Real Indian Food

People always seem surprised about how much of the local cuisine I am willing to sample. Actually I like Indian food quite a lot. Some friends of mine are especially fond of extremely  spicy Indian food. (You know who you are you crazy pepper snorting fools!) Anyway, I was told that if I like that kind of spice then Hyderabad is the place to get it. Food is a big attraction here in Andra Pradesh. I've always liked biryani and here it is a speciality. The spices here are indeed more liberally applied than in Mumbai and they have truly found the right mix as far as I'm concerned: Just spicy enough to call it spicy without burning your mouth off to prove you can eat anything. I have grown fond of the masala omelettes which are a staple for breakfast. There's also a dish called egg burrhi which is a kind of scramble with peppers and spices and… well… I'm not sure what else, but it's good! There's a dairy just outside the walls of the studio that provides the caterers with fresh yogurt every day. That's also a treat.

Roti ready for the oven

Another delight of Indian cuisine is the bread called roti. There's a couple of types but the one  people love here is tandoor roti. The trick with roti is that it must be freshly baked and I mean freshly baked. Hot from the oven fresh. Most Indians won't eat roti that is cold. As such even on the set the roti must be baked on site. The caterers always include two bakers. Here in Hyderabad this is two guys with a 55 gallon drum rebuilt into a roti bakery. They fire it up with charcoal until the steel walls are ready to bake bread. 

The favorites! The roti bakers!

The oven has an overhanging curve of metal at the top which is heated from behind. The bakers form the dough into balls then the roti master flattens them in his hands, forms them onto a rounded mold which he uses to stick the dough to the underside of the heated metal overhang. When the roti is baked the second baker fishes it out with special hooks, then brushes butter all over it and ferries it to the food line. He rarely makes it that far though as calls of "roti!!" from the tables usually empty his basket long before he gets there. 

So here's a hint: when in India, sit near the bakers oven!

Ramoji Film City

One of the bigger fountains at Ramoji Film City

This place is incredible. I'm not sure how big it is, but thousands of acres I think. It was built by a very rich Indian fellow by the name of Ramoji, who lives on the property in a mansion. He built it as a series of generic locations for Indian filmmakers. It has everything. It really is a backlot in the tradition of Old Hollywood. There are several enormous stages, but that's a tiny part of the complex. The whole of the property is crisscrossed with paths and roads. Everywhere there are gardens and buildings, most of which are shells, statues, fountains and covered walkways, most of which are plastic. The spaces are huge. There's a massive double mural behind wrought steel gates that form the entrance to Ramoji Film City. There a fountains spanning hundreds of meters, tanks and pools with sculpted gators and waterfalls tumbling down between plastic rocks under bright neon lights after dark. There are Chinese and Japanese gardens, palaces, an airport terminal, a lake and rocky cliffs. 

A crazy lightshow waterfall by night

I'm told that so far I have seen only 30% of the place! 

A beautiful garden by day

The other amazing and fascinating thing about Ramoji Film City is that is it kept immaculately clean, like Disneyland clean, by constant human attention. There are no street sweepers or leaf blowers. It's all done by people with stick brooms. The whole place, even the sets and the stages are kept clean of litter and debris all the time everywhere. This is so completely opposite of my experience in Mumbai that it is surreal. Disneyland being cleaner than Anaheim is one thing. RFC being cleaner than Mumbai is a different range altogether. 

As I said in a previous post, It reminds me a lot of Sans Souci actually, which is a series of palaces and gardens that Frederick the Great built in Postdam outside Berlin in Germany. The eclecticism of Sans Souci  was born of a desire to be inclusive of a wide range of culture. Here it's designed to give international feel to Bollywood movies. It also provides lots of easy-to-use and therefore inexpensive set pieces for films from all over India where budgets are even more spare than Bollywood. The trick, I am told is to avoid overusing locations and giving away that you shot at RFC rather than a "real" location. 

Just a note on the word "Bollywood": this is Hindi cinema, traditionally made in Mumbai and including the music and dance numbers that have made Bollywood famous. This is only a part of Indian cinema. India is host to dozens of languages and all have their own cinema. Many of these regional films are shot at RFC as well.

OK, the HOLLYWOOD sign is too small…

Ramoji Film City also has a full amusement park, regular bus tours and is a destination for a lot of Indian tourists who ride the busses and walk the grounds looking for favorite locations from their favorite films. Sometimes they also get to see film crews in action, which is of course a big draw, but nothing compared to the chances of seeing a star or a famous director. That happens, too. Sometimes they even ask for autographs or pictures with guys who's skin is so light they must be from Hollywood. :-)

RFC is also a prime location for Indian weddings, which are massive, often last several days and include dinners for hundreds of guests, all-night dance parties, fireworks, light shows, concerts and lots of drinking and dancing. Overall RFC is way quieter than Mumbai, but not when there's a wedding going on!

So, it's nice here. I was told it would be boring but we're too busy for that and it's nice to be in a place that is clean and (mostly) quiet, well-appointed and comfortable. I think I will miss it when we hit the stages in Mumbai again in mid-March.

Welcome to Hyderabad

The Highway around Hyderabad! Where are the cars?

My second sojourn from Mumbai has taken to me to Hyderabad. My first flight on the dreaded Air India was fine. It wasn't the best airline I've ever flown but we got there with no drama and all our luggage came through so that's all that counts in the end. On arrival in Hyderabad we were greeted with the cleanest place I have yet seen in India. The airport is new and has all the trappings of a modern new airport: clean lines, beautiful landscaping stretching for miles in all directions, big wide roadways… wait a minute… are we still in India? Apparently this is all very new, but it covers a large area. We came out of the airport complex on to empty freeways, smooth as glass and stretching as far as the eye can see. Yes that's right, I said "empty." This is nothing like Mumbai where the freeways are a chaotic jumble of two-wheelers, trucks and cabs jostling for position regardless of lanes and zipping between gaps even Los Angelinos would shy from. It was so unexpected that I took pictures like it was a rare species of bird or something. The driver said it is all brand new and is a beltway circling the city at some distance.

Part of the Mural at the Entrance to Ramoji Film City

I didn't see the transition from this alien landscape to Hyderabad proper as we were headed for a property a ways outside the city called Ramoji Film City. RFC as it is called is a massive preserve built by Mr. Ramoji as a giant backlot, film studio and resort. Imagine an Indian Universal City with a backlot the size of MGM circa 1940 when almost all of Culver City was the MGM lot. It's huge and has every imaginable location somewhere on the property. It hosts tons of weddings, parties and other events and includes a theme park complete with a HOLLYWOOD sign. More on that as I explore.

The Sitara

I am staying in the nicest hotel on the grounds, the Sitara. It is quite nice with a beautiful pool, decent food and rooms that are very comfortable. The constant weddings with their lights, screamingly loud Indian music and rowdy drunken guests are a downside, but you can't have everything. The view is nice!

The view of the pool from my room

Sunset over the Ramoji Film City Theme Park

It's quite hot generally. The Mumbaikers complain about it but luckily for me I'm pretty good in the heat. Morocco has trained me to deal with it and oHIo will always be responsible for me appreciating that at least it's not cold. I still have my Dorks of the Desert™ hat to protect me. 

This place, sheltered as it is within the Bubble of Bollywood is a lot more comfortable to me than the streets of Mumbai. I'll be back there soon enough so I am enjoying this little working vacation.