Bollywood

The term being a portmanteau of "Bombay" and "Hollywood", Bollywood is a part of the larger cinema of India (also known as Indywood), which includes other production centers producing films in other Indian languages. Indian cinema is the world's largest film industry in terms of film production, with an annual output of 1,986 feature films, and Bollywood is its largest film producer, with 364 Hindi films produced annually.

The Hindi language film industry is known as Bollywood, the largest sector, representing 43% of box office revenue.

Hindi cinema, often metonymously referred to as Bollywood and formerly known as Bombay cinema, is the Indian Hindi-language film industry, based in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Maharashtra, India.

The city also houses India's Hindi (Bollywood) and Marathi cinema industries.

Indian cinema is the world's largest film industry in terms of film production, with an annual output of 1,986 feature films, and Bollywood is its largest film producer, with 364 Hindi films produced annually.

Indian cinema (including Bollywood) is the largest national film industry in terms of the number of films produced and the number of tickets sold, with 3.5billion tickets sold worldwide annually (compared to Hollywood's 2.6billion tickets sold annually) and 1,986 feature films produced annually.

The naming scheme for "Bollywood" was inspired by "Tollywood", the name that was used to refer to the cinema of West Bengal.

Since the late 20th century, the Bengali film industry has become smaller, overtaken by other regional industries such as Bollywood and South Indian cinema.

In the 1940s, many actors, filmmakers and musicians from the Lahore industry migrated to the Bombay industry, including actors such as K.L. Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Dev Anand, and singers such as Mohammed Rafi, Noorjahan, and Shamshad Begum. Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi, Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and Aan (1952) directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar. Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Muhammad Yusuf Khan (born December 11, 1922), better known as Dilip Kumar, is an Indian film actor, producer, screenwriter and activist, known for his work in Hindi cinema.

In the 1940s, many actors, filmmakers and musicians from the Lahore industry migrated to the Bombay industry, including actors such as K.L. Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Dev Anand, and singers such as Mohammed Rafi, Noorjahan, and Shamshad Begum.

Shamshad Begum (Śamśād Bēgam; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry.

In the 1940s, many actors, filmmakers and musicians from the Lahore industry migrated to the Bombay industry, including actors such as K.L. Saigal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Dev Anand, and singers such as Mohammed Rafi, Noorjahan, and Shamshad Begum.

Prithviraj Kapoor (3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) born Prithvinath Kapoor, was a pioneer of Indian theatre and of the Hindi film industry, who started his career as an actor in the silent era of Hindi cinema, associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and who founded the Prithvi Theatres, a travelling theatre company based in Mumbai, in 1944.

Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi, Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and Aan (1952) directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar. Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

and known as "the greatest showman of Hindi cinema".

Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi, Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and Aan (1952) directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar.

Aan (Hindi: आन, Urdu: آن, translation: Pride), released as The Savage Princess in the United Kingdom and United States, is a 1952 Indian Bollywood film, produced and directed by Mehboob Khan.

Linguistically, Bollywood films tend to use a colloquial dialect of Hindi-Urdu, or Hindustani, mutually intelligible to both Hindi and Urdu speakers, while modern Bollywood films also increasingly incorporate elements of Hinglish.

The term Hindustani is still used for the colloquial language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan, for example for the language of Bollywood films, as well as for several languages of the Hindi-Urdu belt spoken outside the Indian subcontinent, such as Fijian Hindi of Fiji and the Caribbean Hindustani of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and the rest of the Caribbean.

Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi, Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and Aan (1952) directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar.

Kaagaz Ke Phool (Kāgaz kē Phūl, Translation : Paper Flowers) is a 1959 Hindi film produced and directed by Guru Dutt, who also played the lead role in the film.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano, 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian film actress, singer and poet under the pseudonym Naaz, who starred in classic films of Hindi Cinema.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969), also known as Madhu, was an Indian film actress who starred in classic films of Bollywood.

Examples include Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) directed by Guru Dutt and written by Abrar Alvi, Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955) directed by Raj Kapoor and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and Aan (1952) directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Dilip Kumar.

Shree 420 (Hindi: श्री ४२०; translation: Sri 420, also transliterated as Shri 420) is a 1955 Hindi film, directed and produced by Raj Kapoor, written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, and starring Raj Kapoor and Nargis.

Other acclaimed mainstream Hindi filmmakers at the time included Kamal Amrohi and Vijay Bhatt.

Vijay Bhatt (born Vrajlal Jagneshwar Bhatt; 12 May 1907 – 17 October 1993) was a noted producer-director-screenwriter of Hindi cinema, who made such films as Ram Rajya (1943), Baiju Bawra (1952), Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959) and Himalaya Ki God Mein (1965).

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938 ) is an Indian actress who has appeared in mainly Hindi films, as well as Telugu, Tamil and Bengali films.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 Hindi films, many in starring roles.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Regarded as one of the finest and iconic film actresses in the history of Hindi cinema, Sadhana was the highest-paid actress of her time from early 1960s to late 1970s.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Nargis Dutt (born Fatima Rashid; 1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981), also known by her stage name Nargis, was an Indian film actress, who starred in classic films of Bollywood.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Mala Sinha (born Alda Sinha; 11 November 1936) is a former Bollywood actress who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and Nepali films.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), popularly known by the mononym Suraiya, was a popular Indian Hindi/Hindustani film actress and playback singer in Bollywood.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Pradeep Kumar (born Pradeep Batabyal; 4 January 1925 – 27 October 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi English and Bengali cinema.

In 1937, Ardeshir Irani, of Alam Ara fame, made the first colour film in Hindi, Kisan Kanya.

Kisan Kanya was a 1937 Hindi Cinecolor feature film which was directed by Moti B. Gidwani and produced by Ardeshir Irani of Imperial Pictures.

Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), a remake of his earlier Aurat (1940), was the first Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, which it lost by a single vote.

The film was the most expensive Hindi cinema (Bollywood) production and earned the highest revenue for any Indian film at that time.

Successful actors at the time included Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Suraiya, Nargis, Sumitra Devi, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman, Nutan, Sadhana, Mala Sinha and Vyjayanthimala.

Sumitra Devi (22 July 1923 - 28 August 1990) was an Indian actress who is recognized for her work in Hindi as well as Bengali cinema during the 1940s and 1950s.