The economic miracle is transforming life on the subcontinent – and challenging established mores. Krishnan Guru-Murthy sees a nation searching for a new identity

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has always been obsessed by Indian movies. They have punctuated her life, marking marriages, divorce, births and deaths. In this passionate memoir, she explains how her dreams were made in Mumbai – but why she now despairs for the industry she loves

It's been great setting out on this new adventure with The Independent to bring you some of the biggest Bollywood stars for the last couple of months. As 2009 (and the decade!) draws to a close, I've lined up a couple of real treats.

The Caponata opened in April on the site of the old Café Delancey, in the heart of trendy Camden. I remember the Café from years ago, mainly for the crepuscular gloom of its candlelit dining areas, regularly filled with whispering couples planning some act of colossal infidelity. At lunchtime, light would pour in like a blessing on to the heads of more innocent eaters, but the evenings were mostly devoted to spicy romance and low, urgent voices.

In my last podcast, you heard my interview with Kareena Kapoor. Picking up where we left off and having now seen the movie Kurbaan, which is one of the most powerful, thought-provoking, slickest and intense pieces of cinema I've seen this year, this week, you can hear my interview with Saif Ali Khan - the movie's protagonist, Kareena's real life partner and general Bollywood idol.

Plenty to get our teeth into around Indian cinema recently, so just to recap... Tum Mile ("I Met You", Vishesh Films) is a romantic drama set against the backdrop of the Mumbai floods in the summer of 2005.

After two decades of loving him on screen and most recently, wondering how on Earth his pecs managed to grow so big, it was lovely to finally meet Salman Khan in the flesh! He stars with last week's podcast star, Ajay Devgan in London Dreams (Studio 18) which is out now.

Hello again - don't worry, I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth or anything, everyone's allowed to take a couple of days off to celebrate the misery of getting a year older aren't they?

Thank you for the brilliant response to Govinda's interview last time out, it's heartening to know so many of you enjoyed it as much as I did doing it! Well, the festival of lights, Diwali finally arrives this weekend and you'll be hearing no less than 3 massive Bollywood interviews this week!

It's a Bollywood double whammy this week - not surprising since Diwali's on the way; there's always an abundance of releases around this time.

Whether you've always been curious about all this song and dance palaver or you're already an impassioned Bollywood fan, hopefully our new series of Bollywood podcasts and interviews will soon be your number one stop for the latest Bollywood film releases and where you'll come to hear the stars.

This year's Proms programme may be the most wide-ranging yet - so why does it fail to attract a more diverse audience?

Bollywood night has a few bumps