Kerala is a special place. It is the “most chill place” Bree Steele has been in India since she moved here in April 2024.
“Everyone is very good looking, relaxed and kind,” the Melbourne native gushes about the southern Indian state. “You must visit Kerala,” she insists.
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But Bree’s feelings for India go beyond a passing infatuation — it’s pure love. And it all started years ago with Bollywood.
“I was always Bollywood-curious growing up,” she tells Indian Link. “I was drawn to the dancing, the music, the colours and the stories. My favourite director Gurinder Chadha made Bride and Prejudice, which is the perfect gateway film for any Bollywood-curious teenage girl in the West. I remember raving about it!”
A family friend, who worked for a film distributor in Australia, heard Steele and gifted her a stack of Bollywood DVDs.
“The first Hindi film I watched was Chalte Chalte and I’ve loved Bollywood ever since!” Steele confesses how the Shah Rukh Khan classic sealed the deal for her.
Mumbai calling
Currently vacationing in Kerala, Bree’s journey from Melbourne to Mumbai is like a plot straight out of a Hindi movie – a young girl from Australia arriving in Mumbai, eyes full of dreams. What started as a short visit has turned into an extended adventure. Now, Mumbai is where she hopes to find true love, make her mark in Bollywood, and take her podcasting journey to new heights. Bree Steele
“I have always wanted to visit India,” says Steele, who was voted ‘Best Female Presenter Under 30’ by Radio Today in 2020.
Steele has studied media and communications at RMIT and worked in radio and podcasting for eight years.
“Last year, I finally booked a three-week ticket to India and loved every minute of it. I even took an overnight train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai.”
She arrived at 6 am, exhausted, hot and a bit grumpy, but something magical happened.
“I thought, ‘I am going to live here one day!’,” she recalls. “When I got back home to Melbourne, the thought of living in Mumbai excited me even more. I started doing research, making plans and picked an amount of money I would need to save.”
As fate would have it, two weeks later, Steele lost her job at iHeart Podcasts.
“My redundancy payout was the exact amount of money I had budgeted. It felt like all signs were pointing me towards Mumbai, so I booked a flight and here I am.”
Currently, she is living her dream.
“I have never made friends anywhere so easily than in Mumbai,” she says. “Everyone in India is so kind, welcoming and so willing to share their culture. Indian people are so chill, easy going and always down for a laugh and a good time.”
It’s a match
Bree recently became an internet sensation when she made reels about her dating experience in India. Several media outlets featured her hilarious experiences navigating dating apps and events to find ‘Mr. Right’. She’s now got 19K Instagram followers hooked on her updates, especially her stories about dating Indian versus Aussie men!
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“The most striking difference is how men in both the countries flirt with women,” Steele reveals. “Oftentimes, it is hard to tell if an Australian man is flirting with you or not. Since being in India, I’ve realised just how much nonchalance and seeming ‘cool’ is valued in Australia. In India, caring is cool. In Australia, it feels like men are so afraid to come across as uncool or too eager, that when they attempt to flirt it feels confusing and unenjoyable.”
Indian men, she says, are romantic and expressive. “And isn’t that the point of flirting? To communicate that you are interested in someone and want to get to know them better?” she asks. Bree Steele
Steele feels that dating in India seems heavily influenced by Bollywood as well as Western films.
“On dating apps and in my DMs, I love how poetic, creative and romantic so many men’s opening lines are,” she shares. “Their compliments are so specific and original. For all I know it could be a dialogue from a Hindi film. But it is a refreshing change to have someone be so openly enthusiastic and expressive.”
Dil se Desi
Steele spends a lot of her time learning Hindi. Learning the language, she feels, is a great icebreaker for her in India – not just to date Indian men but also to potentially open doors for her in Bollywood. That’s right! Like thousands, Steele too dreams of making it in the film industry.
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“My interest in making it in Bollywood is real, but also mostly a joke,” she tells us. “I know I don’t have the physique to be a white girl back-up dancer. There aren’t many roles for White girls, and I am not in any way racially ambiguous so that definitely limits me.”
Steele goes on to joke what roles fit her the best.
“I know my best bet is to play a nice White lady like in Lagaan, or an annoying Mrs Spritely in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. And you know what? I will take whatever I can get. My dream is to be in a Bollywood film at least once.”
And if she doesn’t make it, Bree Steele says, that’s okay too!
“I have a career that I love as a presenter and podcaster. Either way, I am living the dream!”
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