What is Bollywood?

Question

I saw someone refer to it on here, and I also noticed it as one of the choice on my comcast cable music section . What or Who are they?

Answer 1

Bollywood (Hindi: बॉलीवुड}}, Urdu: بالی وڈ) is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindustani language film industry in India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema.

The name is a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American 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 is also commonly referred to as "Hindi cinema", even though Hindustani, the substratum common to both Hindi and Urdu, might be more accurate. The use of poetic Urdu 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 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 films are also made in two or even three languages (either using subtitles, or several soundtracks).

Answer 2

It's India's Hollywood

Answer 3

Bollywood is India's creation of Hollywood.

Answer 4

It's an area north of Mumbai (Bombay) where the Indian film industry is based, with loads of studio etc. The name is a play on Bombay/Hollywood.

Answer 5

India's version of Hollywood

Answer 6

apparently it's the Indian equivalent of Hollywood.

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood