Sunday, January 31, 2010

Shit and glam in India

India is full of contrasts. Big contrasts. I understood that pretty quickly. I startet my trip in a city with shit, rats and the smell of pee. And ended up in a Bollywood movie.

Ive seen the real india. The first day i got here. Jaipur, also known as the pink city, is a crazy city with camels, elephants, rats, dust, poo (of all kinds) and pink houses. The first day was a bit of a shock, you feel like you're in a weird dream. After a day in Jaipur you want to wake up from that dream, trust me. People drive like crazy and it smells like wee and shit everywhere. Guys where looking at me like i was some kind of alien - or a western sex goddess that they just couldnt take their eyes off. Never stare back, they will think you are in love with them. When we went to see a big fort on the top of the hill outside the city, guys were taking photos of me instead of the fort. Im really glad i am with my aussie man cause if not i would have been eaten alive.
The traffic is crazy in Indias pink city. Everyone blows their horns every second. My ears needed a rehab. After Jaipur - Mumbai was like a fairytale. In many ways.

My Bollywood adventure started the first morning. We were going out to buy train tickets for Goa when a guy jumped out of a fancy car and asked if we wanted to be in a Bollywood movie. We wasnt so sure, cause we've met some dodgy people on our way. But hey, the guy sounded like he wasnt joking and how many times in your life are you asked to be in a bollywood movie?? "It will last from ten in the morning to ten in the evening. Very interesting. See how make Bollywood movie. Very famous actors. Big movie. You will have fun and maybe sometimes boring". What the hell, we went on that bus.

Three hours later two ladies were fixing my hair while singing songs from Bollywood movies. Talking in hindi, then sending me off for my make up in a van with lots of gays in pink shirts. The main actors came out to the set a bit later. They had lots of people around them - carrying umbrellas, make up, water and other stuff.

We were extras (sorry guys i didnt have any lines) and had to walk in the background when the actors where talking. Pretty famous actors according to the indians there. We kinda understood that cause outside the location there where about a hundred indians trying to get a glimse of the actors. Or was it me they wanted to see? I was wearing a lovely dress with lepard patterns and too small shoes that were meant to fit an indian little lady. But the guys on the set told me no one would see my shoes in the movie anyways.

After walking on command for a lot of hours, eating curry and drinking chai in between takes we where all kinda tired of being movie stars. We took the oh so fancy bus back to our lousy hostel with no real walls and got our beauty sleep. Its hard to be a bollywood star!