Benefits of Bollywood dance

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Bollywood is the nickname of the film industry based in Mumbai, India. It is the base for films made in the Hindi language. Although the sobriquet “Bollywood’ is often incorrectly used to refer the whole of Indian cinema, nevertheless Bollywood is one of the largest centers of film production in the world.

The name Bollywood is a portmanteau word that is derived from the word “Bombay’, which is the formal name of Mumbai and ‘Hollywood’, which happens to be the center of American film industry. However unlike Hollywood, the place called Bollywood doesn’t have an existence as a physical place in India.

The naming scheme of “Bollywood’ was inspired by the portmanteau “Tollywood’ that is still used for referring to the cinema of West Bengal, in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. This name Tollywood, which also does not exist physically but was coined because the movie studios in Kolkata were located in a place called “Tollygunge’, dates back to 1932.

It was just a chance juxtaposition of two pair of rhyming syllables “Tolly’ and “Holly’ that lead to the formation of the portmanteau word “Tollywood’.

Later on it was just to establish the precedence for other film industries in India to use similar-sounding names that eventually led to the coinage of the term “Bollywood’.

The dances in the Bollywood films, especially the older ones were primarily modelled on Indian classical dance styles. However, in the modern Bollywood films nowadays one can find Indian dance elements blending with Western dance styles as one can find in MTV or in Broadway musicals.

In the Bollywood dances hero and heroines often perform with troupe of supporting dancers, with unrealistically shift of locations and costumes, between the verses of a song.

Bollywood movies have always used what is now popularly called as “item numbers’, where a physically attractive female character, who is known as the “item girl’, performs a catchy song and dance (completely unrelated to the main cast and plot of the film) in the film.

Some of the main benefits of Bollywood dance are:

Provides entertainment

The “item number’ Bollywood dances in the Hindi movies provides phenomenal adrenalin boost to the spectators of the movies, as it encourages the viewers to get themselves entertained by the melody of the songs.

Helps in managing Type 2 diabetes

According to a research done in PAMFRI (Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute) the researchers in the said institute is exploring a new creative way of managing Type-2 diabetes in South Asian immigrants by prescribing Bollywood dance as an exercise for improving the care of diabetes in a minority population.

The American Diabetic Association (ADA) has recommended 150 minutes per week of moderately intense aerobic physical activity, which is much in common with all Bollywood dances, as a culturally appropriate health management strategy for the growing Type 2 Diabetes affected immigrant population of South Asians in USA.

Helps in keeping us fit

Bollywood dance is a high-energy cinematic dance that combines both the Indian Classical and Western dance forms, hence practicing Bollywood dance helps in keeping us physically fit.

Helps in mixing dance styles

It is only in the Bollywood dances that one can find an intermingling effect of both Indian Classical and Western dance styles, which has helped in creating a new dance form, which was hitherto nonexistent to the dance lovers and danseurs before.

Aids in popularizing Bollywood Movies

It has been observed in several occasions, that the “item number’ dances in the Bollywood Hindi movies often makes the movies become blockbusters even in several non-Hindi speaking places all across the globe.

Some of the major musicians and actors who hold global repute and hails from Bollywood is the famous maestro A.R Rahman and actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan.

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