Kollywood (Tamil: கோலிவுட் kōlivūṭ) is the English name of the popular Tamil Film Industry based in the Kodambakkam district of Chennai, India where Tamil films were once largely produced. Currently, there are more film cities in Chennai.

Silent movies were produced in Kollywood since 1916 and the era of talkies dawned in 1931. By the end of the 1930s, the industry was booming to the extent that the State of Madras legislature passed the pioneering Entertainment Tax Act 1939 with little opposition.

Tamil films are known to be the most popular Indian films, along with Bollywood films, due to their large distribution internationally to the numerous Tamil diasporal regions. They have one of the widest overseas distribution along with Telugu and Hindi films. They have enjoyed consistent popularity among Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. Tamil films have recently become popular in Japan (Rajinikanth’s Muthu, for example, screened for a record period), South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Sivaji: The Boss had been touted as a record-breaking film for its high-budget, large opening, and reception worldwide. It also cracked into the United Kingdom’s top-ten high-grossing films during the week of its release. Ayngaran International distributes a majority of Tamil films overseas while domestic distributors such as Aascar Films, Pyramid Saimira, and Madras Talkies handle distribution within India. The Kamal Haasan starrer Dasavathaaram was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in Canada.

Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various prestegious film festivals across the world, such as Kannathil Muthamittal, Veyyil and Paruthiveeran. More recently, Kanchivaram, directed by Priyadarshan, has been selected to be premier

The film industry based in Andhra Pradesh is referred as Tollywood, a portmanteau of the words Telugu, the Language where this industry is based, and Hollywood.

The Telugu movie industry is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. The Telugu film industry produces the largest number of films every year in India, with about 245 films produced in 2006.[1] Popular movies tend to open during the three festive/holiday seasons of the region: Sankranthi, Ugadi, and Dussera. In 2004, total revenue for the Sankranthi season was around Rs. 1.5 billion (US$37 million, as of July 17, 2007). There are number of TV channels ( Teja TV [2] etc.,) dedicated exclusively to feature programs related to Telugu movies.