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{{Short description| Punjabi and Urdu cinema industry in Pakistan, originally based in Lahore. }}
{{About|the Urdu, Pashto, and Punjabi film industry|the entire film culture of Pakistan|Cinema of Pakistan|the Punjabi film industry in India|Punjabi cinema}}
{{Update|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox cinema market
| name                 = Lollywood
| image                = Pakistan film clapperboard.svg
| image_size           = 150px
| distributors         = {{plain list|
* [[ARY Films]]
* [[Hum Films]]
* [[Geo Films]]
* [[Urdu 1|Urdu1 films]]
* [[Pakistan Television Corporation|PTV Films]]
* [[Six Sigma Plus]]
* [[MD Productions]]
* [[Eveready Pictures]]
}}
| produced_year        =2024
| produced_total       =100+
| box_office_year      =
| box_office_ref       =
| box_office_total     =
| box_office_national  =
}}

{{Culture of Pakistan}}
{{Pakistanicinema}}
{{South Asian cinema}}

'''Lollywood''' is [[Pakistan|Pakistan's]] film industry, which has served as the base for both [[Urdu]]- and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]]-language film production.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/1874830/urdu-films-taken-lollywood-insiders-weigh|title=Have Urdu films taken over Lollywood? Insiders weigh in|work=The Express Tribune|date=26 December 2018|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://scroll.in/reel/909311/severed-limbs-and-rivers-of-blood-the-film-that-inspired-fawad-khans-the-legend-of-maula-jatt|title=Severed limbs and rivers of blood: The film that inspired Fawad Khan's 'The Legend of Maula Jatt'|work=Scroll.in|date=15 January 2019|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://images.dawn.com/news/1186701|title=Ejaz Durrani — Lollywood's favourite Ranjha|work=Dawn|date=8 March 2021|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-last-of-pakistan-cinema-artists-v27n2/|title=The Last of Pakistan's Cinema Artists|work=Vice|date=26 May 2020|access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/468607/goonda-raj|title=Goonda raj|work=The Express Tribune|date=25 November 2012|accessdate=20 February 2022|quote=The real-life characters behind the goonda and gandasa era of Lollywood... The scene is from the 1979 Lollywood film Wehshi Gujjar. On the face of it, to any modern critic of the Punjabi film industry, the story follows the ‘tried-and-tested’ Punjabi film formula: honour, bharaks (grandiose boasting), machismo and violence.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2262335/18th-death-anniversary-of-ahmad-rahi-observed|title=18th death anniversary of Ahmad Rahi observed|work=The Express Tribune|date=3 September 2020|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://scroll.in/reel/836640/lollywood-music-special-pakistani-star-sultan-rahi-like-never-before-in-jasoos|title=Lollywood music special: Pakistani star Sultan Rahi like never before in 'Jasoos'|work=Scroll.in|date=6 May 2017|accessdate=20 February 2022|quote=Though from an Urdu-speaking Indian immigrant background, Rahi did most of his acting in Punjabi films. Indeed, the whole genre of so-called gandasa (long-handled axe) movies, which has dominated Punjabi filmdom since the late ‘70s, is built almost entirely upon the face and voice of Sultan Rahi.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://scroll.in/reel/844704/sound-of-lollywood-listen-to-noor-jehan-letting-it-rip-in-punjabi|title=Sound of Lollywood: Listen to Noor Jehan letting it rip in Punjabi|work=Scroll.in|date=22 July 2017|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/645491/bilal-lasharis-next-project-a-multi-million-dollar-remake-of-maula-jatt|title=Bilal Lashari's next project: A multi-million dollar remake of Maula Jatt|work=The Express Tribune|date=14 December 2013|accessdate=20 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/44327/if-you-thought-lollywood-was-booming-let-2016-remind-you-why-its-not/|title=If you thought Lollywood was booming, let 2016 remind you why it's not|date=30 December 2016 }}</ref>

[[Lahore]] has been the center of [[Cinema of Pakistan|Pakistani cinema]] since [[Independence Day (Pakistan)|independence]] in 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DailyTimes.pk |date=2019-10-29 |title=Cinema of Pakistan — 72 years on and beyond |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/491612/cinema-of-pakistan-72-years-on-and-beyond/ |access-date=2025-09-12 |website=Daily Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aslam |first=Irfan |date=2021-10-03 |title=Khoj Garh -- a corpus of Punjabi film posters, books |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1649845 |access-date=2025-09-12 |website=Dawn |language=en}}</ref> However, with the Urdu film hub largely shifting to [[Karachi]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rizwan |first=Sheharyar |date=2021-08-30 |title=Evernew Studios — a picture of film industry's decline |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1643386 |access-date=2025-09-12 |website=Dawn |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> by 2007, the film industry in Lahore became synonymous with the Pakistani Punjabi film Industry.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

According to several media sources, the word "Lollywood" is a [[portmanteau]] of "Lahore" and "[[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]", coined in 1989 by ''Glamour'' magazine gossip columnist Saleem Nasir, and is usually used comparatively with respect to other film industries in [[South Asian cinema]].

== Etymology ==

"Lollywood" is a [[portmanteau]] derived from Lahore and "Hollywood", a [[Metonymy|shorthand reference]] for the [[Cinema of the United States|American film industry]], [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]].

== History ==

Prior to the 1947 [[partition of India]] into the [[India|Republic of India]] and [[Pakistan]], the Lahore film industry was initially part of the [[British Raj]]-era [[cinema of India]]. The [[Bombay cinema]] industry (now known as Hindi cinema or "Bollywood" in modern India) was closely linked to the Lahore film industry, as both produced films in the [[Hindustani language]], also known as Hindi-Urdu, the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of northern and central [[British India]].<ref name="Ghosh">{{cite book|last1=Ghosh|first1=Partha S.|title=Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia|date=2016|publisher=[[SAGE Publications]]|isbn=9789351508557|page=263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X242DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA263}}</ref>

== Films ==
{{main|Lists of Pakistani films|List of highest-grossing Pakistani films|List of Urdu-language films|List of Pakistani Punjabi-language films}}
Lollywood films in Punjabi were most popular in the 1960s and are often referred to as the ''golden age'' of Pakistani Punjabi cinema.<ref name="Awan 2014">{{cite web|last=Awan|first=M. Saeed|title=Cinemascope: Pulling the plug on Punjabi films|website=DAWN.COM|date=6 July 2014|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1116763|access-date=20 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915203705/http://www.dawn.com/news/1116763|archive-date=15 September 2015}}</ref>

== Casts and crews ==
{{See also|List of Pakistani male actors|List of Pakistani actresses|List of Pakistani film directors}}

== See also ==

* [[List of Pakistani films]]
* [[List of Urdu-language films]]
* [[Lists of Pakistani films by language]]
* [[List of Pakistani animated films]]
* [[List of highest-grossing films in Pakistan]]
* [[Central Board of Film Censors]]
** [[List of films banned in Pakistan]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* South Asian Media Cultures: ''Audiences, Representations, Contexts''. United Kingdom, Anthem Press, 2011.

== External links ==
* [https://www.imdb.com/Sections/Languages/Punjabi/ Search Punjabi films @ IMDB.com]

{{Cinema of Pakistan}}
{{World cinema}}
{{Lahore}}
{{Pakistan topics}}

[[Category:Lollywood| ]]
[[Category:Cinema of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Cinema of Punjab| ]]
[[Category:Punjabi language in Pakistan]]
[[Category:1980s neologisms]]
[[Category:Film production districts]]