Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing films in regional languages. Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.
Bollywood is formally referred to as Hindi cinema. There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well. It is common to see films that feature dialogue with English words (also known as Hinglish), phrases, or even whole sentences.
The name "Bollywood" is a portmanteau derived from Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) and Hollywood, the center of the American film industry. However, unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a physical place. Though some deplore the name, arguing that it makes the industry look like a poor cousin to Hollywood, it has its own entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Sonia Agarwal (born 28 March 1982) is an actress and model. Having predominantly acted in Tamil films, she is probably best known for her performances as Divya. Anita and Selvi in blockbuster films directed by her former husband Selvaraghavan such as Kaadhal Kondein, 7G Rainbow Colony and Pudhupettai.
Sonia married Selvaraghavan (a Tamil film director) in December 2006. After their two year marriage Sonia Agarwal and Selvaraghavan filed for divorce with mutual consent in a Chennai family court on 9 August 2009. The family court granted divorce to Selvaraghavan and Sonia Agarwal on March 12, 2010.
During her school days, Sonia Agarwal got an offer to act in a serial in Zee TV. She then made her film debut with the 2002 Telugu film Nee Premakai, in which she did a small role, after which she acted in a Kannada film Chandu opposite Sudeep.
Subsequently, she stepped into the Tamil film industry, appearing in the drama film Kaadhal Kondein, directed by Selvaraghavan, whom she would marry later. Acting opposite Selvaraghavan's brother Dhanush, the film became a huge success and she was widely appreciated for her performance as Divya in the film, which brought her to limelight and fetched her several awards, including the ITFA Best New Actress Award. Afterwards, she acted alongside popular actors Silambarasan and Vijay in the films Kovil and Madhurey, respectively. In 2004, the controversial Tamil drama film 7G Rainbow Colony, directed by Selvaraghavan again, got released, which went on to become successful at the box office. After appearing in the films Oru Kalluriyin Kathai and Oru Naal Oru Kanavu in 2005, both which failed to perform well at the box office, she got roles in the films Thiruttu Payale and Pudhupettai. The former, directed by Susi Ganesan, became a highly successful film, whilst the latter, another Selvaraghavan film received universal critical acclaim by reviewers.
Sayaji Shinde is a Marathi film and multilingual actor from India who has acted in Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood. He was born in a small village near Satara, Maharashtra.
Sayaji Shinde is a Maharashtrian actor who acted in Marathi films. He moved into Hindi films including Bacchu Yaadav in Shool- which was followed by role in Market and Calcutta Mail. He was then introduced in the Tamil film industry by Gnana Rajasekaran for the critically acclaimed Tamil film "Bharathi", 2000. he received rave reviews and critical acclaim for his brilliant performance. He was then later introduced in Telugu films through the film Tagore, 2003. He acted more number of films in Telugu and started dubbing for his character in Telugu. Now he is a very well known character artist and both Telugu and Tamil film industries.
He produced couple of Marathi movies.Sayaji helped Nagesh Bhonsle produce the marathi film Goshta Choti Dongraevadhi.He also produced Makarand Anaspure directed film, Dambis(2011).
Dharam Dev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian film actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema. Part of the Anand family, he co-founded Navketan Films in 1949 with his elder brother Chetan Anand.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2002 for his contribution to Indian cinema. His career spanned more than 65 years with acting in 114 Hindi films of which 109 have him play the main solo lead hero and he did 2 English films.
Dev was born Dharam Dev Pishorimal Anand on 26 September 1923 in the Shakargarh tehsil of the Gurdaspur district in Punjab (British India) (present-day Narowal district of Pakistan). His father Pishori Lal Anand was a well-to-do advocate. Dev was the third of four sons born to Pishori Lal Anand. One of Dev's younger sister is Sheela Kanta Kapur, who is mother of Shekhar Kapur. His older brothers were Manmohan Anand (Advocate, Gurdaspur Dist. Court) and Chetan Anand and younger one was Vijay Anand. Dev Anand spent his early years in Gharota village near Gurdaspur, Gurdaspur town. He did his schooling till matriculation from Sacred Heart School, Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh (then in Punjab) and went to college Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh before going to Lahore to study. Later Dev completed his graduation in English Literature from the Government College, Lahore in British India.
Kalpana Kartik (original name Mona Singh) is a former Hindi film actress. She starred in six films in the 1950s. She is the wife of Hindi film actor and film maker Late Dev Anand.
Mona Singh was a beauty queen while studying at St. Bede's College, Simla. She was introduced to films by Chetan Anand of Navketan Films with the film Baazi in 1951. She co-starred with Dev Anand, whom she worked with in all her subsequent films. Her screen name - Kalpana Kartik - was given to her by Chetan Anand during this period.
Her other films were Aandhiyan (1952), Taxi Driver (1954), Humsafar (1953), House no 44 (1954) and Nau Do Gyaraah (1957).
Mona Singh (19 september 1931) , aka Kalpana Kartik born in a Punjabi Christian family was a student of the prestigious St Bedes college in Shimla. In her graduation year, she participated in the Ms. Shimla contest, and as luck would have it she bagged the trophy and also the attention of a struggling film-maker from Bombay . The director was an erudite man and he managed to convince her otherwise elitist family to allow her to accept his offer of joining his fledgling film company as a leading lady. Thus, Mona Singha was re-christened Kalpana Kartik and she moved to Bombay (now known as Mumbai). Film history tells us Kalpana Kartik was the wrong person, in the right place at the right time. It was Chetan Anand who brought her to Bombay to join his film company Navketan Films, that he ran along with Dev Anand, his younger brother. Her first film Baazi was a huge success and went on to become a landmark in Indian cinema. Baazi was a gamble that defined the destinies of many luminaries all of whom got a career boost from the film. All this was about the 'right place' and 'right time' part of it.