What is Bollywood?

What is Bollywood? Thanks for asking!   If you’re a Westerner, you’ve almost certainly heard of Bollywood, but there’s also a decent chance you’ve never actually watched a Bollywood film! If Hollywood is the stronghold of American cinema, Bollywood is an even more generic term used to describe the Hindi-language film industry in India, in particular the city of Mumbai.   The label is a portmanteau of Bombay, Mumbai’s former name, and Hollywood. There is debate about who exactly coined the term, which emerged in the 1970s. Some records suggest it was first used by a gossip column in the Indian magazine Cineblitz.   You should be warned that the term is relatively rarely used in India. Many see it as derogatory or patronising, having been adopted as a blanket term by Westerners. It also excludes films produced in other Indian languages like Tamil or Bengali. So what exactly does a Bollywood film look like then? Is it as popular as American cinema? What are the latest trends in Bollywood cinema? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: What is the Doomsday Glacier? What is Resident Evil? What is the andropause? A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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