Toronto: Indian-born Canadian director Deepa Mehta expects Bollywood-like movies to be further embraced by Hollywood and hopes her latest offering can cash in on the trend.

Mehta, promoting her 'Bollywood/Hollywood' comedy at the 27th Toronto International Film Festival where it made its world premiere on September 6, said that South East Asia's strong film industry and population have definitely caught the eyes of Hollywood.

"If everything is about economics, let's face it, I think that people in the West and mainstream distributors have realised that there's a huge population from South East Asia with large disposable incomes," she said.

"There's an awareness that they have an inborne audience which I don't think they were aware of earlier," she added.

"I think also there is certainly a far greater awareness that there is another genre and it's not just American commercial cinema that exists in the world," she said.

"Just the way people became more aware of Iranian cinema 10 years ago, I think this is a time for Bollywood," she said, noting that Bollywood pumps out more than 1,500 films a year, more than any other country, including the US.

If recent Bollywood movie successes are any indication, she may be right.

'Monsoon Wedding' by Mira Nair scored big at North American box offices with its Bollywood tale of the impending marriage of a young Indian couple told through traditional song and dance. And last year 'Lagaan', a more political story about a cricket match between Indians and their British colonial masters, garnered an Oscar nomination for foreign language film.