According to an annually published Indian government study on the entertainment industry, Mumbai produces the bulk of the 1,000-plus films India releases each year. Most of these films are in Hindi, but a sizable number are in Tamil, Telugu and other Indian languages. Nearly all of the mainstream, commercial films are musicals.

The relatively high production values of the Hindi films and the star power of their heroes and heroines have led to Bollywood's domination of Indian entertainment. Although very few of the films are subtitled for the foreign market (at least until the DVD release), their songs and stars prove so irresistible that non-Indian Bollywood movie fans can now be found across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China, Russia, Japan, Britain and North Africa.

A decade ago, most Bollywood films were of the so-bad-they're-good variety, but production values are going up. "The current movies are pretty slick," observes critic David Chute, of Film Comment magazine and L.A. Weekly. "With a movie like 'Lagaan,' you see it and you get hooked."

This year's slickest Bollywood effort, "Devdas," at $12 million the most expensive movie ever made in India, has been chosen to represent India at the next Academy Awards. Nominations won't be announced until Feb. 11, but Time's Richard Corliss liked its "visual ravishment" so much that he ranked it at No. 4 on his list of the year's Top 10 films.

"Devdas," which stars Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai as tragic lovers and Madhuri Dixit as a courtesan smitten with Devdas (Khan), opened the Palm Springs International Film Festival's special "Bollywood/Hollywood" program on Jan. 12 with a gala screening attended by Dixit. The film is too melodramatic for my taste -- there is much weeping and drunken throwing of glassware -- but its opulent costumes and passionate performances do serve as an effective introduction to the charms of its stars, especially the voluptuous Dixit.

The Palm Springs fest screened 12 of the most important dramatic feature films to come out of India over the last year, many of which are now available on DVD. Selections included "Chandni Bar," a compelling and realistic look at the dead-end lives of Mumbai's bar girls; "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham," a little bit of balls-out Bollywood eye candy; and "Dil Chahta Hai," which helped launch a new trend of films that convincingly blend song and dance with the lives and issues of urban youth (watch "Lagaan" star Aamir Khan trade in his dhoti for big-city hipster duds!).

One of the year's best films is the debut feature from husband-and-wife activist filmmakers Anwar Jamal and Sehjo Singh. Their film, "Swaraaj: The Little Republic," takes the struggle for water rights by four low-caste women in Rajasthan and turns it into a fable that would inspire anyone who's ever battled bureaucracy. Another film that played Palm Springs after an impressive showing at Toronto last September was "A Tale of a Naughty Girl," Buddhadeb Dasgupta's bittersweet depiction of a bright young girl who seeks an education over the objections of her mother, a prostitute who sees a brighter future in the flesh trade. South Indian auteur Mani Ratnam ("A Peck on the Cheek") was honored, and a few of the best new films in English also got attention, including the powerful "Mr. & Mrs. Iyer" and "Everybody Says I'm Fine!"

Another forward-looking festival with the courage to peek beyond Satyajit Ray is the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. This year's SFIAAFF, to be held March 6 through 16, will highlight cinema of the Indian diaspora and feature screenings of "Bend It Like Beckham"; "Bollywood Bound," a wry documentary on the quest for stardom; "Mutiny," a documentary on the British-Indian bands and DJs who are transforming club music (with DJ Rekha, founder of Basement Bhangra); and two Bollywood classics, 1998's frothy "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" and the Oscar-nominated 1957 classic "Mother India." Another festival in Chicago later in the year will spotlight Bollywood classics of the 1950s and '60s.

Indian film is evolving at an astounding pace, and 2003 might be its best year yet. I'm not promising that commercial breakthrough, and I also can't promise you'll fall in love with Bollywood's squirming starlets, lithe heroes and violin-drenched dance numbers. But if you still thought India was about yoga and sitar music, you'll definitely be surprised.

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