I Was Wondering For A Long Like That Why Hindi Film Industry Is Called Bollywood.

[contactskn 2]

Dear friends If I am not mistaken Hollywood is a place in US where movies are shot etc. But why Indian (Hindi ) film industry is called as Bollywood and Tamil film industry is called Tollywood etc. Do any body in you know the reason, if so please let me know.?Thanks in advance.?

[Nameless_ 1]

I think that they are actually just imitating the USA's version of Hollywood, and hence the something-ollywood. In Tamil, it is called Tollywood because Tamil starts with the letter "T", and hence the "Tolly". I believe, if I remember, that Bollywood is called bollywood because there is something to do with Bali, though I'm not very sure. Is Bali Even Hindi?

I'll check on the internet... There we go. It turns out that it comes from Bombay, not Bali. But anyway, it's all because of the letter "B".

Bollywood (Hindi: बॉलीवुड) is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the Indian film industry.[1] Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.[2][3][4] The name is a portmanteau of Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry.[5]

This is taken from Wikipedia...

[The Simpleton 2]

You got Bollywood right - it comes from the "B", but Tollywood doesn't refer to the Tamil film industry; it is actually the Telugu film industry, which also happens to be the largest in India (going according to the number of movies produced) Hollywood inspired the name Bollywood, which in turn inspired Tollywood As for the Tamil film industry it is called "Kollywood", as it is based in a district called "Kodambakkam". Well whatever the names, these three industries together form a major chunk of Indian cinema (although all three produce different kinds of films) and including the film industries in all the remaining states (with similar names like Lollywood, Sandalwood, etc) produce over 1000 movies per year Now that would indeed be confusing wouldn't it!

Edited November 5, 2009 by The Simpleton (see edit history)