Amitabh Bachchan and his like-minded "Indian film industry" friends are going to hate this. But they have not been able to stop the "Bollywood" juggernaut despite their valiant and futile efforts.

Indian showbiz's glamour and mystique, kitsch and glitter, that has obsessed millions have now made a dramatic entry, so much like Shatrughan Sinha's on the screen in the decades gone by, on the pages of a new edition of Oxford English Dictionary.

It's official: Bollywood has been christened as an English word. Most others would see this as inevitable the manner in which Britain has embraced Bollywood in the past few years, and would look at it as a triumph, another defining moment for the Indian film industry.

Bollywood has happily and melodramatically sung and danced its way along with A-list and Academy Awards and Honey Traps into the Oxford English Dictionary, the undisputed keeper of Oxonian accent and words.

It also carries as a graphic illustration, a picture of two starlets, one in a "virginal" white sari and another in shorts and tight-fitting shirt holding hands. East or West, Bollywood is the best, as Anu Malik would have sung.

Star actresses like Shabana Azmi or socialite-writer Shobhaa De, like their jeer leader Amitabh Bachchan, may hate the word 'Bollywood', and they have their reasons; they feel it is a disparaging way of describing Indian cinema and does obeisance to Hollywood, but 'Bollywood' is a natural corollary of the popularity of cinema emerging largely from Bombay, or Mumbai as it is now known officially.

The term speaks of a common liking for the likes of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Lagaan, Devdas, Rang De Basanti and such cinema by both the English and Asian movie buffs.

A major contribution in its adoption was by the "Bollywood Celebrations" at Selfridges two years ago and the unaccepted applause Bombay Dreams got from the highbrow West End audiences.

The musical genius of A.R. Rahman came to Bollywood and from there gave the West a glimpse of not only Rahman's genius but also an insight into Mumbai's film world, or Bollywood.

"Bollywood," correctly noted an exhibitor, "denotes glamour, colour and a fantasy world even the stiff upper lip society in the West lusts for. There is no way that you can erase the word and substitute it with Indian film Industry".

With Bollywood, much of the lifestyle choices that its stars project have also made a natural piggyback entry into the new dictionary. Pilates, rehab, docusoaps, Reiki and G-spot, all of them are now in.

The illustrated dictionary from Dorling Kindersley which contains 187,000 concise definitions and 4500 full-colour images, includes things that make many choose a life away from the spotlight, such as "deep vein thrombosis" and "search engines". Yardies, gangstas, tree-huggers and peacenik have also wormed their way in.

But as Preity Zinta might say if she mistook the Indian film industry for BSNL: "Bollywood -- best hai mere liye." - (SAMPURN)