Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India. The name is a conflation of Bombay, the old name of Mumbai, and Hollywood, center of the United States film industry.

Bollywood, the word originally coined by the movie media, finally achieved recognition with its inclusion in the latest edition of the illustrated Oxford English Dictionary: “Bollywood n. colloq. India's popular film industry based in Bombay (blend of Bombay and Hollywood).”

A major point of reference for Indian culture, Bollywood has shaped and expressed the changing scenarios of modern India. The recent trend in Bollywood, however, is that it works with one eye on the foreign markets. The sets have become more lavish, the costumes more extravagant, the chorus line more glamorous and locations far beyond one can dream of - from the glaciers of Alaska to the pyramids of Egypt.

Thanks to a huge and loyal following, Bollywood's popularity extends not only to India, but to almost all of the South Asia, Mideast, U.K., U.S.A., Europe and South Africa. The box-office figures of Bollywood films in the foreign market establish the fact that Bollywood films have finally carved a niche for themselves internationally, especially in the U.S. where they do more business than films in any other foreign language. As Bollywood producers meet Hollywood expertise, expect the world of Indian movies to become a more interesting place than ever before. A number of Bollywood production houses are seeking to expand their universe by going in for tie-ups with important Hollywood players. Several Hollywood majors are eying India as a production base. The growing synergy between Hollywood and Bollywood can only work to the mutual benefit of the world's two largest film industries.