Bars and cabarets
Mumbai has an unusually easy-going attitude to alcohol ; popping into a bar for a beer is very much accepted (for men at least) even at lunchtime. Chowpatty Beach and Colaba Causeway, where you'll find Leopold's and the Café Mondegar , form the focus of the travellers' social scene, but if you want to sample the pulse of the city's nightlife, venture up to Bandra and Juhu.

There is also a seamier side to the city's nightlife, concentrated around (illegal) late-night cabarets in the Grant Road area. In these dens of iniquity, women dance before men-only crowds in clothes that might in the West be considered Victorian in their propriety but would be unheard of anywhere else in India.

Café Mondegar , Colaba Causeway. Draught beer by the glass or pitcher, imported beer and deliciously fruity cocktails in a small café-bar. The atmosphere is very relaxed, the music tends towards rock classics and the clientele is a mix of Westerners and students; murals by a famous Goan cartoonist give the place a nice ambience.

Gables , Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba. Small and dark bar serving very cheap beer (from Rs45) and liquors to a tranquil male Indian clientele.

The Ghetto , 30 Bhulabhai Desai Road, near Breach Candy, Mahalakshmi (bus #132 from downtown). The alternative Mumbai scene where young arty, theatre types gather to play their music with attitude and write profound thoughts on the walls - the uniformed waiters do, unfortunately, ruin the effect. Cheap beer by the pitcher.

Jazz by the Bay , next to The Pizzeria , 143 Marine Drive. The official Channel V TV hang-out is a convenient place to crawl to after stuffing yourself with pizza. There's nightly live music, with both Indian and foreign artists performing, except on Sundays and Mondays when it's karaoke. Rs150 entrance; free Tues.

Leopold Pub , 1st Floor, Leopold's , Colaba Causeway. Swanky, self-consciously Western-style bar-nightclub, with bouncers, serving expensive beers to Mumbai's smart set. No single men admitted.

The Tavern , Fariyas Hotel , Colaba. Another "English-style" pub, complete with wooden beams, loud music and imported beer.

Nightclubs
The nightclub scene in Mumbai is the best in India and the late Nineties saw the rise of a funkier, groovier scene as the moneyed jet set began to hear the latest house, trance, fusion and funk that was hitting the decks in Goa and the West.

Most discos and clubs charge per couple on the door, and in theory have a "couples-only" policy. In practice, if you're in a mixed group or don't appear sleazy you won't have any problems. At the five-star hotels, entry can be restricted to hotel guests and members.

Copa Cabana , Marine Drive. Dark, smoky atmosphere, Latino music and lots of tequila. Free shoots for the ladies on Weds till 10pm and Thurs is 2 for 1 on Indian liquors.

Fashion Bistro , 16 Marzban Rd, next to Sterling Cinema. Mannequins display designer creations in one room, with a bar and tiny dance floor in another. Deafeningly loud Western chart-music with a Seventies and Eighties night on Fri. Rs200-300 cover charge per couple.

Headquarters , 166 MG Rd, opposite Regal Cinema, Colaba. Great little student club with good DJs, hip decor and a storming Goa-trance night on Fri. It is, however, fairly pricey with a Rs200-400 cover charge - though couples get in free Tues, Thurs & Sun. Tues-Sun 8pm-1.30am.

The 1900s , Taj Mahal . Pounding disco, free to guests but otherwise for members only. If you can get in, you'll see the cream of Mumbai society at their air-kissing best.

Razzberry Rhinoceros , Juhu Hotel , Juhu Beach. Much UV lighting and a good-size dance floor playing trance (Fri), drum'n'bass (alternate Wed) and the latest Western sounds (Sat & alternate Weds). Also has live rock bands on Thursdays as well as occasional blues, jazz or reggae bands on Sun. Cover charge Rs100-400 per couple and closes at 1.30am - though the coffee shop overlooking the beach stays open till 5 or 6am.

Three Flights Up , Apollo Bunder, Colaba. Used to have the longest bar in Asia and, despite moving to new (smaller) premises, is the biggest club in Mumbai. The music is Western disco, there's a no-smoking policy on the dance floor and fantastic a/c.

Bollywood
For anyone brought up on TV, it's hard to imagine the power that movies continue to wield in India. Every village has a cinema within walking distance and, with a potential audience in the hundreds of millions, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world, producing around 900 full-length features each year. Regional cinema, catering for different language groups (in particular the Tamil cinema of Chennai), though popular locally, has little national impact. Only Hindi film - which accounts for one-fifth of all the films made in India - has crossed regional boundaries to great effect, most particularly in the north. The home of the Hindi blockbuster, the "all-India film", is Mumbai, famously known as Bollywood .

To overcome differences of language and religion, the Bollywood movie follows rigid conventions and genres; as in myth, its characters have predetermined actions and destinies. Knowing a plot need not detract from the drama, and indeed, it is not uncommon for Indian audiences to watch films numerous times. Unlike the Hollywood formula, which tends to classify each film under one genre, the Hindi film follows what is known as a "masala format", and includes during its luxurious three hours a little bit of everything, especially romance, violence and comedy. Frequently the stories feature dispossessed male heroes fighting evil against all odds with a love interest thrown in. The sexual element is repressed, with numerous wet sari scenes and dance routines featuring the tensest pelvic thrusts. Other typical themes include male bonding and betrayal, family melodrama, separation and reunion and religious piety. Dream sequences are almost obligatory, too, along with a festival or celebration scene - typically Holi, when people shower each other with paint - a comic character passing through, and a depraved, alcoholic and mostly Western "cabaret", filled with strutting villains and lewd dancing.

Bollywood has moved closer to Hollywood in recent years with a rise in budgets of tens of millions of dollars, with foreign settings and an increase in on-screen sauciness. But, with pirate videos and a thirty-percent drop in audiences, a number of big-budget movies are failing to make money, and many now lose up to Rs100,000,000. Coupled with the recent mafia scandals involving financing, Bollywood is in big trouble, and an overhaul of the industry is desperately needed.

Visitors to Mumbai should have ample opportunity to sample the delights of a movie. To make an educated choice, buy Bombay magazine, which contains extensive listings and reviews. Otherwise, look for the biggest, brightest hoarding, and join the queue. Seats in a comfortable air-conditioned cinema cost around Rs20, or less if you sit in the stalls (not advisable for women). Of the two hundred or so cinemas , only eight regularly screen English-language films. The most central and convenient are the Regal in Colaba, the Eros opposite Churchgate station, the Sterling, the New Excelsior and the New Empire, which are all a short walk west of CST station.