Again, this should come as no surprise, but women dominate the international non-Indian fandom. This is closely related to exactly which genre of films this fandom finds most appealing. The post-2000s Shahrukh Khan vehicles are aimed at a female and family audience. In contrast, the films of Amitabh Bachchan from the 70s, or the films of Salman Khan currently, are aimed at a male audience. In terms of internet fandom in general, as I am sure we are all aware, misogynistic communities are a real threat. Bollywood is no exception, it you read the comments on youtube trailers or Indian newsites, there are constant angry comments and trolling.
However, within the non-Indian fan community, it is a “safe” space. Primarily female, with female concerns being the main talking points (character arcs for female characters, attractiveness of male stars, etc.), the most active and engaged fans, the ones who would respond to my survey, tend to be female. This is not to say that there are not male fans as well who think deeply on these topics, but they are ones who are able to surpass traditional gender roles, or branch out from the standardized fandom of Shahrukh/2000s films and instead find the more obscure (for a Western audience) male oriented films of the type mentioned above.
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