http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877020_1877030_1877291,00.html
In 2006, long before Slumdog Millionaire awakened U.S. moviegoers’ inner Bollywood, three Americans of Indian heritage nurtured an instinct that digital Bollywood content would become a hot ticket in the U.S. market.
Today, three-year-old Saavn (an acronym for South Asian audiovisual network) controls global distribution rights, outside India, to a massive number of Bollywood films, songs, albums and music videos, all downloadable to iPods, MP3 players, cell phones and computers. And if consumers in America are captivated by the song-and-dance extravaganzas of Bollywood — the umbrella name for Mumbai’s film industry — Saavn believes its offerings will be attractive marketing tools for U.S. companies. (See pictures of Saavn and its stars.)
Last year Saavn posted revenues in the low seven figures — five times its 2007 numbers — with the largest spurt coming from its music enterprise. The company expects 2009 revenues in the low eight figures, “growth north of 500%,” says Neal Shenoy, one of Saavn’s co-founders, who manages the three other media companies within Saavn’s parent company 212Media. (Saavn is co-owned by Indian company Hungama, a competitor turned partner.) “We had no idea how quickly Bollywood and India would penetrate American culture,” Shenoy says.