Having slept on a luxury overnight bus from Goa to Mumbai, Cheri and I were immediately latched onto by a persistent taxi driver. Insisting that we didn't want a taxi, we lugged our bags back and forth on the sidewalk while figuring out where to go. The bus told us that we were being let off at the closest stop to Colaba yet those around us were telling us that we were 25km away from Colaba.
A friendly young onlooker removed his headphones and decided to help us, enduring the subsequent scorn from our leach of a cabbie. We got in a taxi, got to Colaba and paid less than half of the original quoted price.
We had read in our guidebook that hanging around Colaba is a good way to land a gig as an extra in a Bollywood film. We didn't know where we were supposed to hang out but didn't need to worry about is as we were approached before getting our bags out of the taxi. Two more approaches during the day made it apparent that any young westerner would be approached as long as they left their hostel.
Conflicting schedules meant that Cheri and I would go as extras on different days. I had business school interviews Tuesday and Thursday while Cheri flew to Delhi on Wednesday.
I got back from what I felt was a better than average interview and rested for most of the remaining day. Cheri came back after a 14 hour day with stories of her red sequined bartending outfit from her day on set. The next morning, I rushed around, trying to get packed and moved into a new room while saying goodbye to Cheri before getting to a meeting point around 7:15am. Ready to give up on Bollywood, things came together at the last minute and I was off to my big pay day of 500 rupees (about 11 US dollars).
Most of the day consisted of sitting around in odd costumes. I was in a ripply burgundy silk shirt with a huge collar while others were in odd vests, short skirts and more. The group of 40 plus extras varied from 19 year old bearded Swedish hippies to petite girls you might think would be Hollywood extras or actresses. We sat, were fed, jumped around for 20 second takes as four of Bollywoods biggest stars romped around on top of a bar. I sat in the background as a choreographed dance roared around me. For the last scene, I had to dance on a stairway next to a 5'3" Swedish guy and a baby faced Finnish dude. I feel self conscious dancing with a girl while drunk in a dark bar so dancing under bright lights with dudes on stairs while wearing a floofy shirt with a camera rolling was a bit outside my comfort zone. Many takes were needed and a lot of attention was paid to my area of the shot. The director and her assistants kept asking for energy and at one point yelled "the white guys just can't move!" which I hope referred to the spastic redhead on a platform behind me and not to myself.
It turned out to be a great day and more than half of us went out for a beer afterward. We had people from Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Austria and the US chatting over beers and travel stories in a restaurant that had me dragging my ear on the short ceiling.
Today, I came back from my final interview with no travel companion, no business school work to do and no more dancing. I fly to Singapore tomorrow and will wait the next few weeks for replies from business school.
On to the next leg.
Love to all!
First pictures in a while. From Goa and Mumbai. My new suit in the hostel hallway
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