FILM FLAM: The atrium design at Selfridges echoes the ambience of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam; concept of a banana window (middle) and a corn window (Below)

The Bollywood buzz perhaps began to build from Moulin Rouge, when Baz Luhrmann fell to the charm of the Mumbai film world and included a China Gate number in his film. Then Aamir Khan's Lagaan wooed the British audience, readying them for Andrew Lloyd Webber's serving of Bombay Dreams. Now a willing London audience is afflicted by "Rahmania"-a taste for virtuoso A.R. Rahman's music.

The coming summer has much more in store for those who live in Britain. As the heat builds up for an Indian invasion, movies, theatre, shopping malls, television, books and events will roll out the magic mantra of Bollywood.

Selfridges, which has about 17 million shoppers a year, is offering Indian-style masti and mayhem. The quiet elegance of the huge department store on Oxford Street will undergo a grand Bollywood makeover to offer fashion, food, furniture-you name it-from India.

"I think we understand now that clean lines, simplicity and order can never really be fixed-life just isn't like that," says Vittirio Radice, chief executive of Selfridges. "The time has come to explore a new attitude and for us to have fun in a world in which there is a place for everything and where anything goes. So, it will be goodbye to the niceties of taste, to carefully defined categories and restraint. Expect something different and because this is Bollywood, expect it to be on an epic scale."

India this summer is going to be kingsize. Take a Karma Kab-that oh-so-Indian Ambassador car with its interior done up to reflect spiritual themes-to go to Selfridges and get an Indian "Dream Girl" look. Pop into W.H. Smith to buy a book on Bollywood and check out the Indian play in West End while munching on aloo-chaat. And don't miss the posters of Bend It Like Beckham on city buses.

National Film Theatre, West End, Bond Street, South Bank and the television channels are preparing to offer colours, flavours, the emotive outpourings and opulent sets that characterise Bollywood.

May will be Selfridges' India month, in which it expects over one million visitors. Acclaimed fashion and interior designers, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, will recreate at Selfridges the home of Dimple Kapadia-Bollywood's siren of yesteryear. Reshma Patel, 28, set to tie the knot in October, is gung-ho about the Selfridges summer makeover. "I love Indian decor. We are going to decorate the house we have bought in East London. I sure can use some inspiration from how stars furnish their houses," she gushes.

Bollywood and the beauty business go hand in hand. Selfridges' Beauty Hall is specially designed as a technicolour Bollywood boudoir where young and old wannabes will be transformed into Bollywood divas with the help of make-up artists and their magical brushes.

HOT AND HAPPENING

REHMAN & A.W. LLOYD Andrew Webber Lloyd's Bombay Dreams set to A.R. Rahman's music offers young British Asians the chance to prove their mettle in mainstream arts.

DIMPLE KAPADIA Designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla will recreate the home of the star, complete with the study and the powder room.

NITIN C. DESAI After the sets for Lagaan, Desai is lending a hand at giving Selfridges the Bollywood colours, glamour and making the dreams that go with it come alive.

FILM MANIA Gurinder Chadha's Bend it like Beckham (right) will set the pace in the releases that the British Film Industry (BFI) has planned for the summer. Other Indian flavours include Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding and a relaunch by Sony of Amir Khan's Oscar nominated Lagaan.

Bollywood fashions complete the transformation. On display will be designs of traditional craftsmanship and techniques, married with modern silhouettes. Indian designers who will showcase their wares include Manish Malhotra, Rohit Bal, Rina Dhaka and others who have played a role in the glamour industry. Raves Delhi designer Aki Narula, whose clothes with a "funky, bohemian, peasant" attitude have already been shipped: "It will be the first time Indian designers will be seen alongside global brands in a foreign store. If sales happen favourably, Selfridges will be a home for Indian couture."

Original items worn by stars in Bollywood films will also be on display on the lower ground floor. "Bollywood is today the popular face of Indian culture for the world," says David Abraham of the Delhi-based designer-duo Abraham and Thakore.

Nitin Desai, who designed the sets of Lagaan and is instrumental in Selfridges' new look, explains that the designing basically focuses on four areas: the entrance canopy, the central atrium, the Food Hall and the Premiere Restaurant. A collage of Indian film images, old and new, welcomes the visitor at the entrance canopy. It is complete with "auspicious garlands" and a peacock decoration.

The concept of the atrium, he continues, "is based on romance in Indian films. Many of the features are seen in the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam-an award winning film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali for which I designed the sets. There are elements like the marigold floor and blue velvet cloth with mirrors on it depicting the night sky. In front, we have the sun and three layers of yellow, orange and red cloth all in rich velvet depicting the sun rising. Rich red curtains the length of the entire atrium will give Selfridges the look of an Indian palace in its entire glory."

Desai's Food Hall is all about fruits, inspired by Bollywood dream sequences. Over 20 chefs handpicked from India will bring their skills and specialities to provide an authentic experience of food and drink, while chefs from London will combine to offer unusual dishes and products.

The traditional tiffin box-a feature of daily life in Mumbai where over 100,000 boxes are individually distributed each day to office workers through an effective delivery system using dabbawallas-will also be on offer. At Selfridges, the tiffin boxes will be filled to the customer's choice or one may pick from a set menu such as chicken curry, rice and bread.

The Premiere Restaurant is a Mughal concept and will offer a menu of west coastal cuisine with specialities from Mumbai, Goa and Kerala under direction of chefs Ananda Soloman and Aylur V. Sriram. For two weeks, the accent will be on regional cuisine under Hemant Oberoi and Vikram Sunderam. A food garden café will recreate street food specialities dhaba style. Kulcha (stuffed bread) will be served from the back of a bicycle-cart especially flown in from India for the Bollywood month.

Even after the month-long shopping fest, Bollywood fans and fresh aficionados can still have their fill of Hindi films. Commercial and art house cinemas from the subcontinent will feature at the National Film Theatre which will host ImagineAsia-an eight-month long film festival starting at the end of April. Over 300 South Asian films will screen at UK cinemas during ImagineAsia. The Bollywood offerings will include Devdas, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, Kitne Door ... Kitne Paas, among others.

An impressive collection of film posters called Bollywood in Love is touring art venues in London, Bradford, Bristol and Birmingham as part of ImagineAsia. The posters highlight Bollywood romances from the 1950s to the present day.

Bollywood is invading West End as well. The lead cast of Webber's Bombay Dreams set to Rahman's music is already performing at various events and getting good reviews for its ballads and duets. The script by comedienne and author Meera Syal, relates well with the British audience. The project is also giving young British Asians a chance to prove their mettle in the mainstream arts scene as Bombay Dreams offers a wonderful opportunity for jazz and dance numbers.

Out of India, Out of Africa, by leading theatre company Tara Arts, brings one back to reality. The play charting the life of a group of Asians who left India for East Africa and then moved to the UK, will do a national tour that will cover eight major cities in Britain.

The Indian flavour continues in the British Film Industry(BFI) releases. Gurinder Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham has been hailed as the "truly hit British comedy since Bridget Jones Diary". Also, Asif Kapadia's award-winning feature film, The Warrior, is set to be released in the summer. Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding is still playing in cinemas and Lagaan is to be relaunched across Britain by Sony.

There are over seven British films in the pipeline to be launched this year, all hoping to duplicate the success of East is East. The BFI will also re-release the classic Mother India and Mughal-e-Azam in UK cinemas.

Asians are proving an attractive audience for mainstream television channels. BBC Four has slotted a number of Asian programmes such as choreography in Indian cinema. The Making of Bombay Dreams by Nasreen Munni Kabir and a series on Bombay called Bombay Blush will feature on BBC One. Channel Four will show a series on women in Indian films.

Bollywood-based events remain ever popular. Hrithik Roshan is to set the Docklans on fire one summer evening in a show by Farhat Hussain-known for bringing Bombay stars to London.

Indian agencies keen to expand their Bombay business to Britain are also moving in. Says K. Arora, director of Stance Media Group from Mumbai: "The events scene in the UK is hotting up but there is a dearth of quality programmes. We can use our expertise and experience to provide quality programmes here."

In the world of publishing, books on India, Bollywood and Indian sagas are likely to flood in: BFI has commissioned Cinema of Interruptions by Lalitha Gopalan, Yash Chopra by Rachael Dwyer and Mother India by Gayatri Chatterjee to be published by April end. Britain is also eagerly awaiting the launch of The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru.

It's going to be a long hot seductive summer in London. Curry may have started the Britsh romance with Indian delights. But that was just the beginning. Bollywood looks all set to seal the love affair for good.