Let’s talk about Bollywood!

The word ‘Bollywood’ stands for the Hindi film industry based in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

If we take a look at the number of movies produced each year, Bollywood is the leading film industry around the globe. Indians love watching movies!

It is said that 14 million Indians visit the movies on a daily basis to check out any of the over 800 movies produced each year. This number is double the number of movies produced in America.

The majority of Bollywood movies adhere to a format known as ‘masala’. ‘Masala’ is a Hindi word meaning ‘a collection of spices’. Typically, Indian movies are three to four hours long (including an intermission). They include plenty of songs and dances which feature hundreds of dancers. Most of the movies are either action ones or romantic comedies. And they always come with a happy ending!

The main aim of Bollywood movies is to give three to four hours of pure escapism. The plot is usually a love story involving attractive stars with plenty of catchy songs and dances. Bollywood stars are highly popular and are paid a huge amount taking into account the budget of the films. The lead star frequently gets as much as 50% of the entire budget. Some of the stars are in such high demand that they work on several films simultaneously.

An interesting trend in recent years is that Bollywood movies are being shown in Western countries such as America and Britain. The South Asian diaspora gather at such screenings. South Asians have realised that watching Bollywood movies is an excellent method of keeping in touch with their culture.

The growing number of multiplexes in the country leads to huge profits. As long as the production house is huge and the star cast is big enough, the movie becomes a huge hit. Having said that, Hollywood is also getting more and more popular in the country since more viewers are searching for movies other than typical Bollywood love stories.

Although romantic ‘masala’ movies are the norm in Bollywood, there is increasingly a growing number of people who are switching to cinema which is more meaningful. Such movies are produced by small production houses and typically star actors who are not so well known. The budget also tends to be low. Having said that, these movies are praised for the quality of their plot and topic.

In the future, Bollywood will have to compete with Hollywood. Having said that, no matter how much Hollywood cinema becomes popular in India, Bollywood cinema is here to stay and is the source of much joy, happiness and satisfaction!

So, what is the word I would like you to remember for today? It is ‘having said that’.

‘Having said that’ has the same meaning as ‘however’.

Let’s use this word in some sentences.

-She was sick. Having said that, she made it to work.

-I worked hard. Having said that, I did not get promoted.

-She studied a lot for the exam. Having said that, she did not pass it.

Her job interview did not go off well. Having said that, she remained positive.

He woke up late. Having said that, he made it to work on time.

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