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The name is a conflation of ''Bombay'', the old name of Mumbai, and '' Hollywood '', the center of the United States film industry. Though some purists deplore the name (arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood), it seems likely to persist and now has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary . Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs ( Tamil - Kollywood , Telugu - Tollywood , Bengali , Kannada , and Malayalam ) constitute the broader Indian Film Industry , whose output is the largest in the world in terms of number of Film s produced and in number of tickets sold. Bollywood is a strong part of popular culture of not only India and the rest of the Indian Subcontinent , but also of the Middle East , parts of Africa , parts of Southeast Asia , and among the South Asia n Diaspora worldwide. Bollywood is also commonly referred to as " Hindi cinema", even though use of poetic Urdu words is fairly common. ( Linguist s would call both Hindi and Urdu variants of Hindustani . This is a political debate; see the articles on the various languages/dialects.) There has been a growing presence of English in dialogues and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see movies which feature dialogues with English words and phrases, even whole sentences. A few movies are also made in two or even three languages (either using subtitles, or several soundtracks). HISTORY Cinema first came to India in 1896, when the Lumière Brothers ’ Cinematographe showed six short films in the Watson Hotel . Three years later, Harishchandra Bhatvadekar shot and exhibited two short films. Following this, there were several attempts to film staged plays and imported films were shown in the first decade of the 20th century. The first indigenous silent feature film was '' Raja Harishchandra '', released in 1913 and directed by ''Dadasaheb'' Dhundiraj Govind Phalke , who is considered the father of Indian cinema. The movie industry was well established by 1920, producing an average of 27 films every year. By the 1930s, the industry was producing over 200 films per annum. The first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani 's '' Alam Ara '' (1931), was a super hit. There was clearly a huge market for talkies and musicals; Bollywood and all the regional film industries quickly switched to sound filming. The 1930s and 1940s were tumultuous times: India was buffeted by the Great Depression , World War II , the Indian Independence Movement , and the violence of the Partition . Most Bollywood films were unabashedly escapist, but there were also a number of filmmakers who tackled tough social issues, or used the struggle for Indian independence as a backdrop for their plots. In the late 1950s, Bollywood films moved from black-and-white to color. Lavish romantic musicals and melodramas were the staple fare at the cinema. Successful actors include Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor . In the 1970s and 1980s, romantic confections made way for gritty, violent, films about gangsters and bandits. Amitabh Bachchan , the star known for his "angry young man" roles, rode the crest of this trend. In the early 1990s, the pendulum swung back towards family-centric romantic musicals with the success of such films as '' Hum Aapke Hain Koun '' ( 1994 ) and '' Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge '' (1995). The Indian film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience (see the discussion in Ganti, 2004, cited in references), and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximize box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences. GENRE CONVENTIONS Most Bollywood films would be classified as Musicals . Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. However, they do not fit easily in the "musical" category as defined by Hollywood movies; they usually contain a great deal more in the way of plot and action than is found in the typical Hollywood musical. Indian audiences expect full value for their money, with a good entertainer generally referred to as '' Paisa '' ''vasool'', (literally, "money's worth"). Songs and dances, love triangles, Comedy and dare-devil thrills—all are mixed up in a three-hour-long extravaganza with an intermission. Such movies are called ''masala'' movies, after the Hindi word for a spice mixture, ''masala''. Like ''masalas'', these movies are a mixture of many things. Bollywood plots have tended to be Melodramatic . They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, Courtesans With Hearts Of Gold , long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. There have always been Indian films with more "artistic" aims and more sophisticated stories, both inside and outside the Bollywood tradition (see Indian Art Cinema ). They often lost out at the box office to movies with more mass appeal. Bollywood conventions are changing, however. A large Indian diaspora in English speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models. Film kisses are no longer banned; the once-ubiquitous "wet" scenes, with damp saris molded to an actress's curvaceous form, have been replaced by skin, pure and simple. Plots now tend to feature Westernized urbanites dating and dancing in discos rather than arranged marriages. Plots can be less melodramatic, more sophisticated. Some Indians think that this is "progress"; others miss the masala films of yore. BOLLYWOOD SONG AND DANCE s, rather than actors, who Lip-sync the lyrics. Pictured here is Mukesh Chand Mathur (commonly known as Mukesh), a famed playback singer.]] Bollywood film music is called '' Filmi '' music (from Hindi , meaning "of films"). Songs from Bollywood movies are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the Actor s then Lip Sync hing the words to the song on-screen, often while dancing. While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers. 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:
These forays, while well-received at the time, have not led to real singing careers for the actors. 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 favourites. One of the most recorded of these playback singers is Lata Mangeshkar who, through the course of a career spanning over six decades, has recorded thousands of songs for Indian movies. Most of the female songs in films from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s were sung by Lata. The Composer s of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do. Remix ing of filmi songs with modern beats and rhythms is a common occurrence today, and producers may even release remixed versions of some of their films' songs along with the films' regular Soundtrack albums. 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 Dance s. 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. Many song-and-dance routines in Indian films feature unrealistically instantaneous shifts of location and/or changes of costume between verses of a song. 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. This staging is referred to as a "picturisation." Switzerland has become a popular setting for these picturisations, largely because its Alpine valleys are reminiscent of Kashmir . Though considered by many to be one of India's most beautiful regions, Kashmir has been generally off-limits for quite some time due to violence. Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the movie, in several ways. Sometimes, a song is worked into the plot, so that a character has a reason to sing; other times, a song is an externalization of a character's thoughts, or presages an event that has not occurred yet in the plot of the movie. In this case, the event is almost always two characters' falling in love. Bollywood films have always used what are now called " Item Number s". A physically attractive female character (the "item girl"), often completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film, performs a catchy song and dance number in the film. In older films, the "item number" may be performed by a courtesan ( Tawaif ) dancing for a rich client or as part of a cabaret show. The dancer Helen was famous for her cabaret numbers. In modern films, item numbers may be inserted as Discotheque sequences, dancing at celebrations, or as stage shows. 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, duty, and self-sacrifice liberally. Music directors often prefer working with certain lyricists, to the point that the lyricist and composer are seen as a team. This phenomenon is not unlike the pairings of American composers and songwriters that created old-time Broadway musicals (e.g., Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II , or Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe ). Song lyrics are usually about love. Bollywood song lyrics, especially in the old movies, frequently use Urdu or Hindustani vocabulary which has many elegant and poetic Arabic and Persian loan-words. Here's a sample from the 1983 film ''Hero'', written by the lyricist Anand Bakshi : ::''Bichhdey abhi to hum, bas kal parso,'' ::''jiyoongi main kaisey, is haal mein barson?'' ::''Maut na aayi, teri yaad kyon aayi,'' ::''Haaye, lambi judaayi!'' ::We have been separated just a day or two, ::How am I going to go on this way for years? ::Death doesn't come; why, instead, do these memories of you? ::Oh, this long separation! Another source for love lyrics is the long Hindu tradition of poetry about the mythological amours of Krishna , Radha , and the Gopi s. Many lyrics compare the singer to a devotee and the object of his or her passion to Krishna or Radha. CAST AND CREW Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. It attracts thousands of aspiring actors and actresses, all hoping for a break in the industry. Models and beauty contestants, television actors, theatre actors and even common people come to Mumbai with the hope and dream of becoming a star. Just as in Hollywood, very few succeed. Stardom in the entertainment industry is very fickle, and Bollywood is no exception. The popularity of the stars can rise and fall rapidly, based on single movies. Very few people become national icons, who are unaffected by success or failure of their movies, like Amitabh Bachchan . Directors compete to hire the most popular stars of the day, who are believed to guarantee the success of a movie (though this belief is not always supported by box-office results). Hence many stars make the most of their fame, once they become popular, by making several movies simultaneously. Bollywood can be clannish, and the relatives of film-industry insiders have an edge in getting coveted roles. However, industry connections are no guarantee of a long career: competition is brutal and if film industry scions don't succeed at the box office, their careers will falter. Some of the biggest stars, such as Dev Anand , Amitabh Bachchan , and Shah Rukh Khan , have succeeded despite total lack of show biz connections. For film clans, see List Of Bollywood Film Clans . FINANCES .]] Bollywood budgets are usually modest by Hollywood standards. Sets , Costume s, Special Effects , and Cinematography were less than world-class up until the mid-to-late 1990s. But as Western films and Television gain wider distribution in India itself, there is increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels. Sequences shot overseas have proved a real Box Office draw, so Mumbai film crews are increasingly filming in Australia , Canada , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , Continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are drawing in more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as '' Lagaan '', '' Devdas '' and '' Mangal Pandey ''. Funding for Bollywood films often comes from private distributors and a few large . The Mumbai underworld has been known to be involved in the production of several films, and are notorious for their patronization of several prominent film personalities; On occasion, they have known to use money and muscle power to get their way in cinematic deals. In January, 2000, Mumbai mafia hitmen shot Rakesh Roshan, film director and father of star Hrithik Roshan ; It had been reported that he had rebuffed mob attempts to meddle with his film distribution. In 2001, the Central Bureau Of Investigation seized all prints of the movie '' Chori Chori Chupke Chupke '' after the movie was found to be funded by members of the Mumbai underworld. Another problem facing Bollywood is widespread Copyright Infringement of its films. Often, bootleg DVD copies of movies are available before the prints are officially released in Movie Theaters . Manufacturing of bootleg DVD, VCD, and VHS copies of the latest movie titles is a well established 'small scale industry' in parts of the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia . Besides catering to the homegrown market, demand for these copies is large amongst some sections of the Indian Diaspora , too. (In fact, bootleg copies are the only way people in Pakistan can watch Bollywood movies, since the Government Of Pakistan has banned their sale, distribution and telecast). Films are frequently broadcast without compensation by countless small cable TV companies in India and other parts of South Asia. Small convenience stores run by members of the Indian diaspora in the U.S. and the U.K. regularly stock tapes and DVDs of dubious provenance, while consumer copying adds to the problem. The availability of illegal copies of movies on the Internet also contributes to the piracy problem. Satellite TV, television and imported foreign films are making huge inroads into the domestic Indian entertainment market. In the past, most Bollywood films could make money; now fewer tend to do so. Balanced against this are the increasing returns from theatres in Western countries like the United Kingdom , Canada , and the United States , where Bollywood is slowly getting noticed. As more Indians migrate to these countries, they form a growing market for upscale Indian films. 'Foreign' audiences—in Asian and Western countries—are also growing, if more slowly. For an interesting comparison of Hollywood and Bollywood financial figures, see this chart: {Link without Title} . It shows tickets sold in 2002 and total revenue estimates. Bollywood sold 3.6 billion tickets and had total revenues (theater tickets, DVDs, television etc) of US$ 1.3 billion ( USD ), whereas Hollywood films sold 2.6 billion tickets and generated total revenues (again from all formats) of US$51 billion. ADVERTISING .]] Many Indian artists used to make a living hand-painting movie billboards and posters. Human labor was cheaper than printing and distributing publicity material. Now, the majority of the huge and ubiquitous billboards in India's major cities are created with computer-printed vinyl. The old hand-painted posters, once regarded as ephemera, are becoming increasingly collectible as Folk Art . CONTROVERSIES Accusations of plagiarism See Also: Bollywood and plagiarism Constrained by rushed production schedules and small budgets, some Bollywood writers and musicians have been known to resort to plagiarism. They copy ideas, plot lines, tunes or or Telugu film industry) or far away ( Hollywood and other Western movies, Western pop hits). In past times, this could be done with impunity. Copyright enforcement was lax in South Asia. As for the Western sources, the Bollywood film industry was largely unknown to Westerners, who would not even be aware that their material was being copied. Audiences also may not have been aware of the plagiarism, since many in the Indian audience were unfamiliar with Western films and tunes. While copyright enforcement in South Asia is still hit or miss, Bollywood and Hollywood are much more aware of each other now, and Indian audiences are more familiar with foreign movies and music. Blatant plagiarism ''may'' have diminished -- however, there is no general agreement that it has. Sex scandals In 2005, the India's Most Wanted show on India TV ran an Exposé that accused several Bollywood figures (including Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma ) of seeking sexual favors from young actresses. This ploy would not be, of course, unique to Bollywood moguls; film industry figures worldwide have long been rumored to subject actresses to the Casting Couch . Those accused by the show vehemently denied these accusations, and most of the Bollywood establishment have supported them. Surprisingly, the exposé resulted in insignificant public outrage. BOLLYWOOD AWARDS The Indian screen magazine Filmfare started the first Filmfare Award s in 1953. Modeled after the poll-based merit format of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences , individuals may submit their votes in separate categories; The awards are presented at a glamorous, star-studded ceremony. However, unlike the Oscars , voting is not restricted to members of a specific club or academy, but is open to all people. Like the Oscars , they are frequently accused of bias towards commercial success, rather than artistic merit. Lately, other companies, such as Stardust Magazine, Zee TV , etc have joined the movie award bandwagon. Some of the other popular awards are: Most of these award ceremonies are lavishly staged spectacles, featuring singing, dancing, and lots of stars and starlets. Since 1973, the Indian government has sponsored the National Film Awards , awarded by the government run Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF). The DFF screens not only Bollywood films, but films from all the other regional movie industries and independent/art films. These awards are handed out at an annual ceremony presided over by the President Of India . SEE ALSO
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