Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based film industry in India.

Cast and crew

Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. It attracts thousands of aspiring actors and actresses, all hoping for a break in the industry. Models and beauty contestants, television actors, theatre actors and even common people come to Mumbai with the hope and dream of becoming a star. Just as in Hollywood very few succeed.

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Stardom in the entertainment industry is very fickle, and Bollywood is no exception. Popularity of the stars can rise and fall rapidly, based on single movies. Very few people become national icons, who are unaffected by success or failure of their movies, like Amitabh Bachchan. Directors compete to hire the most popular stars of the day, who are believed to guarantee the success of a movie (though this belief is not always supported by box-office results). Hence many stars make the most of their fame, once they become popular, by making several movies simultaneously.

Related Topics:
Amitabh Bachchan - Director - Movie

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Bollywood can be clannish, and the relatives of film-industry insiders have an edge in getting coveted roles. However, industry connections are no guarantee of a long career: competition is brutal and if film industry scions don't succeed at the box office, their careers will falter. Some of the biggest stars, such as Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, and Shah Rukh Khan, have succeeded despite total lack of show biz connections.

Related Topics:
Dev Anand - Amitabh Bachchan - Shah Rukh Khan

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Notable film clans:

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• the Kapoors (Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor, Babita Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor)
• the Deols (Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Esha Deol, Abhay Deol)
• the Bachchans (Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan)
• the Khannas (Rajesh Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Twinkle Khanna, Rinke Khanna, Akshay Kumar)
• the Dutts (Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Sunjay Dutt)
• the Hussains (Nasir Hussain, Tahir Hussain, Aamir Khan, Mansoor Khan, Faisal Khan)
• the Khans (Salim Khan, Helen, Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Malaika Arora)
• the Samarth-Mukherjee connection (Shobhana Samarth, Nutan, Tanuja, Mohnesh Behl, Tanisha, Kajol, Debashree Roy, Ram Mukherjee, Rani Mukherji)
• the Pataudis (Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan)