My Illustrious Acting Career aka I'm kind of a big deal

As if Friday wasn't enough excitement for a lifetime, we were asked to come back to shoot more dance scenes the following day. We exchanged more mobile numbers and were scheduled to be picked up at 7am. 

On Saturday only Kirsten and I went back because Hilary said she had had her fill of shooting movies. I can't say I blame her for taking that perspective because we did wait around a lot and it was very hot, but Kirsten and I both felt a certain obligation. They were kind enough to basically re-write these scenes to include us so we weren't going to blow them off. 

We get picked up and drive off to Kailasagiri, a gorgeous hilltop park overlooking the city and coast. Just the drive up the hill to the park was breathtaking. Once we arrived we saw the crew setting up the equipment, dancers getting into costumes and makeup, and the directors setting up the shots. Once again awkward was back. As if right on cue someone shows up with chairs while another crew member brings us breakfast. 

Shortly after breakfast the madam choreographer came over and through very few words and some gestures we figured out that she needs to teach us some dance moves for the upcoming scene. It was an eight count of mimed bad violin playing, followed by the bollywood version of the funky chicken in double time, and topped off with an eight count of freestyle swimming strokes. Me being the all-around amazing individual that I am naturally picked up the steps the first go around. 


The dancers were instructed on where to stand, boys on one side and girls on the other staggering the lines. By this time I'm thinking to myself, "Self, how the heck are we not going to ruin this shot?" All the girls were wearing matching yellow saris and the boys were wearing matching multi-colored outfits, but as Kirsten so kindly pointed out throughout the day, anything goes in Indian movies. But where would they put us? We would stick out like sore thumbs anywhere they put us with the dancers. They found a spot for us alright. In the front. Flanking the Akosh, the lead actor. 


In general I don't like taking pictures of myself. That usually involves just one person behind the camera, who I actually know, and it takes no more than a minute. Now imagine me standing in the front of 20-30 dancers being asked to do perform the above mentioned choreography in front of a little over a hundred people while they film it. Now tell me that I'm supposed to do all next to the hero of the movie. Yeah. I was so nervous my hands were shaking. I really shouldn't have been though because the hero wasn't that great of a dancer. (That was kinda rude, but its true.)


After we get the shot the director's looking for we wait around because the crew needs to change lighting, positions, etc. In between shots me and Kirsten are just being goofballs and having a ton of fun. Throughout the entire time we're there people will come up to us and ask to take pictures of us and with us. Even older gentlemen who were friends of Director Saha wanted to take snaps with the Americans. Meanwhile the leading man is sitting off by himself with his umbrella man keeping him in the shade and his makeup artist dabbing the sweat from his brow. I'm not kidding, he literally dabbed the sweat off Akosh's face almost the entire time. It was ridiculous. 

Next came some more dance moves. Eight counts of swinging arms low in front of the body in a criss-cross motion, four counts of elbows up, fists to the chest, lean forward on the right foot then back, last four counts same rocking motion but arms extended. Remember to think Bollywood. At the last second the director decided to have Kirsten and I switch spots by using the swinging arm eight count. So I'm shuffling in front of Akosh while Kirsten shuffles behind. What happened to being in the background like I asked?


Our next scene involved Akosh walking in the park and being swarmed by the dancers and us wanting him to sing for us. Cue the boys...run from the left, bug him to sing...cue the girls...run from the right, bug him to sing...cue the American groupies...run from both sides, bug him to sing. Sudaka remembered that Kirsten had a camera, she's a photography major, so he told her to get it and act like she was taking pictures of him as she ran up. 


Fawning over a guy has never really been my forte. A trait I am quite proud of. So doing this scene grated against the tiny feminist in me. I just had to keep reminding myself that I was just acting. I wasn't really the star-struck, googly-eyed girl I was portraying. But wait it gets better. 


The next scene the guy dancers are behind us and Akosh is a couple steps ahead and me and Kirsten just have to follow him for a few steps. Then he turns around and sings straight to us, spins back around, grabs our hands, and we do this cheesy raised hands thing. Of course the entire time Kirsten and I have to look all googoo gaagaa and "Oh my! He's holding my hand!" (If you know me in the slightest, you'd be cracking up right about now) But wait it gets better still. 

From this scene we shot, a continuation of the cheesy raised hands. Akosh spins us around to face him and starts singing to us. Then we have to bob our heads from side to side and snap our fingers. But of course that's not all. Akosh then has to do this half noogie half pat on the head thing. As belittling as it was, it was too funny to really be any sort of upset. At this point the camera is literally right behind me and Kirsten shooting in the back of our heads. Then the camera swings around to shoot from behind Akosh which meant it was right in our faces. Hello world! True to form, I wasn't wearing any makeup. Au naturale.


Our final scene involves Akosh sitting on a bench trying to enjoy the park while me and Kirsten rush him for his autograph. Can you say gag me? We were instructed to rush up, hold out our notebooks and pens, get his autograph, say thankful, look more star struck and in awe, and freeze. It was so hard not to laugh in his face. His "autograph" in my notebook is just some swirly scribbles, but I will cherish forever...yeah right.


As awkward and out of my element it all was, it really was so much fun. This was a great experience that I would never have had in the States. Out of all of this though, my absolute favorite part was after we shot the autograph scene. A bunch of school kids just arrived in Kailasagiri on an excursion (field trip). We were sitting on a bench not too far from the "hero", Akosh. He was obviously someone "important" because his umbrella man and sweat dabber were there taking care of him, but who did the all the middle school kids crowd around? The Americans of course. 

Everyone wanted to take pictures with us and I don't mean just one picture either. They wanted multiple pictures. One with just Kirsten and all the girls, one with just me and all the girls, one with me and Kirsten and all the girls, one with just me and Kirsten, and on and on. Finally we had to flee for our lives because their administrator came over and got into the picture chaos. He started taking pictures of us and his students. He looked like he was a minute away from arranging us shortest to tallest. 


After shooting our last scene, we were ready to go home and get out of the blazing Indian sun. We said thank you to the appropriate people and caught a rickshaw down to our humble abode, making it back just in time for lunch. It was a weird feeling to be center of attention on a movie set to sitting in my living room having lunch with the rest of the program students just as usual. It was a very surreal few days.


That, my dear fans, is how I became famous. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to thank all you little people when I accept my award for best random, irrelevant character in the history of movies.

The start of a new career?

*Note: If you haven't read the last blog entry you may be a little confused.*

While talking to the director, Swapan Saha, we expressed some interest in being extras in the background of a scene, but it was a bit difficult with the language barrier. He speaks Bengali and very little English where we only speak English and very few Telugu phrases. Once he realized what we wanted he took our mobile (cell) numbers and gave me his. He also called over another gentleman who did directing and choreography and explained the situation. Thankfully this new director, Sudaka, spoke English. He said he'd call his in the morning with the shoot location. 

We were really excited at the thought of being an extra in an Indian movie. So what did we three think to do? Shop for new outfits of course. We couldn't show up looking like a bunch of ruffians. In all honesty though we weren't really expecting a call Friday morning because when does that ever happen. 
-"Uh, excuse me director sir. I know you don't know us, but can we be in your movie?"
-"Of course strange American girls! Why wouldn't I want you to be in my movie!"
 That just doesn't happen in real life...or does it?

So Friday morning rolls around and we haven't heard from anyone. I try the number I was given but there was a recording saying it was an invalid number. Of course he gave us a fake number. I would've done that to get rid of pesky American girls. With one last ditch effort we ask the site director of the study abroad program if there's any trick to working Indian numbers and mobiles and there was. After making the necessary tweaks we call again. 


Ringing...ringing...ringing...and its Director Swapan Saha. We realized that we really were going to be in a Bengali movie and started freaking out a bit. We get the shoot location and ride a rickshaw out to some random village and down the dirt road. There at the end of the road is a bus full of dancers in costumes with some dancers on the roof. Yeah, it was for real.


As soon as we get there Director Swapan Saha has people bring chairs over for us and we sit with him under his personal umbrella. Of course we feel a bit awkward because none of us are actually anyone "important". We're not the lead actress. We're not dancers. We're not singers. We don't really have any special talents that would qualify us for such treatment. Our only qualifications were that we were American. At least that's the only thing I could think of. 


Throughout the day we watched as the filming went on. It was all for the dance numbers in the movie. It was really cool to see how it all works. Most of the time the lead actor/actress were just sitting around waiting for the equipment to be set up. 


After some time the crew breaks for lunch. We of course are prepared and have packed a bunch of snacks. Pistachios, dried fruit, granola bars, fruit leather, and chapati. In typical Indian fashion however, they not only invited us to eat with them, but also insisted on treating us as their "international guests". Just as I was starting to get comfortable, awkward came back. They brought out chairs for us while the crew and dancers sat on the ground. A table was provided and we were served. Again, what our qualifications are I have no clue. 


Finally it was our big moment to shine. We hopped on the bus and did a quick dance scene while sitting. We did a waving motion then rolled our hands followed by a quick succession of snaps and again with the rolling hands. The best part however was when my friend Kirsten was put on the spot. Director Sudaka pointed to her and said, "Ok, when I point at you I want you to get up and just start dancing." Um, say what? When she asked what exactly he wanted he responded with, "Just do whatever you feel. Just freak out." And that's exactly what she did. It was awesome!


So there we were, in a bus down a dirt road from a random village on the east coast of India dancing in a Bengali movie. How much more surreal can life get? Apparently there's always more room for surrealism because Director Sudaka asked us to come back the next day, Saturday, for more filming...

What did you do today?

When I woke up this morning I figured it would be just like any other day. Read, work with a translator, eat lunch, check my email, hang out with some friends, the usual. Little did I know what was in store...

India is known for its movie industry. It puts out more films in a year than any other country. Last year there were over 100 movies released in just the Hindi division, better known as Bollywood. Other Indian divisions such as Tamil, Bengali, and Telugu have put out similar numbers. Visakhapatnam is a fairly large city and one of the major sea ports. It is used quite often as a shooting location because of its beaches, mountains, and city landscape. 

As I was working with my translator this morning I received word that there was a movie being shot not too far from my house. So naturally I grabbed my two best girl friends and my translator, hailed a rickshaw, and rushed on down to the park they were shooting. I expected very little. Of course we weren't really going to see anything. Right? Wrong!

There was no type of security so we just walked into the park and my translator started asking people who the director was and where we could find him. I ended up doing an interview with him on the spot. Of course I wasn't really prepared, but its not like this is going into my research anyways. Next my translator got me interviews with the leading actress and actor. The actress was a bit of a primadonna, but I think I would be too after shooting in the hot Indian sun for so long. The actor, Akosh, was great. This is his first breakout film. We even got a picture with him! I played it cool, but after we walked away I got all school-girl giddy. Not because he was so dreamy or anything of that sort, but because no way would I ever have gotten to do something like this in America. After my short impromptu interviews we stayed on set and watched some of the filming. It was really amazing.

Borra Caves

Has anyone ever read "A Passage to India" by E.M. Forster? No? Me neither. But apparently it talks about the Borra Caves which is where we went last Thursday. It was crazy cool. One of the program directors, Dr. Charles Nuckolls, actually went into the caves some 30 years ago. Back then you had to get a local villager with a torch to show you around. They went deep into the caves finding an underground river and following it out to another opening in the caves. 

Now days its been commercialized by the government as a tourist attraction. So now there's artificial lighting, crude steps, and walkways. One can't go throughout the entire cave system like before, but it is still very cool nonetheless. Dr. Nuckolls brought three older men from the fishing village where he's been doing his anthropological studies. Their caste is called Jalari. One of the men, Pentaiya, is 80 years old and would not go into the caves because he was scared. Going into the earth did not seem appropriate because that is where some of the demons and things live. The other two men, Lakshminaiya and Potaiya, went in but Potaiya too got scared and left soon after entering. 

Henna

 For my birthday one of the translators bought me some henna and here's the "simple" design she did for me. Crazy huh?

Happy Pongal!

For those of you who don't know, which should be everyone, the Pongal festival is a harvest festival commemorating the past farming season. Old clothes are thrown away and burned, rice is made in new pots til they boil over signifying the abundance they hope will come, and thanks are offered to cows and buffaloes for plowing the fields. Pongal is held on the 14th of January every year in accordance with a solar calendar following the sun's movement into the capricorn zodiac. I bring this up because we came across a private school the other day, just by chance, that was preparing for the Pongal festivities coming up. Here are some pictures of the kids. 

farmers

fortune teller and his ox

blessing the children

fancy dolled up cow dung

dancing around the cow dung

wishing cow bowing

Beach Road

Visakhapatnam is on the east coast of India so naturally we live close to a beach. The first picture on the last post was taken on Beach Road just about a kilometer from our house. I went down there on Jan 8 with a few girls from the program and almost as soon as we got out of the rikshaw we were swarmed by Indian tweeny bopper girls who wanted pictures of us, with us, and some even wanted autographs because we're American. Weird. Anybody who knows me knows I'm not the most enthused person when it comes to taking pictures, or snaps as they are called here, so this was definitely a new experience. It was like we were celebrities but without all the perks of wealth and connections. 

After we slipped away from our adoring fans, we walked along the beach. To be quite frank, its nicer than I expected, but I still didn't wade in. We continued walking until we came to a giant baby statue. Yep, you read that right. A giant baby statue. Don't ask me why it was there. I looked for some sort of placard explaining this phenomenon but apparently you don't have to explain things like a giant baby statue in India.

Across the street we saw a lifesize red dragon statue so naturally we climbed on and started taking snaps. My favorite of the day though would have to be the gargantuan cutout directly in front of it. I have no idea who the man is but I just had to get a picture with him. This just absolutely made my day. 

India is filled with random things like this and jarring juxtapositions and I can't quite to discover them.

Happy Birthday to ... ME!!!

As a special treat for my birthday here are some pictures!

Beach Road

Wishing Cow

Girls at a private school celebrating Pongal

Demigod guarding the entrance to a Vishnu temple

I'm here!

Original title right? I just wanted to let you know that I arrived in India safely so no need to worry. Pictures and hopefully a more entertaining blog will be coming soon. As for now, I have to get some sleep. In case you're wondering, I'm 12.5 hours ahead of Utah. So its about 12:20am the 8th of January. Goodnight.