Guji-Ji
13-02-2007, 21:02
Bollywood (Hindi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi): बॉलीवुड, Urdu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu): بالیوڈ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai)-based Hindi language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_language) film industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film) in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India). The term is sometimes used incorrectly to refer to the whole of Indian cinema (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_India).
The name is a blend of Bombay, the former name for Mumbai, and Hollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood%2C_California), the centre of the American film industry. Though some purists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_purism) 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary). Such names have also been used for other industries, including Kollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kollywood), Tollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollywood), Lollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood), Dallywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallywood), and Nollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollywood).
Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (Tamil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_films), Marathi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi), Bengali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_cinema), Telugu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollywood), Malayalam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_cinema), and Kannada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_cinema)) constitute the broader Indian film industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_India), whose output is the largest in the world in terms of number of films (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film) produced and in number of tickets sold. Bollywood is a strong part of popular culture of not only India, but also of the rest of South Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia), the Middle East (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East), parts of Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa), parts of Southeast Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia), and among the South Asian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia) diaspora (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora) worldwide. Bollywood has its largest diasporic audiences in the UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK), Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada), Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia) and the U.S (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S), all of which have large Indian immigrant populations.
Bollywood is also commonly referred to as "Hindi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_language) cinema", even though Hindustani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani), the substratum common to both Hindi and Urdu, might be more accurate. The use of poetic Urdu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu_language) words is fairly common. The connection between Hindi, Urdu, and Hindustani is an extremely contentious matter and is discussed at length in the linked articles relating specifically to the languages.
There has been a growing presence of English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see movies which feature dialogue 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_soundtrack)).
The name is a blend of Bombay, the former name for Mumbai, and Hollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood%2C_California), the centre of the American film industry. Though some purists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_purism) 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary). Such names have also been used for other industries, including Kollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kollywood), Tollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollywood), Lollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollywood), Dallywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallywood), and Nollywood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollywood).
Bollywood and the other major cinematic hubs (Tamil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_films), Marathi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathi), Bengali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_cinema), Telugu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollywood), Malayalam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_cinema), and Kannada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannada_cinema)) constitute the broader Indian film industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_India), whose output is the largest in the world in terms of number of films (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film) produced and in number of tickets sold. Bollywood is a strong part of popular culture of not only India, but also of the rest of South Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia), the Middle East (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East), parts of Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa), parts of Southeast Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia), and among the South Asian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia) diaspora (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora) worldwide. Bollywood has its largest diasporic audiences in the UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK), Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada), Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia) and the U.S (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S), all of which have large Indian immigrant populations.
Bollywood is also commonly referred to as "Hindi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindi_language) cinema", even though Hindustani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani), the substratum common to both Hindi and Urdu, might be more accurate. The use of poetic Urdu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdu_language) words is fairly common. The connection between Hindi, Urdu, and Hindustani is an extremely contentious matter and is discussed at length in the linked articles relating specifically to the languages.
There has been a growing presence of English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language) in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see movies which feature dialogue 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 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_soundtrack)).