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Bollywood, derived from the mix of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, is a term that is used to refer to the Indian film (Hindi language) industry that is based in Mumbai. Indian cinema on the whole is also made up of Bengali cinema, Karnataka cinema, Kollywood (Tamil Film Industry), Malayalam cinema, Marathi cinema, Punjwood (Punjabi language), and Tollywood (Telugu film industry).

The Bollywood movie industry is by far one of the largest film industries in the world. On an average, it produces more than 800 feature films and over one thousand short films annually. Producers love making Bollywood movies simply because there are millions of millions of movie enthusiasts in India. Movie tickets here are the cheapest in the world. As demand and popularity of Bollywood movies grow within India and internationally, Bollywood production companies have increased their production spending to keep pace with the demands from the audience for better movies with more special effects and more exotic locations.

1896 is the year when cinema first entered India. The first silent films were introduced by Lumiere Brothers. Most Bollywood movies are 2 to 3 hours long. Themes vary from drama, romance, action, suspense, thriller, science fiction and comedy. The Indian Censor Board is a great crusader in preventing pornography and nudity in Bollywood movies.

Bollywood movies integrate their culture in every film. Indian films have a number of scenes displaying folk songs and dances that are incorporated in the movie's storyline.

Over the years, Bollywood movies went under major transformation and have also undergone a number of changes and improvements. Because of the rise and popularity of Hollywood movies, Indian films also adopt some of the trends similar to western films. This is evident in some movie scripts where the English language is sometimes used. The plots used in some Bollywood movies are also patterned in western style of scriptwriting. And mostly recently Bollywood has also started to release movies on the high definition video known as BlueRay to keep pace with the technology.

Awards ceremonies such as Filmfare Awards, IIFA Awards, and Zee Cine Awards, are held every year to recognize the contributions of movie director, cast, music director, playback singer, actors and all who are involved in the making of the movie.

Actors, writers and producers from both Bollywood and Hollywood industry have interests with each other's movie genre. This gave rise to the new era of Bollywood movies. The versatility and art of Bollywood movies are truly world class and can enter the international scene with outstanding and credible merits.

Over the years, Bollywood has produced many great movies like Devdas, Lagaan, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades, Jodhaa Akbar, Dhoom, Taare Zameen Par and Veer Zaara. Some world known personalities are Amitabh Bachchan, A. R. Rahman (music director), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol Mukherjee, Katrina Kaif, Madhuri Dixit, Mallika Shearwat, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Sridevi, and Shilpa Shetty. Notable directors are Ashutosh Gowariker, Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.