Zeenie Baby in the Office of Homeland Security Security

Desilicious started by word of mouth in the momentous September of 2001. The venue was a nightclub called Pepper in Tribeca, a gentrified belt in downtown Manhattan. Five years on, it’s a cult hot spot.

The monthly party still hasn’t made it to The New Yorker listings, but neither has Bollywood Disco, Rekha Nights at Times Square or Pooja Narang’s Bollywood dance classes. Like most NY subcultures, Bollywood nights are drawing a variety of New Yorkers with an ear for new sounds. This party season, Hindi film music is being touted as the city’s definitive fringe pop flavour.

Jay Dabhi is the resident DJ at Earth, a Manhattan nightclub that opened this January. Its kitschy retro-Bollywood interiors and Hindi house music has replaced Mumbai, a similar nightclub that closed its doors last year because it confused Bollywood with bhangra. ‘‘Bhangra is slowly losing its South Asian identity. Bollywood music is the next big thing because it’s dance floor friendly. I know for sure that Kajra Re is going to be a remix favourite in New York,’’ says Dabhi.

It’s also an exciting season for DJ Rekha, the woman responsible for importing bhangra into the US from the British Underground in the early ’90s. Her other lesser-known monthly gig, Bollywood Disco, at Blur, in SoHo, has an eclectic following, from desi professionals to European expats. Her year-end list includes Ramba Ho, Mehbooba Mehbooba and Kajra Re. ‘‘The retro Bollywood tag works because of the growing awareness of Hindi films in the US. I’m planning to mix these songs with Western disco tunes of the ’80s,’’ says Rekha.

At the recent anniversary bash of Bollywood Disco, Bappi Lahiri was supposed to make a dekko, but backed out at the last minute. A young Russian immigrant replaced him. In a buttoned-down orange shirt, he had fake gold chains hanging from his neck and a pair of gold-rimmed dark glasses covering his eyes. He hoped to meet his idol, but didn’t return entirely disappointed. The Russian claimed his moment under the lights with a faux performance of Yaad Aa Raha Hai from the 1982 Mithun-starrer Disco Dancer.

A handful of New Yorkers of South Asian import keep the Bollywood piston churning in the city. Sholay Productions of Desilicious fame was born in the Chelsea apartment of Ashu Rai, a California-born professional who DJs at these parties. She doesn’t understand Hindi but her comrade Raj Malhotra (name changed on request) is a Bombay boy who moved to New York in the late ’80s to chase the Wall Street dream. A financial consultant, he boasts that his “number crunching genius” came in handy while sustaining Desilicious parties with a monthly cover charge of $25. He also plans to bring Desilicious to India next year.

Forgive Raj when he justifies the homoerotic undercurrent between Amitabh and Dharmendra in Sholay, for Desilicious is not just about being gay or drag. Half the crowd that queues up outside Pepper is as diverse as any that populates an average New York block—young, old, American, butch, drag, Scandinavian, Indian. Atif Toor, a Pakistani professional, is the third member who designs the parties. Director Mira Nair attended one of these with her husband Mahmood Mamdani. ‘‘It’s strange how much you love Hindi film music when you’re away from India. It’s nostalgia combined with a heightened sense of identity, and the best part is that the crowd is so mixed,’’ says Nair.

The latest entrant to this coterie is a 28-year-old student of choreographer Saroj Khan. Pooja Narang, Miss Canada-India two years ago, moved to New York in 2004 to start Bollywood Axion, a dance institute. Non-desis often enroll to amuse themselves, until Narang takes over: “I want to promote film dance as a fusion form, combining facial expressions and body movements. By the third session, most of my students are seriously into it.” Bollywood Axion dancers are a fixture at most Bolly parties in the city, their costumes tailor-made and attitude no less gung-ho than item girl wannabes in Mumbai’s film studios.

But the poignant, most compelling figures in this thriving subculture are the drag queens, known to some as NY’s Bollywood Drag Queens. A make-up artiste, a retail shopkeeper or a Wall Street clerk by day, they morph into larger-than-life performers as the sudden flood of lights makes a cheering claim over Manhattan. Zeena, who has a feverish following in the city’s South Asian gay community, hosts Rekha Nights across the city—from Queens to Times Square. Dressed in chintzy Umrao Jaan costumes, eyes kohled dark in a perfect arch and braided hair resting on her fake bosom, she’s Zeenie Baby at Desilicious parties.

Zeena grew up in a Karachi suburb and moved to New York in 1989. Zeena and Bijli, both Pakistani immigrants, lived in Queens, a predominantly South Asian suburb, fighting dichotomies of being gay and Muslim, until Bollywood Disco and Desilicious catapulted them to cult status.

“In the early ’90s, I used to perform at Socca Paradise in Queens but boys used to get rowdy. You know how NY can get.” Zeena’s own performance group, Curry Club, has a New Year’s Eve party lined up. She’s also the star of Desilicious’ Salaam Namaste New Year’s Eve bash. “My song for both would be Dil Cheez Kya Hai—that song was written for me,” Zeena says on an ISD call from a Manhattan phone booth.

It’s a Saturday. Zeena will rush back to her Queens apartment and dress up for that night’s Bollywood Disco bash. She hopes to steal the show, unless, of course, a Bappi Lahiri fan grabs the mike.