What in the world is Bollywood?  Take a 1940's or 50's style American musical, give it an Indian or South Asian exotic locale, add in contemporary settings, good-looking Hindustani actors, and you have a simplistic, trite description of Bollywood.  It is much more complicated than that.

The word Bollywood is a corruption of the Hollywood film industry and Bombay, the Indian city now known as Mumbai. I don't feel that the term Bollywood is in any way a derogatory or demeaning term, rather an homage to American cinema in the kindest way.  Most Bollywood movies are known for being highly choreographed, very colorful, and family-themed.  Romantic love triangles or melodramas are still the most popular genre.  There are even action films and slapstick comedies, and Bollywood audiences love them all.

Hindustani (both Hindi and Urdu) cinema did not always evoke dance sequences, playback singing, and Swiss landscapes.  In the earliest days, much of India's struggle for freedom and independence or its long history of occupation by various conquerors formed a backdrop for its melodramas or romantic films.  Films now address many aspects of India's varied culture, internal problems, family values, and social relevance in today's world.  Some are also politically-themed, dealing with the border clashes, recent Pakistan-India conflicts, and Hindu-Muslim disparity and cooperation.

Today, Bollywood is one of the leading producers of movies in the world, with sometimes over a thousand productions in a year.  Most Indians love cinema, many escaping from their impoverished lives for a few hours through the movies...and Bollywood films are notoriously long. They usually have an intermission midway through, and most are at least 3 hours long.

The Indian Film Board censors the movies, and we will rarely see kissing or intimate relations portrayed or even suggested in a Bollywood film, even though there may be scenes of maidens in wet, diaphanous Saris or Salwar Kameez.  Chaste scenes of tenderness contrast with sometimes-coarse language, while violences disrupts the serene backdrop of the Swiss Alps, a favorite locale of the films of the last few decades.

An interesting feature of Bollywood movies is the mixture of Hindi, English, and Urdu  in the film's dialogue.  The large listing of subtitle language choices on most DVDs is astonishing.  India itself has so many different languages, with many being multi-lingual, and fluent in English.  In the soundtrack, actors drift smoothly from Hindi to English, and back again.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but I really enjoyed the added bonus of learning to speak the language as I listen, watch , and read my subtitles.

The biggest complaint I hear is that Bollywood just takes every Hollywood film, and rips it off into a poor remake.  Perhaps this is sometimes true, in as much as Hollywood rips its own movies off, either in endless remakes of the same title or just blatant copying on a theme.  I really believe there are finite numbers of basic themes that cover human existence common in whatever country or language they take place.  Doubtless, there will always seem to be repetition.

When Bollywood does copy an American movie, it usually incorporates singing, and a few amazing dance sequences.  That is what is popular with its audience, so it never fails to deliver.  Many of the most popular actors take a professional troupe on the road, even internationally, and they are highly attended, as much as American or European rock concerts are.

The films are intended to appeal to the broadest spectrum of audiences: Urban Indians, non-resident Indians, international fans, and the rural Indian population... maximum appeal for maximum profits.

Today, two of the biggest stars of Bollywood are handsome actors Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.  A new crowd of younger action stars also have huge followings, including Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Suniel Shetty, and Akshay Kumar, and they appeal to the next generation of Indian film-goers. Quite a few of the most popular actresses are former beauty queens, including a Miss World, or they come from famous Indian acting dynasties. 

The singing in a Bollywood film is dubbed by what is known as a Playback Singer.  The most famous of these is Ms. Lata Mangeshkar, who is 78 and still going strong.  Her distinctive singing voice has been lipsynched by nearly every Indian actress, as she has provided the singing for almost one thousand movies, in 20 Indian languages.  A very popular male playback singer is Udit Narayan.  Bollywood lip-synching is very well done, nearly seamless.

Whether Bollywood is providing unique movie productions or copying an old American film,  they have made it into their own, having a mass appeal, and are financially successful.  Some of the most popular titles, and highest-grossing movies are these:  Devdas, Veer-Zaara, Koi...Mil Gaya, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal No Naa Ho, Kahbi Kushi Kabhi Gham, and Dhoom 2.

A few popular Hollywood Indian-themed films that provide a bridge to Bollywood are "Mississippi Masala", starring Denzel Washington, "Monsoon Wedding", my personal favorite, and "The Namesake", starring Kal Penn.  All are directing by the talented, award-winning Mira Nair.

The mass appeal of these movies on nearly every continent will continue to give India an even more successful film industry, and I see it only getting better, with a growing sophistication that is now drawing in American and English actors.  The huge DVD sales are evidence that the whole world is waking up to the Bollywood phenomenon.

eBay is a great place to find your first Bollywood DVD or tape, if you don't have access to an Indian movie rental store.  Take a peek for yourself, and see if Bollywood won't brighten up your duy, and relieve some stress, if only for a few hours.  Laugh, cry, sing along... it's Bollywood!