Bollywood

Bollywood is the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, and the part of Indian cinema most familiar to international audiences. It is not synonymous with Indian cinema: India produces films in more than twenty languages, and Bollywood is one industry among several major ones.

Its modern identity was shaped by the "masala" film, a deliberate blend of romance, comedy, action and melodrama, structured around song sequences that carry emotional weight rather than interrupting the story. That structure is a genuine formal tradition, not decoration, and it distinguishes Hindi cinema from Western narrative convention.

The industry moved through a socially conscious post-independence period, the "angry young man" era of the 1970s, the diaspora-facing family films of the 1990s, and a contemporary period in which mid-budget, script-led films sit alongside large-scale spectacle. Its dominance within India has been challenged in recent years by Telugu and Tamil productions reaching national audiences.