South Asian cinema refers to the cinema of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The broader terms Asian cinema, Eastern cinema and Oriental cinema in common usage often encompass South Asia as well as East Asia and Southeast Asia. Cinema is prominent in South Asia, with the Bollywood (representing the most-spoken language in the region of Hindi) and South Indian film industries being the most dominant. Pakistan's Lollywood also is growing, while historically, Bengali cinema was highly acclaimed by international film circles.

Styles and genres

The scope of South Asian cinema is huge and takes in a wide array of different film styles, linguistic regions, and genres. South Asian cinema is particularly famous in the West for:

Regional industries

Bangladeshi cinema

Bangladeshi cinema, is the Bengali language film industry based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The industry often generally referred to as Dhakai Cinema or Dhallywood, has been a significant film industry since the early 1970s. The 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the first half of the 1990s were the golden years for Bangladeshi films as the industry produced many successful films. The industry has recently begun receiving international acclaim and many Bangladeshi films are getting released internationally.

Indian cinema

India contains many state languages which have film industries centered on them.

Nepali cinema

Pakistani cinema

Others

Some figures of South Asian cinema

Directors

Actors

Actresses