood movies here.”

You can watch the trailer for Jawan (with iffy English subtitles) below. The first showing at the Broadway will be on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 11 a.m. with additional screenings scheduled throughout the week.