Top: Bobby (1973), colour lithograph, Tilak, Tirath & Oberai, © R.K. Films.

Forget Tinseltown, the largest film industry in the world is Bollywood in India where 14 million people go to the cinema everyday.

Indian studios, based mainly in Mumbai, produce 800 films a year — twice as many their American counterparts.

Bollywood made its first short film in 1899 and like Hollywood, the first 'talkies' emerged in the 1930s.

Today a Bollywood film is a vibrant combination of singing, dancing, vividly coloured costumes, archetypal characters and heady romance.

The bold imagery is also reflected in the posters and billboards used to advertise the latest films.

Some of the most remarkable examples of cinema art, including posters, lobby cards, billboards and song booklets, have been brought together in Cinema India, an exhibition starting in July at Leicester's New Walk Museum and Art Gallery.

The exhibition explores the history of Bollywood film advertising from 1947 to the present day, featuring some of the most significant films made in India's film history including Mother India and Oscar-nominated Lagaan.

The exhibition will be shown in eight chronological sections starting with Images of Nationalism, The Glory of India, India after Independence, Youth Culture, The 1970s and 1980s, The Global Perspective, Love and Romance and Depictions of Women.

Film fans, regardless of their knowledge of the genre, will be fascinated to explore the stylistic and historical development of Indian cinema art.

For British Bollywood fans, who make up the biggest audience for Indian films outside India, it will be a chance to revel in a celebration of this glamorous culture.

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