A news about a Nepali actor, Shri Krishna Shrestha, starting a business named “Kollywood Planet” left me thinking – is the Nepali movie industry Kollywood?

Although, Shri Krishna Shrestha’s business doesn’t seem much related to the Nepali movie industry, I have a feeling, he does want to represent the Nepali film industry. The name, Kollywood, seems to be inspired by the combination of Kathmandu and Hollywood. But, when I checked the name in Google, there was no reference of Kollywood being related to Nepali (or Kathmandu) film industry, at least, not on the first page.

That means, either we have to forget about the name “Kollywood” to represent our movie industry or, make it more popular by using it more frequently. In this context, let us review what Hollywood is and, what names are inspired by Hollywood:

In the modern time, Hollywood has become an iconic name to represent the US movie industry. The success of Hollywood movies has inspired other film industries to nickname themselves with Hollywood-inspired names.

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States (yes, it’s not a movie industry in itself, as believed popularly). The place situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles, got it’s cultural identity as the center of movie studios and movie stars when movie making activities increased in the early 20th century.

India has the largest share of names after Hollywood to represent the local movie industries. Although, many names like Bollywood are popular worldwide, others haven’t gained much popularity. Lets, list the name:

• Bollywood – After Hollywood, Indian movie industry is considered to the biggest in the world. The largest part in the Indian movie industry is located in Mumbai, popularly known as Bollywood – an amalgamation of Bombay and Hollywood.
• Kollywood – a portmanteau of the words Kodambakkam, an area of Chennai, where Tamil language feature films are produced, and Hollywood. Kollywood West refer to Tamil movies produced in western countries and the term Kollywood South refer to Tamil movies made in Singapore, Sri Lanka and India.
• Ollywood – Oriya Film Industry in India.
• Tollywood – Telugu Film Industry (more popular) but, it was originally termed for West Bengal Film industry after Tollygunj and Bollywood in 1932 by Wilford E. Deming in American Cinematographer. The name is referred to as the first Hollywood inspired name.
• Mollywood – The term refers to the Mlayalam film industry in India.
• Punjwood – Punjabi language movie industry in India
• Sandalwood – Kannada language film industry in Karnataka, India
• Sollywood – Sindh language movie industry in India.

Kollywood (Nepal) is also referred sometimes as movies made in the capital, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Apart from the US and India, other parts of the world are also obsessed by the word Hollywood:

• Bulawood – Fiji film industry. The word Bula is a word of greeting in Fijian language.
• Chollywood – Peruvian film industry.
• Kabulwood represents Afghan Cinema.
• Lolywood – Pakistani Film Industry, named for Lahore, Pakistan based movies. The word was first coined in 1989 by a gossip columnist Saleem Nasir.
• Kariwood – Karachi film industry – named after Pakistani capital Karachi.
• Pollywood – Pasthu film industry in Peshawar, Pakistan.
• Dhallywood (Dhaliwood) – Bangladeshi film industry; a portmanteau of the words Dhaka and Hollywood
• Hollywood North – the film industry in Canada, specifically Vancouver and Toronto is termed Hollywood North. The term has been in use to describe Canadian film and television production since the late 1970s
• Hollywood of the East – Egypt movie industry
• Wellywood – Cinema of Wellington New Zealand
• Nollywood – Cinema of Nigeria
• Sollywood – South Africa Film Industry (Coined in 2010)

It is clear, we can’t claim Kollywood to be Kathmandu movie industry when it is an already well established name to represent something else. A name Nollywood (for Nepal + Hollywood) is also taken, so is Pollywood (Pokhara +Hollywood). May be, Nepalwood or a Nellywood would be simple and easiest alternative to represent Nepali movie industry.

UPDATE: Based on the comments,

• Dhollywood – is the Gujarati film industry in India
• Tollywood – is Telugu film industry (correction).