Most people think that the capital of the movie world is Hollywood, in the United States. However, the real movie capital is Mumbai, in India. Mumbai used to be known as Bombay, and so the film industry there is called "Bollywood". Each year, Bollywood makes twice as many movies as Hollywood. The movies from Bollywood are very different from Hollywood movies. For one thing, Bollywood movies are longer than most Hollywood movies. Most Bollywood movies are more than three hours long, and contain singing, dancing, adventure, mystery and romance. Because Bollywood films has so many different characters, this style of film is called a "masala" film. Masala is an Indian word for a mixture  of spices . Another big difference is the way the movies are made. It takes longer to make a movie in Hollywood than in Bollywood. In fact, filming may begin on a Bollywood movie before the script  is finished. The director and writers can make up the story while the filming is being made. Sometimes they even write the script by hand instead of typing it. Bollywood actors are so popular that some of them may even work on several movies at the same time. They may even make several different films on the same day using the same costumes  and scenery. Since most Bollywood movies follow the same kind of story, shooting scenes for several films at the same time is not a big problem for actors or directors. This also helps to keep the cost  of Bollywood movies lower than the cost of Hollywood movies. Why are Bollywood films often called "masala" films?
They have spicy stories. They show Indian culture. They mix different styles of movies. They are much longer than Hollywood films.