Bollywood - an Overview of India's Movie Industry Bollywood India's Movie Industry Known as Bollywood DreamPictures/ Taxi/ Getty Images Share By Matt Rosenberg The world's movie capital is not Hollywood but Bollywood. Bollywood is the nickname for the Indian film industry located in Bombay (now known as Mumbai, though Mollywood hasn't quite caught on.) Indians are in love with movies, even though most films follow a similar format called masala (the word for a collection of spices). Movies are three to four hours long (and include an intermission), include dozens of songs and dances (featuring 100 or so choreographed dancers), top stars, the story between the songs of boy meets girl (without any kissing or sexual contact), lots of action (though no bloodshed), and always - a happy ending. Fourteen million Indians go to the movies on a daily basis (about 1.4% of the population of 1 billion) and pay the equivalent to the average Indian's day's wages (US $1-3) to see any of the over 800 films churned out by Bollywood each year. That's more than double the number of feature films produced in the United States.

continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States Although American-made films have been edging into India, only the blockbuster Titanic has ever made India's top five list. One hundred and fifty U.S. films arrived in India in 1998. However, Indian films have become somewhat of an international obsession. Bollywood films are being shown in American and British theaters on a more and more frequent basis. These theaters have become community foci for the South Asian communities around the world. Though separated by a vast distance from home, South Asians have found Bollywood films to be a great way of staying in touch with their culture and their fellow South Asians. Since India is a country of sixteen official languages and a total of twenty-four languages spoken by over a million people each, some portions of the film industry are fragmented. While Mumbai (Bollywood) leads India in film production, its specialty lies with Hindi movies. Chennai (formerly Madras) produces films in Tamil and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the Bengali movie capital. Neighboring Pakistan's Lahore calls itself Lollywood. Bollywood's film production center is a government-owned studio facility known as "Film City" in the northern suburbs of Mumbai.

Bollywood traces its start to 1911 when the first silent Indian feature film was released by D.P. Phalke. The industry boomed and today there are over 250 theaters in Mumbai alone. The stars of Bollywood are very popular and highly paid, considering the budget of the films. The lead star in a film often receives as much as 40% of the US $2 million budget for the typical masala film. Stars may be in such high demand that they're working on ten films at once. Photographs of Bollywood stars grace shop windows and homes throughout the country. Providing three to four hours of escapism is the primary objective of Bollywood and it's a recipe done well. Indian movies are becoming more and more popular around the world so watch for them in theaters and video stores near you. Is it pathetic how the Hindi film industry is called 'Bollywood'? - Quora Quora Movies Is it pathetic how the Hindi film industry is called "Bollywood"? Was it necessary to even copy the name of the American Film Industry? They named it after the geographical location. What is Bollywood's excuse? Why is it still called "Bollywood"?

Shouldn't Indians get some self-respect and get a better suited name? It is a wonderful industry after all, it deserves a better name!! Written Jul 24, 2015 The name "Bollywood" is a portmanteau derived from Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry. However, unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a physical place. Though some deplore the name, arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood, it has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. It is more formally referred to as Hindi Film cinema. PS: Indeed it is pathetic to call Hindi Film cinema as Bollywood. 510 Views Indian Film Industry « Preethi’s Weblog ME Indian Film Industry The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of the ticket sales and the number of films produced annually (877 feature films and 1177 short films were released in the year 2003 alone).India is a large country where many languages are spoken. According to the 1991 Census of India there are about 10,400 ‘raw mother tongues’ in India.

If closely related and mutually comprehensible dialects are grouped, the number can be reduced to 1576 ‘rationalized’ mother tongues, or with even more consolidation, 114 main languages. These 114 languages are the ones surveyed in the Indian census. Indian film producers have made films in thirty of the largest languages. However, only the very largest language groups support major regional industries. These are: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Odiya and Malayalam. Official statistics categorise Indian films according to the languages in which they are distributed. There is a great deal of mobility between the regional industries. Many workers in other regional industries, once their talent and popularity is established, move on to work in other film industries, nationally as well as internationally. For example, A.R.Rahman, one of the best known film music composers in Indian cinema, started his career in Tamil Cinema in Chennai but has since worked in Bollywood, London, and New York. Similarly, films that succeed in one language are often remade or dubbed in others.

Films like Padosa and Roja, for example, were re-made or dubbed from their original Bengal and Tamil versions respectively, into Hindi. Bhojpuri (Purvanchal) film industry Bhojpuri dialects, varieties, and creoles are also spoken in various parts of the world, including Brazil, Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius, South Africa, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many colonizers had faced labor shortages and were unable to obtain slaves from Africa due to the abolition of slavery; thus, they imported many Indians as indentured servants to labor on plantations. Today, many Indians in the West Indies, Oceania, and South America still speak Bhojpuri as a native or second language. The Bengali (Bangla) film industry Satyajit Ray The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first “bioscopes” were shown in theatres in Calcutta.

Within a decade, the first seeds of the industry was sown by Hiralal Sen, considered a stalwart of Victorian era cinema when he set up the Royal Bioscope Company, producing scenes from the stage productions of a number of popular shows at the Star Theatre, Minerva Theatre, Classic Theatre. Following a long gap after Sen’s works, Dhirendra Nath Ganguly (Known as D.G) established Indo British Film Co, the first Bengali owned production company, in 1918. However, the first Bengali Feature film, Billwamangal, was produced in 1919, under the banner of Madan Theatre. Bilat Ferat was the IBFC’s first production in 1921. The New Theatre production of Dena Paona was the first Bengali talkie. A long history has been traversed since then, with stalwarts such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak and others having earned international acclaim and securing their place in the movie history. Today, there are two Bengali film industries, one in Kolkata (Calcutta), India and the lesser known one in Dhaka, Bangladesh (called Dhallywood).

The film industry based in Kolkata is sometimes referred to as Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Tollygunge, the area of South Kolkata where this industry is based, and Hollywood. The Bengali film industry has long centred in the Tollygunge district of Kolkata (Calcutta). Its most famous film director is Satyajit Ray, who won an Oscar for lifetime achievement in cinema. However, Bengali films have always remained the hot favourites among the National Awards jury almost every year since its inception. Some of the most popular Bengali film personalities include Kishore Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Uttam Kumar, Soumitro Chatterjee, and recently Proshenjit. Some of the other Bengalis who have made it big are Ashok Kumar, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Aparna Sen, Suchitra Sen, Hemanta Mukherjee (Hemanth Kumar), Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, and Rituparno Ghosh. The Hindi film industry (Bollywood) The Hindi film industry, based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), is the largest branch of Indian cinema.

Hindi film Industry is often called ‘Bollywood’ (a melding of Hollywood and Bombay). The word “Bollywood” is sometimes applied to Indian cinema as a whole, especially outside South Asia and the South Asian diaspora, but this usage is incorrect. Bollywood has been recently greatly criticized for what critics see as a violation of Indian cultural values and its discussion of controversial topics. It is considered the most liberal out of the Indian language film industries. Regional movies are distinctively different from Bollywood (Hindi) movies, as the stories and themes of these movies portray the culture of the region from which they originate, while most Bollywood movies nowadays are greatly influenced by Western culture. Although Bollywood does not distribute a lot of films, it can be considered to be largest in terms of viewers. It is believed that Bollywood movies are watched by majority of the Indian movie goers. It also has international recognition, especially in Western countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia where there is a large South Asian community. The Kannada film industry The Kannada film industry, based in Karnataka, is sometimes called ‘Sandalwood’, as Karnataka is known for its sandalwood; however, this term does not seem to be in widespread use.

The Gubbi Veeranna Company, or Veeranna’s Sri Chennabasaveshwara Krupa Poshita Nataka Sangha and other groups established themselves first as theatre troupes, and later went on to dominate kannada cinema into the 1960s. “They provided all its key directors like H.L.N . Simha, B. R. Panthulu and G. V. Iyer, its stars led by Rajkumar and Leelavathi and most of its early commercial hits: Bedara Kannappa (1953), for instance. The first big success in Kannada cinema adapted a Gubbi Company stage play written by G. V. Iyer to introduce the mythological adventure movie into that language.” Kannada films has become very popular after the recent hits like Jogi (2005) & Mungaru Male (2007). Mungaru Male has been the first Indian movie to be screened in many European countries.

The Kashmiri film industry The Kashmiri film industry, which had been lying dormant since the release of Habba Khatoon in 1967, was revived after a 39-year hiatus with the release of Akh Daleel Loolech in 2006. However critics dispute this claim because this film was a small budget digital film which did not play in any film theatres except in a few private and film festival screening. Besides Akh Daleel Lolach uses a film style which is common on Kashmiri television and by those standards Kashmiri video makers were making films since early 1980s. Cinema halls had been shut down for a long time in Kashmir, by militants protesting against the New Delhi based Government. There are few cinema halls and a handful of directors have been returning to shoot in the region. Though the region was favoured by many producers as a scenic locale in pre-militancy era Bollywood movies as a romantic backdrop, the regional industry was not very strong, due to lack of finances and infrastructure. The Malayalam film industry. The Malayalam film industry, based in Kerala. Malayalam movies are known for their artistic nature and they frequently figure in the national film awards.

It is also currently known for being the most conservative out of the different film industries in India, despite the fact that it went through a liberal phase in the 80’s. Notable personalities: filmmakers, Padmavibhushan Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Bharathan, Aravindan, Padmarajan, John Abraham; Sreenivasan, Shyamaprasad, Kamal, Renjith scriptwriter, M. T. Vasudevan Nair, Sreenivasan; cinematographer, Azhagappan, Santhosh Sivan, Shaji; actors, Bharath Gopi, Tilakan, Padmabhushan Prem Nazeer, Satyan, Padmashri Mammootty, Padmashri Mohanlal, Padmashri Balachandra Menon; playback singers, Padmabhushan Dr. K. J. Yesudas, Padmasree K. S. Chitra, P Jayachandran, M G Sreekumar and Sujatha. The first 3D film which produced in India was in Malayalam. Its name was My Dear Kuttichatthan produced by Navodaya Productions.

Padayottam, the first fully indigenous 70MM film with all its work done in India was in Malayalam which was also produced by Navodaya. The fist Cinemascope film in the world was produced in Malayalam. Chemmeen was the first film which earned a gold medal from the President from South India.”Guru”, directed by Rajiv Anchal, is the only Malayalam film proposed as the Indian entry by the Indian Film Industry council for Oscar Award so far. The Marathi Film Industry Marathi Film Industry, one of the oldest film industries in India, originated in Nasik, and developed in Kolhapur and Pune. In recent years, it has moved mostly to Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra. Dadasaheb Phalke, recognized as the father of Indian cinema, was a pioneer of movies in Marathi. He produced the first Indian silent movie, and later some Marathi talkies. In his honor, a much coveted “Dadasaheb Phalke Award” is given annually for exceptional contribution to Indian cinema.

1940s and ’50s formed the classical era of Marathi cinema, mainly because of some hallmark productions by the now extinct “Prabhat Film Company” in Kolhapur. As an offshoot of Prabhat, V. Shantaram founded “Rajkamal Studios” in Pune, and produced some excellent Marathi movies in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Because of the rise of Hindi movies in Bollywood, Marathi film industry underwent a decline in the 1980s and ’90s. But recently it has been reviving with some quality movies like “Shwaas” (which earned an official Indian entry for an Oscar award in 2004), “Pak Pak Pakaak” (which won Swarovski Trophy in AFFF, Singapore, in 2005), “Uttaraayan”, “Aga Bai, Arecchaa”, “Shubhamangal Saavdhaan”, and “Saatchya Aat Gharaat”.

Bhalji Pendharkar, Baburao Painter, V.Shantaram, Dada Kondke, Raja Paranjpe, Mahesh Kothare, Smita Talwalkar, Sumitra Bhave, Sunil Sukthankar, Gajendra Ahire, Jabbar Patel, Amol Palekar, and Kedar Shinde are some of the notable directors and producers in Marathi cinema in the past few decades. Modern Marathi actors include Dilip Prabhavalkar, Bharat Jadhav, and Sanjay Narvekar. While some old Marathi movie songs remain popular, new composers like Ajay-Atul have been producing some very popular songs. Some of the old songs have also been remixed. The Tamil film industry (Kollywood) The Tamil film industry (Kollywood), based in the Kodambakkam area of Chennai is one of biggest film industries in India. Popularity and collections wise, the Tamil film industry is third only to the Hindi and Telugu film industries. Tamil films have enjoyed consistent popularity among Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius.

Tamil films also receive fame in countries which contain Tamil immigrant communities such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other European countries. Kollywood remains third to Bollywood in India commercially and financially. Several technicians have crossed industries to encapture National fame such as Mani Ratnam, Selvaraghavan, A. R. Rahman, Shankar, Ravi K. Chandran and Jeeva. However unlike the technical counterparts, artistes from South India tend to fail to break into Bollywood, with only a handful breaking through, them being: Kamal Haasan, Sridevi, Madhavan, Siddharth Narayan and Asin Thottumkal. Ironically, several Bollywood actresses made their débuts in Kollywood, with Aishwarya Rai appearing in Iruvar, Priyanka Chopra in Thamizhan, Lara Dutta in Arasatchi and Sushmita Sen in Ratchagan. Furthermore, several actresses have done Tamil films while struggling to breakthrough in Bollywood, such as Kajol and her sister, Tanisha as well as Amisha Patel. In the Tamil film industry, directors such as K.

Balachander, Shankar, Ameer, Bala, Bharathiraja, Balu Mahendra, and Mani Ratnam have achieved box-office success whilst producing films that have balanced art and popular elements. The Tamil film industry accounts for approximately 1% of the gross domestic product of the state of Tamil Nadu. Costs of production have grown exponentially from just under Rs.4 million in 1980 to over Rs.110 million by 2005 for a typical star-studded big-budget film. Similarly, costs of processing per print have risen from just under Rs.2,500 in 1980 to nearly Rs.70,000 by 2005. There has been a growing presence of English in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see movies that feature dialogue studded with English words and phrases, or even whole sentences. Some movies are also simultaneously released in two or three regional languages (either using subtitles or several soundtracks). Contemporary Tamil movies often feature Madras Bashai, a colloquial version of Tamil spoken in Madras.

A select few, Iruvar and older films based on epics, for instance, employ literary Tamil extensively in dialogues when the situation calls for it. Many Tamil films are also dubbed into Telugu and Hindi and released in their respective states. The Release of Robot Starring Rajini Kanth directed by supremo Shankar is expected to make a history in Indian Cinema. Robot is Director Shankar’s dream project. The Telugu film industry The Telugu film industry is based in Andhra Pradesh’s capital city, Hyderabad is second biggest industry in India after “Hindi” industry. The state also has what is claimed to be the largest film studio in the world, Ramoji Film City. The first studio for Telugu talkies was Vel Pictures, constructed in 1934 by P.V. Das, located at Madras. The first film made here was Sita Kalyanam. The first film made by a Telugu person, R.S. Prakash, was Bhishma Pratigna (The Pledge of Bhishma, 1922). Another important Telugu personality of this era was Y.V.

Rao (1903-1973), an actor and director, whose silent film (directing) credits include Pandava Nirvana (1930), Pandava Agnathavaas (1930) and Hari Maya (1932). The first big movies in Telugu were made by the Surabhi Theatres troupes. They produced the first Telugu talkie, Bhakta Prahlada, directed by Hanumappa Munioappa Reddy in 1931. In the first few years of Telugu talkies, films were all mythological stories, taken from the stage. In 1936, Krittiventi Nageswara Rao made the first Telugu film not based on mythology, Premavijayam. The film influenced other Telugu film-makers into making such films. Some popular themes of these films (often called ‘social’ films) were the feudal zamindari system (Raitu Bidda, 1939), untouchability (Maala pilla, 1938), and widow remarriage.

Since then, there have been both social (contemporary) and mythological or folk stories in Telugu cinema. In the Telugu film industry, directors such as Kasinadhuni Viswanath (K.Viswanath), Ram Gopal Varma, Jandhyala, Krishna Vamsi and Singeetam SreenivasaRao have achieved box-office success whilst producing films that have balanced art and popular elements.Most number of Guinness records are in the telugu industry.Most number of films directed.most films produced by a producer.most number of songs sung by a male singer.and more .telugu Films have large box office collections in United States and England (UK) and most popular among the Indian abroad. Telugu files are also Remaked and Dubbed in other languages like Tamil,Malayalam and Kannada and will be release in respective states. Telugu films are released in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, East Maharastra, Orissa and few parts of West Bengal. Telugu movies are released world wide in United States, Canada, parts of Europe, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore. Bollywood At 100: How Big Is India’s Mammoth Film Industry?

Bollywood At 100: How Big Is India’s Mammoth Film Industry? 05/03/13 AT 1:54 PM Close Bollywood, the name given to India’s Mumbai-based movie industry, is the world’s largest filmmaking entity -- the largest the planet has ever seen. The Indian cinematic tradition commenced exactly 100 years ago with the release of the black-and-white silent film “Raja Harischandra” on May 3, 1913. Of course, the title “Bollywood” did not exist then. [[nid:725635]] "The term Bollywood is an invention of the late 20th Century, after Bombay cinema caught the imagination of the West," Nasreen Rehman, a historian of South Asian cinema, told BBC. There are some misconceptions about India’s huge film colony -- for example, take kissing. While it is true that open-mouthed kissing is largely avoided in Bollywood films even today, it wasn’t always like that.

In 1954, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru received a petition from a group of concerned women who wanted to limit what they viewed as the corrupting influence of films, particularly with respect to the exhibition of "precocious sex habits.” "Post-independence, the kiss vanished into a miasma of prudery and false modesty and a misguided notion of what was Indian culture and tradition and not,” said Shubhra Gupta, film critic for the Indian Express newspaper: In addition, although Bollywood stars become instant pop icons in India, the overwhelming majority of Indians do not even watch their films. According to BBC, Karan Johar, a film director, said: "Of the 1.2 billion population of India, movies should reach out to at least 300 million people [the size of India’s middle class]. But currently, our reach is limited to 45 million. If we figure out how to cover this gap, it will be a game-changer." This means that less than 4 percent of Indians go to the movies regularly.

Moreover, India does not really have that many cinemas for people to go to – less than 13,000, versus almost 40,000 in the U.S. (a country which has only one-fourth of India’s population). Still, with 1,000 films produced annually (about double Hollywood’s output), Bollywood is the world’s most prolific cinema factory. According to the DI International Business Development (DIBD), a consulting unit of the Confederation of Danish Industry, Bollywood generated revenues of $3-billion in 2011 – this figure has been growing by 10 percent a year. By 2016, revenue is expected to reach $4.5 billion. Bollywood gross receipts have almost tripled since 2004. But since ticket prices are so much lower in India than in the US., Hollywood generates much higher revenue – as much as $51 billion annually, according to Bollywoodcountry.com.

Related Stories The War Against Bollywood: Right-Wing Nationalists Threaten India?s Film Industry On the other hand, it might be easier to turn a profit in Mumbai than in Los Angeles – the average Bollywood film costs only about $1.5 million to make, versus $47.7 million for Hollywood. Marketing costs are also significantly lower in India. Outside of India, Bollywood has many fans in neighboring Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, as well as countries with large Indo-Pakistani communities, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, parts of East and Southern Africa and the U.S. Bollywood is even popular in nations with virtually no Indian presence – like Japan, Germany and Russia. DIBD noted, however, a huge salary discrepancy between Bollywood’s elite actors and actresses – the top male stars can command wages as high as $16 million per film (comparable to the most popular western stars), while Indian actresses make no more than $1.5 million per movie. What is Bollywood - Everything about Bollywood BW Help: What is Bollywood What is "Bollywood"? Bollywood is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India.

When combined with other Indian film industries (Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada), it is considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced, and maybe also the number of tickets sold. The term Bollywood was created by conflating Bombay (the city now called Mumbai) and Hollywood (the famous center of the United States film industry). Bollywood films are usually musicals. Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. Indian audiences expect full value for their money; they want songs and dances, love interest, comedy and dare-devil thrills, all mixed up in a three hour long extravaganza with intermission. Such movies are called masala movies, after the spice mixture masala. Like masala, these movies have everything. The plots are often melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers, corrupt politicians, twins separated at birth, conniving villains, angry parents, courtesans with hearts of gold, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. Bollywood song and dance While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers.

Songs are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers with actors lip-synching the words, often while dancing. One notable exception was Kishore Kumar who starred in several major films in the 1950s while also having a stellar career as a playback singer. K. L. Saigal, Suraiyya and Noor Jehan were also known as both singers and actors. Of late, a few actors have again tried singing for themselves. Amitabh Bachchan, who started the trend of non-singing stars at the mike with the runaway hit "Mere Angane Mein" in "Lawaaris" in the mid-80's, continued his toe-dipping in singing with turns in "Silsila", "Mahaan" "Toofan" and more recently in the movies Baghban and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, as well as doing a duet with Adnan Sami in the song Kabhi Nahi (Never). Aamir Khan took a turn singing "Kya Bolti Tu" in Ghulam but only because "the character had attitude that only Aamir could do justice to", according to director Vikram Bhatt.

These forays, while well-received at the time, have not led to real singing careers for either actor. Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go to an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favorites. The composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do. The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on Indian dance: classical dance styles, dances of historic northern Indian courtesans (tawaif), or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals), though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film. The hero or heroine will often perform with a troupe of supporting dancers, usually of the same sex. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a pas-de-deux (a dance and ballet term, meaning "dance of two"), it is often staged in beautiful natural surroundings or architecturally grand settings. What is Bollywood dancing? Bollywood dancing is a commercial name for modern Indian dancing.

It's a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dancing such as Bhangra and sometimes has a Latino and Arabic influence. It's fun and very expressive and there's a lot of deep meaning behind music in the films. You can actually express what the music means, through the graceful movements of the body. Why is dancing so crucial to Bollywood films? People in India have been brought up on musicals and if the music in a film isn't very good, sometimes the movie doesn't sell. Specific producers, such as Yash Chopra, Karan Johar generally produce movies with phenomenal and very emotional songs; hence the dancing comes into play. Choreographers are now starting to take the industry by storm because Farah Khan a famous choreographer recently directed her first movie called Main Hoon Na. This goes to show that people want to see elaborate and funky dance sequences, they don't want pure acting, hence dancing is a crucial. Dialogues and lyrics The film script (frequently credited as "Dialogues") and the song lyrics are often written by different people. The dialogues are mostly written in Hindi, with use of Urdu in situations which require poetic dialogues. Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English.

Dialogues are often melodramatic and invoke God, family, mother, and self-sacrifice liberally. - In the 1975 film Deewar, a dialogue between the gangster brother Vijay and his policeman brother Ravi: Vijay: Hum dono ek hi jagah se apni zindagi ki shuruwat ki thi -- aaj main kaha hoon aur tum kahan ho. Mere paas gaadi hai, bungalow hai, daulat hai -- kya hai tumhaarey paas? We both started our lives from the same place -- look where I am today and where you are. I have cars, bungalows, wealth -- what do you have? <short pause> Introduction to Bollywood - The Bollywood Ticket The Bollywood Ticket Appreciating the artistry of Bollywood is simply a matter of understanding India’s unique way of filmmaking. Our primer explains the basics. What is Bollywood? Bollywood is a term that refers to the Hindi-language film industry based in the Indian city of Mumbai, which used to be called Bombay. Bombay + Hollywood = Bollywood. The term is believed to have been coined by a journalist in the 1970s.

Many Indians take issue with the word because it implies that Bollywood is a lesser version of Hollywood, when in fact, India produces far more films annually that attract far greater audience numbers globally than the U.S. And, the Indian film industry is older than Hollywood—by one year. Are all Indian films produced by Bollywood? No. Bollywood is only one of many film industries in India. Imagine if the U.S. had a thriving Spanish-language film industry that gave Hollywood a run for its money, or regional film industries in Chicago, Atlanta, and Seattle that rivaled L.A.’s. That’s how it is in India. The various Indian film industries are both language- and location-specific. They include Kollywood, which refers to Tamil-language films made in the Kodambakkam district of the city of Chennai; Mollywood, which is Malayalam-language cinema from the state of Kerala; and Tollywood, which refers to both Telugu-language films from the state of Andhra Pradesh and Bengali-language films made in the Tollygunge neighborhood of Kolkata.

While Bollywood and India’s other film industries primarily produce commercial movies, India also has a strong and respected art-film tradition, which is referred to as “parallel cinema.” The delineation between commercial and art film in India is stronger than it is in the U.S. However, that line is beginning to blur as Bollywood is delving into artier projects and Indian art films are aiming for broader appeal. Are all Bollywood films musicals? Most Bollywood films include musical numbers. Today’s movies generally have fewer musical numbers than older films. While 10 musical numbers in a film wasn’t unusual in the past, four to six are more typical today. And more and more Bollywood movies don’t have any musical numbers at all. It’s important to remember that Bollywood films are not musicals in the American sense. Both Broadway and Hollywood are preoccupied with realism, and musicals are, by their nature, unrealistic because no one bursts into song and dance during dramatic moments in real life.

American musicals address this problem by either telling stories about entertainers—Show Boat, A Chorus Line, The Producers, to name a few—and thereby creating a setting in which characters logically sing and dance—or by trying to make musical numbers a seamless part of the action, or as realistic as possible, which requires an enormous suspension of disbelief. Bollywood is not encumbered with adherence to realism, which makes them all the more believable. Bollywood films embrace and openly acknowledge the reality that musicals numbers are artifice and that fantasy is a rich facet of emotional life best expressed through artifice because fantasy isn’t real. Bollywood musical numbers, more often than not, show what characters are feeling or wishing, not what they are actually doing. In these picturizations, as the staging of musical numbers is called, anything is possible, just as anything is possible in the musings of the mind. Picturizations are deliberately unrealistic in order to signal to audiences that they aren’t literal. Do the actors sing the songs? Very rarely. The vast majority of film songs are sung by playback singers, who are famous in their own right. The movie and music industries in India are inextricably interlinked.

Nearly all Indian pop music comes from movie soundtracks. Who are the biggest stars in Bollywood? Click here to read all about the actors who dominate the industry. Why do so many Bollywood actors have the same last name? Are they all related? Nepotism is common in Bollywood and many actors and filmmakers come from family dynasties that have been in the movie business for generations. However, there are many celebrities with the same common surnames, particularly Khan and Kapoor, who are not related. How come there’s no sex in Bollywood movies? Two reasons: social and artistic. Onscreen physical intimacy is frowned upon in India—even kissing is fairly rare. But more importantly, Indian filmmakers are masters of the art of seduction. There may not be any sex in Bollywood movies, but they sure are sexy. In fact, it’s precisely because there’s no sex that they’re filled with so much incredible tension, which is missing entirely from Hollywood movies these days. In the words of film critic Roger Ebert, “it is less erotic to snoggle for 60 minutes than spend 60 seconds wondering if you are about to be snoggled.” He was talking about Bollywood.

Sometimes Bollywood musical numbers act as a substitute for sex, depicting it not in any crass, overt way, but implicitly, even metaphorically. The characters are often so carried away with passion that they suddenly appear in exotic locations around the world—the pyramids of Egypt, the canals of Venice, the mountains of Switzerland—places that have nothing to do with the plot but have everything to do with the limitlessness of fantasy. Why are Bollywood films so long? For starters, Indians are used to longer forms of entertainment. Cricket matches last for days. So do Indian weddings. A three-hour movie isn’t long at all in comparison. Also, Indians tend to be value-conscious. They expect a full afternoon or evening of entertainment for the price of a ticket. But the biggest reason Bollywood films are long is artistic. The time commitment required of the audience heightens their emotional investment in the story. (The same is true of operas, which are often as long or even longer than Hindi films.) The effect can be powerfully moving, even for Americans accustomed to shorter films. Bollywood movies are getting shorter, though, mostly because there are fewer musical numbers than there used to be.

While three and a half hours was once typical, three hours or less is now the norm. What’s the biggest artistic difference between Bollywood and Hollywood? In a word: “masala.” The concept of masala is key to understanding Bollywood films. It’s a culinary term that means “spicy mixture.” Masala filmmaking combines more than one genre in the same movie, blending elements of comedy, romance, action, and drama. The goal is to appeal to as many people as possible. That way there’s something for everyone in every film—the grandparents, the parents, the teenagers, the little kids—because Indians often go to the movies as a family. Hollywood filmmakers do the opposite—they do super-narrow niche marketing to target the demographic groups they think are the most profitable (and then ignore everyone else). One exception to this might be the James Bond movies, which have been enormously successful for decades. There’s action, of course, romance, some campy comedy, and even a little melodrama when James feels bad about his best friend betraying him or his latest lover dying in his arms. That’s not to say that all Bollywood films are masala.

Many strictly fall into one genre or another, but even then, there’s often a dash of masala thrown in. Do Bollywood actors work in Hollywood? Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the first Indian actor to significantly crossover to the West. She appeared in The Mistress of Spices (2005) with Dylan McDermott, The Last Legion (2007) with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley, and Pink Panther 2 (2009) with Steve Martin. She has also garnered more high-profile publicity in the West than any other Bollywood actor, having appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and 60 Minutes. Two Bollywood actors appeared in the Oscar-winning British film Slumdog Millionaire (that’s right, it’s a British film): Anil Kapoor , who played the sleazy game-show host, and Irrfan Khan, who played the police interrogator. Kapoor has since appeared in the hit American television series 24, which starred actor Kiefer Sutherland, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise.

Prior to Slumdog Millionaire, Khan appeared in the English-language films The Namesake (2006), A Mighty Heart (2007), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). Do Hollywood actors work in Bollywood? Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards made cameo appearances in the Bollywood film Kambakkht Ishq in 2009. British actor Sir Ben Kingsley—best-known for his Oscar-winning performance as the famous Indian independence leader in Gandhi (1982)—appeared in his first Bollywood film, Teen Patti, in 2010. Western musicians are breaking into Bollywood, too. American rapper Snoop Dogg performed on the title track of Singh is Kinng in 2008 and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue performed a song in Blue in 2009. Senegalese-American music star Akon recorded a song for the soundtrack of the superhero-action film Ra.One . Does anyone outside of India watch Bollywood movies? Yes! Bollywood has fans all over the world. It’s big in other parts of South Asia, of course—Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka—as well as the rest of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Bollywood is beloved in Australia, the home of director Baz Lurhmann (of Moulin Rouge fame), who’s a Bollywood filmmaker in spirit. Bollywood movies are routinely in the box-office top 10 in the U.K. And Bollywood is all the rage in Brazil (thanks to a hit Indian-themed television show there, called Caminho das Indias.) Finally, Bollywood is huge in Canada, particularly in Toronto, which has a large Indian population. And Americans are finally starting to catch on to what the rest of world already knows—that Bollywood is fantastic! Why don’t more Americans like Bollywood movies? It’s human nature to mock what we don’t understand. Americans are used to watching Hollywood movies, which reflect our cultural values, traditions, and storytelling techniques, and Bollywood movies reflect another culture’s values, traditions, and storytelling techniques, which are unfamiliar to us. We’ve unfairly maligned Indian cinema because we can’t take it for granted like we can our own. We actually have to do a little thinking when we watch them. Some people find thinking fun; some don’t. Why would Americans want to watch Bollywood movies? Why do Americans like pizza? Because it’s good. Who cares what country it comes from?

If you like good movies and you’re not watching Bollywood, you’re missing out. What else would you like to learn about Bollywood? Send us an email and let us know. What is Bollywood? The Term "Bollywood" The term Bollywood was created by combining two names, Bombay (the city now called Mumbai) and Hollywood. Bollywood based in Mumbai (Bombay), is India’s – and the world’s - largest film industry in terms of the number of films produced, and also the number of tickets sold each year. In fact, Bollywood has become so internationally ubiquitous that it now has it’s own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary! An International Sensation! It is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in a Bollywood film. The international appeal of Bollywood dancing is something that has been in the making for many decades. Originally it was found only in places that had a significant consumption of Indian films. But today it is rising in popularity in the US, Canada and Europe. With the success of films such as the Oscar winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, Bollywood films and dance have taken the world by storm & has now come into the global spotlight.

Much of this is due to the ever expanding Indian diaspora, but a significant proportion also comes from non-Indians who are fascinated by the exotic, larger than life qualities inherent in it. Be it their lavish sets, production value, or extravagant costumes, stars like Madonna, Shakira & Britney Spears have incorporated the Bollywood style of dance or music into their songs, videos and stage shows. A True East-West Fusion Dance Style The highlight of Bollywood movies are elaborate dance sequences and original soundtracks. Over the years Bollywood movies have developed their own signature style of song and dance, which combines the rich texture of India’s many classical and folk dances, fused with elements of Jazz, Hip – Hop, Arabic and Latin Forms. The Evolution of Bollywood The style of dancing in earlier Bollywood films was based on Indian Classical Dance or Folk Dances from various parts of India. These dances included the classical art forms of Kathak and Bharata Natyam. In the late 50's & 60's group dances began to evolve in Bollywood films & choreographers started managing larger groups of dancers, with influences from folk dances.

Then came the era of color films, and by then Indian Cinema was blessed with great dancers like Geetanjali, Sandhya, Helen & Mahipal who with their outstanding energy and performance mesmerized the audiences and took dance to the next level. There was no change in the style of dance, as choreographers still followed the classical and semi classical styles of dance. Bollywood Dance began to change in the 70s. The Cabaret style of dance became more mainstream & was implemented in many movies. Later on Cabaret was replaced by Disco, which was a worldwide phenomenon at the time. After experimenting with Classical, Semi Classical, Folk, Cabaret & Disco styles of dance, came an era which introduced Bollywood Free Style of dancing which was well represented by dancers like Govinda who developed their own signature style of dance. Since the 1980's & the inception of MTV , Bollywood dancing has been heavily influenced by Western dance styles, and incorporates elements from the West. In many cases, the musical numbers are released as separate music videos, and the soundtracks are released prior to the film, in order to further advertise the upcoming feature films.

In modern Bollywood films, the musical numbers are often based on the Hip-Hop style of dance as well as other variations of Hip-Hop dance. Currently Bollywood Dance is still influenced by Western culture, perhaps even more so today than when it began. Elements include the use of frequent costume and location changes during dances, as well as the use of larger dance troupes. And the movements have become more bold & extroverted to capture the audience’s attention. The Evolution of Bollywood Dance is a process that is entirely Indian and yet cross-cultural at the same time. Copyright © Rhythm India. All rights reserved. ✕ MovieWoods – Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood, Lollywood, Ollywood, Kollywood… – Nepali Movies, films by Anand Nepal A news about a Nepali actor, Shri Krishna Shrestha, starting a business named “Kollywood Planet” left me thinking – is the Nepali movie industry Kollywood? Although, Shri Krishna Shrestha’s business doesn’t seem much related to the Nepali movie industry, I have a feeling, he does want to represent the Nepali film industry. The name, Kollywood, seems to be inspired by the combination of Kathmandu and Hollywood.

But, when I checked the name in Google, there was no reference of Kollywood being related to Nepali (or Kathmandu) film industry, at least, not on the first page. That means, either we have to forget about the name “Kollywood” to represent our movie industry or, make it more popular by using it more frequently. In this context, let us review what Hollywood is and, what names are inspired by Hollywood: In the modern time, Hollywood has become an iconic name to represent the US movie industry. The success of Hollywood movies has inspired other film industries to nickname themselves with Hollywood-inspired names. Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States (yes, it’s not a movie industry in itself, as believed popularly). The place situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles, got it’s cultural identity as the center of movie studios and movie stars when movie making activities increased in the early 20th century. India has the largest share of names after Hollywood to represent the local movie industries. Although, many names like Bollywood are popular worldwide, others haven’t gained much popularity. Lets, list the name: Bollywood – After Hollywood, Indian movie industry is considered to the biggest in the world.

The largest part in the Indian movie industry is located in Mumbai, popularly known as Bollywood – an amalgamation of Bombay and Hollywood. Kollywood – a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam, an area of Chennai, where Tamil language feature films are produced, and Hollywood. Kollywood West refer to Tamil movies produced in western countries and the term Kollywood South refer to Tamil movies made in Singapore, Sri Lanka and India. Ollywood – Oriya Film Industry in India. Tollywood – Telugu Film Industry (more popular) but, it was originally termed for West Bengal Film industry after Tollygunj and Bollywood in 1932 by Wilford E. Deming in American Cinematographer. The name is referred to as the first Hollywood inspired name. Mollywood – The term refers to the Mlayalam film industry in India. Punjwood – Punjabi language movie industry in India Sandalwood – Kannada language film industry in Karnataka, India Sollywood – Sindh language movie industry in India. Kollywood (Nepal) is also referred sometimes as movies made in the capital, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Apart from the US and India, other parts of the world are also obsessed by the word Hollywood: Bulawood – Fiji film industry. The word Bula is a word of greeting in Fijian language. Chollywood – Peruvian film industry. Kabulwood represents Afghan Cinema. Lolywood – Pakistani Film Industry, named for Lahore, Pakistan based movies. The word was first coined in 1989 by a gossip columnist Saleem Nasir. Kariwood – Karachi film industry – named after Pakistani capital Karachi. Pollywood – Pasthu film industry in Peshawar, Pakistan. Dhallywood (Dhaliwood) – Bangladeshi film industry; a portmanteau of the words Dhaka and Hollywood Hollywood North – the film industry in Canada, specifically Vancouver and Toronto is termed Hollywood North.

The term has been in use to describe Canadian film and television production since the late 1970s Hollywood of the East – Egypt movie industry Wellywood – Cinema of Wellington New Zealand Nollywood – Cinema of Nigeria Sollywood – South Africa Film Industry (Coined in 2010) It is clear, we can’t claim Kollywood to be Kathmandu movie industry when it is an already well established name to represent something else. A name Nollywood (for Nepal + Hollywood) is also taken, so is Pollywood (Pokhara +Hollywood). May be, Nepalwood or a Nellywood would be simple and easiest alternative to represent Nepali movie industry. UPDATE: Based on the comments, Dhollywood – is the Gujarati film industry in India Tollywood – is Telugu film industry (correction).

Share this: Indian film industry's fascination for the ‘wood’ suffix - Times of India Times of India As the Indian film industry turns a 100 years old today, here’s looking at our different industries and their fascination for the ‘wood’ suffix | TNN | May 3, 2013, 12.00 AM IST Rajinikanth Read More As the Indian film industry turns a 100 years old today, here's looking at our different industries and their fascination for the 'wood' suffix Globally, the Indian film industry is almost synonymous with Bollywood. But the 100-year-old industry, which makes the most number of films than any other country in a year, has strong regional presence as well. Much like the Hindi film industry that has twisted the word Hollywood to its convenience, other industries have also sought refuge in the 'wood' suffix. While some of them have chosen to tweak it based on the place of operation, others have named them after the language. Here's a look at the many Indian 'woods'. Bollywood: The biggest film industry in the country, it has been named after 'Bombay', from where it operates.

Traditionally, it has been ruled by stars, but this year has seen scripts, scriptwriters and directors take centre stage, with many performer-actors rising in popularity. Kollywood: The Tamil film industry is named after Kodambakam, an area in Chennai, which used to be the hub of all filmi activity in Tamil Nadu. Kollywood has always been known for idol worshipping. The Konkani film industry is also named thus, after the language. April 24, 1950, saw the first Konkani film release and this date, ever since, has been celebrated as the Konkani Cinema Day. Tollywood: The Telugu film industry, which is one of the bigger ones in the country, is named after the language of Andhra Pradesh. This industry is known for making total commercial entertainers. If Telugu has inspired the name in Andhra, in Bengal, it is the area of Tollygunge that is responsible for it's name. An industry that's known to produce the most 'quality' films, it is synonymous with directors who've altered the course of parallel cinema in India like Satyajit Ray.

Sandalwood: Considering the fact that Karnataka has many sandalwood forests, one doesn't have to look too far to spot the inspiration. The industry has produced many matinee idols, but the names that have made a national mark are directors like Girish Kasaravalli, MS Sathyu and Girish Karnad. Mollywood: Kerala's film industry is called Mollywood because of Malayalam language. This industry is also known for its art house cinema. Just like Kerala, Maharashtra's film industry has been christened Mollywood because of its operating language Marathi. This industry has a right mix of class and mass. Manipuri film industry has been christened based on the first letter of the state's name. Manipuri films seek inspiration from Bollywood and are complete entertainers. Gollywood: Gujarat's film industry is called so because of its regional language, Gujarati. This is one of the older industries with its first film dating back to 1932. Pollywood: No prizes for guessing this one. The Punjabi film industry takes its name from the language. Punjabi films also date back a long time. Recent years have seen a revival of the industry, with many popular Punjabi Bollywood actors doing films in their native tongue.

Ollywood: Odisha calls its industry Ollywood because it is named after the region's language, Odia. Initially known to be a lesser famous sister of Bengali films, the industry has now branched out and earned its own space. Lollywood: Lambani, a nomadic community, have a film industry, albeit with just half a dozen films to boast of till now. They call it Lollywood based on the language. The films are made mainly in Karnataka, which happens to have many Lambanis living there. They didn't get 'inspired'

Question: What city's film industry is called "Bollywood"?
Answer: Mumbai