Song and dance

Bollywood film music is called filmi (from the Hindi "of films"). Bollywood songs were introduced with Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara (1931) song, "De De Khuda Ke Naam pay pyaare". Bollywood songs are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers, with the actors then lip syncing the words to the song on-screen (often while dancing). Although most actors are good dancers, few are also singers; a notable exception was Kishore Kumar, who starred in several major films during the 1950s while having a rewarding career as a playback singer. K. L. Saigal, Suraiyya, and Noor Jehan were known as singers and actors, and some actors in the last thirty years have sung one or more songs themselves.

Songs can make and break a film, determining whether it will be a flop or a hit: "Few films without successful musical tracks, and even fewer without any songs and dances, succeed". Globalization has changed Bollywood music, with lyrics an increasing mix of Hindi and English. Global trends such as salsa, pop and hip hop have influenced the music heard in Bollywood films.

Playback singers are featured in the opening credits, and have fans who will see an otherwise-lackluster film to hear their favourites. Notable Bollywood singers are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhana Sargam , Alka Yagnik and Shreya Goshal (female), and K. L. Saigal, Talat Mahmood, Mukesh, Mohammed Rafi, Manna Dey, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam (male). Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi have been considered the finest singers of Bollywood songs, followed by Lata Mangeshkar (who has recorded thousands of songs for Indian films in her six-decade career). Composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. Remixing of film songs with modern rhythms is common, and producers may release remixed versions of some of their films' songs with the films' soundtrack albums.

Dancing in Bollywood films, especially older films, is modeled on Indian dance: classical dance, dances of north-Indian courtesans (tawaif) or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance blends with Western dance styles as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals; Western pop and classical-dance numbers are commonly seen side-by-side in the same film. The hero (or heroine) often performs with a troupe of supporting dancers. Many song-and-dance routines in Indian films contain unrealistically-quick shifts of location or changes of costume between verses of a song. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a duet, it is often staged in natural surroundings or architecturally-grand settings.

Songs typically comment on the action taking place in the film. A song may be worked into the plot, so a character has a reason to sing. It may externalise a character's thoughts, or presage an event in the film (such as two characters falling in love). The songs are often referred to as a "dream sequence", with things happening which would not normally happen in the real world. Song and dance scenes were often filmed in Kashmir but, due to political unrest in Kashmir since the end of the 1980s, they have been shot in western Europe (particularly Switzerland and Austria).

Contemporary Bollywood dancers include Madhuri Dixit, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sridevi, Meenakshi Seshadri, Malaika Arora Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Tiger Shroff. Older dancers include Helen (known for her cabaret numbers), Madhubala, Vyjanthimala, Padmini, Hema Malini, Mumtaz, Cuckoo Moray, Parveen Babi , Waheeda Rahman, Meena Kumari, and Shammi Kapoor.

Bollywood producers have been releasing a film's soundtrack (as tapes or CDs) before the film's release, hoping that the music will attract audiences; a soundtrack is often more popular than its film. Some producers also release music videos, usually (but not always) with a song from the film.