New Delhi, Apr 24: Jaw-dropping action, nerve-wrecking thriller, high glamour quotient and song-and-dance to boot, the Indian Premier League is threatening Bollywood's popularity across the border, according to Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik.

Popular Hindi movies have traditionally, and often stealthily, managed their ways to the other side of the Line of Control. But of late, the Pakistanis have discovered a new source of wholesome entertainment in the form of the ongoing IPL, said Malik.

"People there have lapped it up like movies. It's like enjoying a cinema with popcorn. The three-hour duration (of the matches) also helped to create the craze," Malik, part of the IPL Delhi Daredevils squad, said here on Thursday.

Along with the rest of the people in Pakistan, Malik and his teammates were also hooked on to IPL matches even when they were playing against Bangladesh in the just-concluded ODI series.

"Even when we were playing Bangladesh, we saw the IPL matches in the dressing room," he said.

Malik had no qualms admitting that the IPL's standard was higher than that of Pakistan's recent series against Bangladesh.

"The competition is definitely tougher (in IPL). So many international players are involved and each team can have only four foreigners, so the competition is naturally intense."