An Indian-American girl has bagged the prestigious Fulbright-mtvU scholarship to create a documentary exploring the impact and influence of Bollywood music on underprivileged youth in Mumbai.

Tina Wadhwa, who graduated from the Columbia University in 2007 with a BA in Political Science and Economics, is one among the four American youths to have been awarded this prestigious scholarship, announced by the State Department on Wednesday.

Wadhwa would now travel to India to create a documentary exploring the impact and influence of Bollywood music on underprivileged youth in Mumbai. She will also develop the music and drama centre of the Akanksha Foundation while focusing on the role of music as a vehicle for collective expression and understanding among the children, it said.

The Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships were established in 2007 by State Departments' Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network to promote "the power of music" as a global force for mutual understanding.

The other three winners of this year's award are Andrew Magill of the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill, Michael Silvers of the University of California — Los Angeles and Rod Solaimani of Georgetown University.

Recipients were chosen through a multi-tiered, merit-based selection process beginning with field and discipline reviews by US and foreign academic leaders and area experts. Final selection was made by the presidentially-appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.