Bollywood
Indian cinema: Songs! Dances! More songs and dances! Strip away the visuals, however, and you are left with the curious feeling that the music is both a complete stranger and a long-lost friend.

Songs from Hindi-language film – “Bollywood” – are omnipresent in India. Whatever genre you can think of, one of those songs has tipped its hat to it (or picked its pockets). Indians are not fazed by unfamiliar music: they probably heard it in the film they watched last night, if only for a few seconds as part of a multi-genre cocktail.

Using excerpts from interviews with film personnel, listeners, and lawyers, this book tells the tale of Bollywood's music through all the genres it has incorporated over the decades, from Hindustani to hip-hop. It also looks at what such musical cross-pollination means in a world of increasing debates on intellectual property rights – and has links to extensive YouTube playlists to let you, the listener, decide for yourself.

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Bollywood
Indian cinema: Songs! Dances! More songs and dances! Strip away the visuals, however, and you are left with the curious feeling that the music is both a complete stranger and a long-lost friend.

Songs from Hindi-language film – “Bollywood” – are omnipresent in India. Whatever genre you can think of, one of those songs has tipped its hat to it (or picked its pockets). Indians are not fazed by unfamiliar music: they probably heard it in the film they watched last night, if only for a few seconds as part of a multi-genre cocktail.

Using excerpts from interviews with film personnel, listeners, and lawyers, this book tells the tale of Bollywood's music through all the genres it has incorporated over the decades, from Hindustani to hip-hop. It also looks at what such musical cross-pollination means in a world of increasing debates on intellectual property rights – and has links to extensive YouTube playlists to let you, the listener, decide for yourself.

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Bollywood

Bollywood

by Shwetant Kumar
Bollywood

Bollywood

by Shwetant Kumar

Paperback

$19.95 
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Overview

Indian cinema: Songs! Dances! More songs and dances! Strip away the visuals, however, and you are left with the curious feeling that the music is both a complete stranger and a long-lost friend.

Songs from Hindi-language film – “Bollywood” – are omnipresent in India. Whatever genre you can think of, one of those songs has tipped its hat to it (or picked its pockets). Indians are not fazed by unfamiliar music: they probably heard it in the film they watched last night, if only for a few seconds as part of a multi-genre cocktail.

Using excerpts from interviews with film personnel, listeners, and lawyers, this book tells the tale of Bollywood's music through all the genres it has incorporated over the decades, from Hindustani to hip-hop. It also looks at what such musical cross-pollination means in a world of increasing debates on intellectual property rights – and has links to extensive YouTube playlists to let you, the listener, decide for yourself.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9798765119075
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 10/01/2026
Series: Genre: A 33 1/3 Series
Pages: 160
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Shwetant Kumar is an Indian composer, multi-instrumentalist, and musicologist. A classically-trained pianist and self-taught synthesizer programmer and fretless bassist, he has been a concert and film composer and a session musician. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology at Yale University, USA.

Table of Contents

1. 1947 and Before
2. The 1950s
3. The 1960s
4. The 1970s
5. The 1980s
6. The 1990s
7. The 2000s
8. The 2010s
9. 2020 and Beyond
Ten Essential Tracks

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