Hindi film songs, more formally known as Hindi Geet or filmi songs and informally known as Bollywood music, are songs featured in Hindi films. Derived from the song-and-dance routines common in Indian films, Bollywood songs, along with dance, are a characteristic motif of Hindi cinema which gives it enduring popular appeal, cultural value and context. Hindi film songs form a predominant component of Indian pop music, and derive their inspiration from both classical and modern sources. Hindi film songs are now firmly embedded in North India's popular culture and routinely encountered in North India in marketplaces, shops, during bus and train journeys and numerous other situations. Though Hindi films routinely contain many songs and some dance routines, they are not musicals in the Western theatrical sense; the music-song-dance aspect is an integral feature of the genre akin to plot, dialogue and other parameters.
A group of Bollywood at the Indian Singers' Rights Association (ISRA) meet in 2013. Standing (L to R) Kailash Kher, Sonu Nigam, Sowmya Raoh, Javed Ali, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Manhar Udhas, Kunal Ganjawala, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Hariharan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sitting (L to R) Mohammed Aziz, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, Sanjay Tandon, Chitra Singh, Suresh Wadkar, Mitali Singh.
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" and "Hollywood". The industry is a part of the larger Indian cinema, which also includes South Indian cinema and other smaller film industries.
Dadasaheb Phalke is considered the father of Indian cinema, including Hindi cinema.
Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in Andaz (1949). Kapoor and Kumar are among the greatest and most influential movie stars in the history of Indian cinema, and Nargis is one of its greatest actresses.
Rajesh Khanna in 2010. The first Indian actor to be called a "superstar", he starred in 15 consecutive hit films from 1969 to 1971.
Amitabh Bachchan in 2014.