Bollwood Acha hai

... a very rough guide


How big is Bollywood? I’m sure many of you outside of the Indian world wonder that, no? The answer is huge, the film industry in India is one of the largest in the world, and Bollywood is just a small part of the Hindustani cinematic world. Nearly every state has it’s own movies, there are Punjabi movies and Tollywood movies, films made in the Tamil speaking South of India. The name is a portmanteau of Bombay and Hollywood (which many don’t like) and although it isn’t actually a place in Bombay, it’s a very real part of India and Bombay. Its home is Film City, a massive area in the far suburbs of Bombay full of movie studios. I wouldn’t even want to try and guess how many movies have been made there. But since I’ve been here nearly every week a new movie is being advertised, with huge hoardings all across town (the crossing from Mahim to Bandra is a sight with all the billboards there, I’d guess around 20 big ones.) Bollywood is based on escapism, and rarely are you treated to the harsh side of life, unless it is to illustrate how tough a character is. One of the reasons I think that Slumdog Millionaire had a lukewarm reception was its brutal honesty in depicting the slums and people living rough in India. I mentioned before a movie called Dostana; now THAT is a bollwood movie, albeit a very modern ‘hip’ one. Your foundation for a Bollywood movie is the music. Get a good song (and a dance routine to back it up) and you’re halfway there. Commercial music in India is not Britney Spears, it’s the latest and greatest bollywood tracks. A typical Bollywood club involves everyone standing around doing the moves they saw in the song and singing all cool, like the movie stars. And the movie stars? If you make it in Bollwood and become a star (believe me not a simple thing in a very closed and competitive industry) you have the chance to become one of the most powerful people in India, like Shah Rukh Khan.

Who?

Shah Rukh Khan (hope I’m spelling that right) was named one of India’s most powerful people and he’s the movie star of Bollywood. His name nearly guarantees box office success and it was his interview and statement after 26/11 that was one of the most watched. Richard, you know who I’m talking about, the star of Kutch Kutch Hota Hai, one of the cheesiest movies I’ve ever seen, and for all the wrong reasons, one of the funniest.



Then comes Amitabh Bachchan, who when he dies will cause India to come to a standstill, he is the Godfather of Bollywood and has been a star for over 40 years. You may remember him from Slumdog Millionaire, though he isn’t in it. He’s the guy the kid jumps in the poo to get to and signs the autograph. And the way those people were acting, not put on at all. In fact it seemed pretty restrained!

a young Amitabh Bachchan in the 70s

Then there are the women of Bollwood, the sexy bombshells. Women who grown men will weep and cry over. The big name at the moment is Priyanka Chopra who starred in Dostana.

She’s probably the women of half a billion people dreams right now. Now, to be honest my knowlefge of Bollywood actors and actresses nearly ends there, I know that most Indians are like, “what?” Even Gayle, who can’t stand Bollywood, could name most of the big stars.
But I have to admit, I don’t like Bollywood films, especially the serious ones. They are too over-acted for me. Too melodramatic. Not saying that means they’re bad movies, just I don’t enjoy them. I love comedic ones, I can watch them. The over the top acting only makes it better.
Another thing people may have heard about Bollywood is that people don’t kiss in them, which is quite true. There is no nudity and sexual content, which doesn’t mean they are not sexual. They still have the ‘wet-sari’ scene and the sexy dance moves and the wistful looks, but when out hero and heroine come to the kiss they either move to the side (sexy like) or there is a scene cut. While being very conservative they can be just as provocative as Hollywood movies, if not more so.
wet sari scene!
Okay times up. I really should do some work. Maybe I’ll talk a little more about Bollywood some other time.


one of the big summer hits!

Slumdog Crorepati

Back in the office today, after 2 days at the mosque scraping paint off to analyse the original paint colour. Hard work. Especially when your on top of a steel ladder 10ft in the air with no shoes on. Now I have to take all the images I took (around 100+) and catalogue each one. Will do it later, after lunch. Lunch is rashers! Gayle, so good she is to me) went and bought some at a meat store. Very hard to find and these ones are quite meaty. The other ones we got were way too stringy and had loads of rind.
Saw slumdog millionaire last week. Brilliant movie and I highly recommend watching it. Not only is it a nice movie but it’s very true to what life is in India for many people. There is no exaguration in some of the scenes, I’ve seen the blind kids singing. You can sometimes forget that 55% of Bombay’s population live in slums, though there’s always a reminder around the corner. It’s amazing how big the divides between classes is here. You’ve got your super rich (TATA executives etc.) and your super poor here. Even the divide between the upper middle class and the rich is a gulf hard to bridge. What to one man in Bombay is wealth is another’s poverty.
There have been a few complaints about Slumdog Millionaire in the Indian media, criticising its name (in Hindi, it’s a very negative word to use for someone from the slums) and its romanticising of poverty in Bombay. I disagree with their arguments, as there is no glory in the boys life in the slums, only in their actions. The slum for them is a place of filth, violence and despair. It is true that Bombay has more to offer than just slums, but it cannot be ignored that the majority of Bombay live below or just above the poverty line.
In a vote in a popular newspaper here, 47% said that Slumdog Millionaire’s title was derogatory while, while 41% said no. I think it is derogatory, but isn’t that the point? The title is supposed to represent the attitude towards Jamal in the movie. He is seen as a Slumdog, he is called that a few times in the film.
Another criticism of the movie is that some of the younger actors, all of whom do live in the slums (such as the youngest Salim character) live in slums. Their parents live in a hut with no lights or running water. How come? In relative terms to the movie the family have received relatively nothing. Natika’s youngest actor was supposedly paid 38,000rs for her role, which was spent according the family on her father’s medical bill (he had broken his leg recently, a crippling thing for a family in their position). Is this fair? Should more money be given? I think it really should be up to the director and producer to decide, and to see that the families of the young actors, as well as the children themselves, get looked after. However, it’s important to see that this money goes to the right hands, and that the families use the money wisely, especially in the interest of the children who acted so well. The families were complaining that they wanted a flat, not money but can’t money buy a flat? One family was given 1.3lakh (130,000rs) over the course of a year which they claim was spent on food. Surely If they had asked for the money to buy a flat it would have been sorted out. And spending a lakh and a bit on food alone seems excessive for a family living in a hut.
At the same time it is important for us in the developed world to realise that Slumdog Millionaire is a story set in India, not a story about India. It does not tell the whole truth, for as there is poverty and slums, so there is wealth and development. I have been living in Bombay for 4 months now (can you believe it?!?!?) and I can tell you you’ll never be in a more vibrant city as Bombay. There is always something to see and do and there is so much life and culture in this city it’s amazing.

Goa part 3, the revenge of the drum seller

Fishing off the rocks at Vagator

From GOA 09

Getting sick about writing about Goa now. It’s bad enough not being there now, it’s worse that I’m writing it at work, after spending all day scraping back 100 year old paint. Any, there is still loads I want to talk about on Goa so I’m gonna continue. I left you all sipping beer mentally at vagator beach as the sun set (is that the right? Or is it sunset?). With the link of beer I’m gonna talk about alcohol in Goa for a bit then I’ll tell you what happened in the last few days of Goa. Alcohol is legal in Goa, which is quite a luxury as many states in India are dry states. I.e. no alcohol is allowed there. In fact in Maharhastra, the state Bombay is in, you are only supposed to be able to buy and drink alcohol if you have a permit, but this is rarely if ever enforced. Goa has its own alcoholic beverage too, called feni. It’s made from cashews or coconuts (cashew feni is supposed to be the best). It’s potent stuff, ranging from 20-40% and has the worst smell I can imagine. But put a bottle in front of a few Goans and they’ll drink it up like water. I personally only like it with pineapple juice, and then it’s actually an unreal beach drink.

From GOA 09

They also have a beer called king’s which is quite good. In India as a whole there is only one beer that matters, and that is Kingfisher. Though all the big brands are available (Heineken, Fosters, etc.) it dominates the market.

Back to Goa, after Vagator we went back to the hotel. As everyone was going their separate ways me and Gayle decided to treat ourselves (more!) and went for a lovely meal together at an Italian restraint in a converted Goan house. All the seats were outside and it was quite cool. Even though it was on the side of a road you wouldn’t even notice with the big wall and trees. But my god, the food there was unbelievabubble. The steak, oh the steak there was the best and we even packed in a delicious soufflé after. It was so good that on the last evening, even though it was quite expensive (405rs for the steak medallions). The next day was flea Market day at Anjuna, so off we went after a lazy morning lounging around the room. Unfortunately the boys didn’t come as they had to go meet friends so It was just Gayle, Katie, Pete and I. Gayle and me took our scooter and the lads took the taxi. However, Anjuna is quite a long beach, and we unluckily ended up at opposite ends, us following signs and the lads getting driven straight to the flea market.

From GOA 09

It took nearly 3 hours (not searching but wandering around) to meet up in the flea market, and what a place that is. It’s full of tourists and people trying to rip off tourists. But it is a great place to find bargains, if you know how to haggle. It’s crazy the amount of people who don’t and even then haggle badly. The best example is when I asked the price of a small bongo drum from this seller, he quoted 500rs to me, and I laughed and walked away. The price my friend got was 150 at vagator. However, I was a little foolish as I didn’t really want the drum, so he kept putting his price down. Eventually, he ended up at 100rs and I upset him so much as I still didn’t buy it. I felt a little bad leading him on like that, but I was also well pleased I haggled someone down that much too!

The next few days were spent going to and fro from the beaches, I really can’t be bothered giving that much detail, went to Arambol beach further north than Morojim, which turned out not to be the quite haven we expected but a buzzing centre of tourism.

Arambol

From GOA 09

Heard one tourist looking for guru ‘shwati’ for some yoga classes. That’s the sort of tourists I most associate with Goa. Fellows who wouldn’t look out of place at an organic farm in West Cork. I thoroughly recommend going there. And if you do, go for as long as possible. I stayed 1 week, I’d happily stay there for months. Goa is the sort of place where you really can get lost, suppose that’s why hippies love it here.

From GOA 09

Goa part 2, the rise of the scooter

family scooter in India!


Time for part two I think, hope I can make it, there is so much I want to tell you all! Lets see, I left you all sitting on Baga beach I think. Well on Wednesday Gavin, Richard and Moonj (not his real name, but everyone calls him that) came to stay, as we had a spare bed and the lads were willing to rotate sleeping on the floor. They were all for renting out scooters and encouraged by them me and Gayle split for a scooter of out own, unfortunately leaving Pete and Katie with the taxis, but we really wanted to drive one around and they didn’t want to drive. They didn’t mind so it was cool. And oh what fun we had, scooters are so easy to ride. Even with two of us it wasn’t as bad as I feared negotiating the Indian traffic, dumb pedestrians and various fauna that happened in our way (cows, dogs & elephants mainly). I actually found the foreign (I mean not Indian) drivers worse than the locals, the foreign guys just zip past you and cut you and speed way more than the locals, or even the visiting Indians (you can tell them by their cool shades and stylish clothes). The funniest thing is that I don’t even have a license, not even an Irish one! So bad! The renter just gave us the bikes with a show of id and we were cool! Anyway, I’d say I know more about the rules of the road than a good number of Indian drivers the way some of them drive here. (They are either fools in old crap cars and lorries who just don’t know the rules and annoying wankers in big cars (SUV style) who think they rule the road). So first thing we did was drive to Vagator (after a little test drive up and down the local road). Vagator is my favourite beaches of all that I’ve visited in the North. It’s isolated compared to most beaches and has some of the nicest, cheapest, chilled out shacks in Goa. Plus it’s defienlty the most beautiful beach. It’s quite small with rocks all over (makes It a little dangerous for swimming) and cliffs with palm trees all around. Sunset there is out of this world too, but then sunset anywhere in Goa is the best, just look at the pics.
Sunset at Vagator from the cliffs

I had a bit of a ‘moment’ on Vagator beach listening to Gui Boratto’s “Beautiful Life” track while lying on a sunbed with Gayle watching the sun sink bellow the horizon. Cheesey I know but it was what it was. We went to this shack called Palm Beach I think it was, great food and amazing prices. 120rs was the most expensive thing on the menu. Beer cost 25ruppees a bottle. Okay, I have to cut this one short, looks like I'll have to divide the trip into 3. No harm though, means more time to talk about things in later blogs.


And for those that don't believe (not mentioning anyone) that India doesn't have surf...check out the monsoon weather at vagator

Goa, part 1.

From GOA 09

Back from Goa, what a trip! Went with gayle (of course) and Pete & Katie, two English friends come over on holidays. Don’t want to male you too jealous but it was so lovely there. I ate, drank, sunbathed and swam all day and then drove a scooter around! So much fun. Gayle and I took the plane down as did Pete and Katie(but ina different plane), little expensive but worth it as it only took 1 hour, in comparison to the 13 hour bus ride I had back from Goa to Bombay.
where Goa is in India

our hotel

Our hotel was the Royal Goan in North Goa, It’s right beside baga, one of the most famous beaches in Goa (that and Anjuna beach, just North of Baga). We went to Brittos for dinner on our first day, and returned twice after. What a good shack, it’s deserves it’s good reputation as one of the best beach shacks in Goa. It’s so well known that nearly every time Gayle goes there she meets someone she knows, this time it was in-laws of her mum’s step sister who she hadn’t met in 20 odd years!



That evening (Saturday) after dinner we went for a walk along the beach. TO our surprise we wlaked past a ten strong commando unit in full attack gear basically sauntering down the beach. Goa had a few threats against it by terrorists, which was being taken seriously after the Bombay attacks, I was glad to see how seriously they were taking it.

map of North Goa with places mentioned noted


View Larger Map
Google map of Baga beach, scroll around to check out Goa

The taxis in Goa are such a rip-off. A ten minute walk would cost you 50-100 ruppees, we went to morojim beach a good bit up north and it cost us 500rs.! A taxi in Bombay should cost you not more than 150 a journey, and that should be from city centre to Santacruz, a good 20kms in heavy traffic. But split between the 4 of us the taxis weren’t two bad. However, it was only me and Gayle at Morojim, because we thought we were gonna go to Panjim and buy tickets back and supplies but then realized that it was a Sunday and all the shops would be shut. So seeing as we were already in a taxi we decided to go somewhere, and our taxi driver recommended morojim, which turned out to be pretty far and quite nice.

From GOA 09

sunset a morojim

Morojim is in the next district on from Bardez, where all the most popular beaches of Goa are. We settled down at a shack called ‘seagull shack’ for the day and had our first swim of the trip. Aaahhhh. The only thing that disturbed our relaxation was when I dove into the water for the third time to notice a couple having sex in the water! I turned and left the sea to them. The funny thing was on the beach you wouldn’t even notice them, they were just a close couple. Think they were Russian, as the whole beach was full of Russians. They are one of the biggest tourist groups here. And they are all scary big men with tattooed wives and mulleted children. But they aren’t half as scary as the chockney bald britiish fellows who come to England. Not that either group ever gave me hassle it’s just that when you hear that thick English accent on a bald, huge ‘lAger; drinker I can’t help but feel I’m in a sunnier version of fever pitch. Maybe that’s just me.

From GOA 09

Baga Beach facing south

Anyway, we got back that evening and went out to zanibar beach shack, and ate there with Gayle’s old friend (and mine come to think of it, I’ve known her for 4 years now!) Michelle and her boyfriend Vincent (he’s French, so it’s pronounced Frenchy style). Zanibar (on Baga) is quite a mad shack, playing loud house all evening (music ahs to stop by 10.30 in Goa, a far cry from it’s rave past). There were people dancing on the tables inside (we were outside under the stars on the beach itself) and one crazy shirtless guy came out with his mac laptop listening to some tune on his headset on the beach and started dancing madly. Funniest sight ever! Monday was a chillout day, we went to Baga only and just sat at Larios shack and sunbathed and swam. There were loads of people on the beach and it was a little hassling because of that. After going back to the hotel to freshen up we went back to Baga and went to shinign star shack for a bbq (which turned out to be too expensive so we just ordered normal dinner). Michelle and Vincent and her Mum and Dad came after we had eaten and watched the tightrope walker and fire poi which was on after dinner. The funniest thing though was that they had set off fireworks earlier like 6m away from us and we had to like shrink back in case of being hit (I’m pretty certain falling pieces hit me too!).

From GOA 09

The food in Goa is so good, I can’t tell you! Oh, okay I will! Goans love their seafood. In fact, they love it so much that in Konkani (Goa’s local language) they say “what fish have you eaten today?” when aslkign how good you are? Although they have a variety of different Indian dishes available at shack (tandoori, Chinese, Tibetan and continental) it’s the fresh fish curries that are so famous in Goa. There is nothing like a good ‘fish curry rice’ in Goa, only ‘prawn curry rice’ beats it! I had calamari, kingfish and loads of other fish there. And the prices, oh the prices. For a foreigner coming to viist, they must seem so cheap, as a kingfish steak can cost you maybe 150rs. A big plate of fresh prawns could be maybe 170. And you know they are fresh cause you see all the fishermen bringint heir catch in in the morning, the same fishermen who work at the shacks during the day!. Okay, I think I’ll leave it at that for today, part 2 will be tomorrow.
Part 2 coming soon….…in which our hero drives a scooter, visits many beaches, nearly eats a star, and haggles so well at anjuna market he upsets a drum seller!

From GOA 09

Self & Gayle

p.s. click on the image bellow to see more pics of our trip to goa

GOA 09

Off To Goa

Hey all, Just to say that I'm of to Goa for a week. So no posts till next monday I'm afraid. But don't worry there will be loads when I get back!