Bollywood Through The View Finder

Bollywood is the term used to
refer to the Mumbai-based
Hindi film industry, which is
the largest film producer in
India and the world. The term
was made from a play on words between the former
name of Mumbai (which is
Bombay) and Hollywood and
was inspired by Western
Bengal's allusion to its film
sector, which was conveniently labelled as
"Tollywood". The term has
been identified since the 1970s
as synonymous to Indian film.
But since it is not really an
existent place, it is otherwise referred to Hindi cinema, to
relieve confusion.

It was around the late 1940s to
the 1960s when the Indian
movie industry flourished, just
after the country gained its
independence from British
colonizers. This was regarded as the "Golden Age" of Hindi
films. It produced some of the
most critically acclaimed
motion pictures in history
including Awaara (1951) and
Pyaasa (1957). Both tackled relevant social issues, which is
a recurring theme in most
Indian flicks. As proof of their
prowess in filmmaking, Indian
movies have received several
nods from the Academy, from Mother India to Slumdog
Millionaire. But it was during
the start of the new
millennium when Indian
moviemakers were able to
transcend cultural barriers and appeal to audiences around the
world.

Year 2000 breathed a new life
into Indi films, with improved
cinematography techniques
and storylines. There was a
marked difference in the
products that were distributed abroad, which made releases a
huge success even in hard-to-
please countries like the United
States. Some of the movies that
were able to garner
recognition from viewers over the past eleven years were
Lagaan (2001), Ghajini (2008), 3
Idiots (2009) and My Name is
Khan (2010). Cross-over Indian
actors included Amir Khan,
Shahrukh Khan, Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto, to name a few.
But there are a lot more Indian
artists, both old and new, that
have been produced by
Bollywood. In fact, they are so
numerous and popular that photo albums are retailed
today with a collection of their
portraits.