Boston Bhangra founder Rohit Bhambi and his brother had an eye-opening experience at a dance competition two decades ago. The competition wasn’t just for Bhangra teams — Bhangra being a globally popular style of South Asian folk dancing — but a range of styles.

“When we saw the Bollywood side it kind of blew our minds,” Bhambi told the Boston Herald. “We focused on folk (dancing). Traditional costumes, traditional steps, everything on the more traditional side with very few gimmicks. The Bollywood side is all thematic with no one specific dance style, costume changes, huge props, big backdrops. It was a completely different world.”

“When I was watching it, I thought I was watching a film,” he added.

Bhambi just had to get a little more of the Bollywood magic. He didn’t give up on Bhangra — far from it, he and his teams have collected plenty of international Bhangra championships. But Bhambi wanted to find a way to expand Boston’s South Asian dance scene to include bright and bold Bollywood so he founded the South Asian Showdown. Flash forward to 2026 and the 17th edition of the competition goes down Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Strand Theatre.

“We might have started with 400 or 500 people, now we get over a thousand every year,” Bhambi said.

The South Asian Showdown also started with just a handful of college teams competing. This year’s edition features nine teams chosen from more than 40 applicants. Local teams include UMass Dhadak, MIT Mirchi and DFD Academy, guests include teams from University of Maryland, UNC Charlotte, and Texas A&M University.

But let’s back up, what exactly is the Bollywood style of dancing? Well, it’s just about anything that a team can string together thematically.

“When I say thematic it could be, say, the Batman theme and the music, choreography, and whole plot based around the Batman theme,” Bhambi said. “And the next theme might be ‘Toy Story.’ So the themes aren’t necessarily Indian themes but ones that are relevant to the general community. Then they use all sorts of music, not just Bollywood, they use Bhangra, they use Garba, they use hip hop, they use Latin. You will see all sorts of different styles of dance mish-mashed together around the theme.”

Bhambi also stresses that the competition is for everyone.

“We really do cater to families, not just for adults,” he said. “We want kids, who we see as the future of dance, to be at these events so they can enjoy it and also be inspired by what these dancers are doing.”

“And it’s not just for South Asians,” he added. “We have people on our teams who aren’t Indian. We want all people to come out and be a part of this.”

The judges will be looking for very specific things to crown the winner. But you can go in green — just as Bhambi did the first time he saw Bollywood in competition two decades ago — and just be wowed. You can even act on the wow factor and vote for your favorite to win the audience award.

For tickets and details, visit southasianshowdown.com