It is St Valentines Day and while we were sorting out rooms and cruises yesterday, Duncan also managed to book a tour of Bollywood. Bollywood is not a place, but a film industry. Of course it is a long way from our hotel because we were situated close to the port. Our guide Nareen, and a driver pick us up and it is a pleasant drive.
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| The tide is out and some people are looking for small crabs and shellfish on the beach |
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| These are houses where famous Bollywood stars live - not great on landscaping! |
The film industry has been going for some time in India because of the influence of the British (and thence the french). Often these would be just pictures of an event or people in the street. Families would come out and watch these projected on a sheet or wall - and hey presto the outdoor cinema was born. Many exotic films have been made, with the main ingredient being music, dancing, romance and action! The plots are reasonably simple and rely on the fast-paced timing to make them into cult watching.
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Some of the many titles made at the Chandivali Studio |
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| One of the early sets - the high rise building suddenly doesn't look so big when you see man on the scaffolding |
Chandivali has three sets.
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| The street scene |
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| Part of Slum Dog Millionaire taken on this street scene |
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| Gosh, and they even have a Doctor Eye Institute! |
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| This alley is used for the motorbike chases |
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| The court room Scene |
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| We had to keep quiet here - they were in the process of shooting a weekly soap. |
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| Take two |
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| Take note of the scalloped each of the archway |
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| I noticed several women in the small production crew |
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| The sound guy |
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| Duncan went up to look through the scalloped archway - he probably photobombed the scene being filmed!!! |
The courtyard lead out onto a field and stage which could be mocked up in with a stage for lots of singing and dancing and wedding scenes
Next we went to the SJ studio - which was a grander affair, much bigger budget, but still not on Hollywood scale.
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| Kitchen props |
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| A family home set |
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| The main bedroom - used for many an amorous moment!! |
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| This was the grand entrance way for the posher homes in films |
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| Nareen insisted we have a photo! |
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| This is the hospital set for a long running soap (a la Shortland Street) |
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| There is one patient room. More beds are added if it is in a poorer area. |
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| Theatre didn't seem to have ANY equipment. |
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| But what a wonderful corridor, ready for many a mercy dash. The chairs were real (lol) |
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| If there appeared to be lots of rooms along the corridor you can see that there isn't very much in this hospital Ward!!! |
Next we went to a much grander set, and some young men were practising there moves, one spinning around on a trolley which would obviously be judiciously filmed so that apparatus is not shown
Onto the next part of the studio, and this is a mockup of the fabulous dances we were to see later
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| The court scene at SJ studios is much grander |
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| Then we go into the film editing booth |
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| I'm given a chance to record a single. Unfortunately I choose poorly - Mama Mia which I don't even like! The sound man is supposed to send you a copy. I think I saw something arrive in my inbox from India and put it in the trash box. |
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| And after the courtroom scene, there is the Jail scene |
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| Nareen wants us to take another photo! |
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| This model on the wall behind the cistern made going to the loo an interesting experience! |
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| Typical Rajasthani costumes |
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| Duncan gets dressed into his. |
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| Perhaps the aircon is not so well placed! |
And now onto the Dance display. While they are getting ready I talk to the man next to us. He is a travel writer from Britain - and I know him from TV somewhere too! I ask him if he is enjoying Brexit and he says "About as much as the Chinese are enjoying the Corona virus!" Of course these were early days for Corona virus.
The dance area is very small, and the dancers are extremely athletic. There is a little chat between eah dance/costume change
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| Then they ask for volunteers - Duncan is on the end of the row of seats so gets selected! |
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| He joins in enthusiastically. |
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Our lunch is very late. I have a small kebab, then kulfi which is the traditional Indian icecream, this one flavoured with ginger and pistashio nuts. I wish I had discovered this before!
It is late afternoon before we arrive back at our hotel. We are just relaxing when we have a delegation of three of the hotel staff come to our door wanting to know why we had put in a complaint to our travel agent. I'm afraid that I was sulky and Duncan was dismissive. We were over it. In the end we were given a free Valentines buffet and bottle of wine which eased the disappointments in this hotel.
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