Return to India - Ramoji Film City

A local colleague gave up his Saturday to take us to Ramoji Film City yesterday. The day was so memorable I thought I'd share. Ramoji sits on 2000 acres of land outside of Hyderabad city and claims to be the largest film studio in the world. There are 96 elaborate gardens in Ramoji that took eight years to build and are fed by water from a lake. It has extensive sets which we were driven through in a comfortable bus. Many of the buildings have completely different characters on alternating sides offering a director tremendous shooting flexibility. There were quite a few typical Indian street scenes where famous fighting sequences have been filmed. Others had English country homes, banks and jails, and even an airplane complete with realistic interior. For efficiency Ramoji hosts Rainbow color labs and a large sound studio that is able to record soundtracks along with the on-site shooting schedule. Numberous feature films and TV shows are created at Ramoji and one of the hilltops bristled with antennas and other communications equipment. There is a lot of work involved in keeping a facility like this up to date. Many of the buildings are rebuilt or repainted every few months, especially those that are blown up or otherwise defaced during filming of action sequences. When he heard that my colleague and I had both lived in Southern California our guide became very interested in our opinion of Ramoji as well as our comparison to Universal Studios. They are very passionate about quality and I was asked several times to fill out surveys and feedback forms. In the children's play park "Fundostan" I took a photo of a man meticulously painting a colorful column, its enjoyable to watch people who love their work. There are several hotels in Ramoji to house actors and movie workers during projects. We ate lunch at Sitara which was luxurious and beatifully ornate. The ceilings had elaborately carved wooden panels with tasteful crystal chandeliers. The food was served buffet style and the tables had vegetarian to non-vegetarian cuisine. My plate consisted of India dishes like lamb bhuna, chicken kebabs, fish in spicy ginger sauce, fresh mixed fruit and even an excellent minestrone soup. Mr. Ramoji lives on the property in an enormous house and seems to have had incredible personal vision to create this complex. You can get into Ramoji for only 300 rupees, about $8, but we paid a little extra for a deluxe experience. The tour, including a sumptuous lunch at Sitara, excellent guided tour of the sets, action and dance shows where we were wisked to the head of the que, multiple rides and several hours in "Fundostan" only cost 800 rupees. That's about $21, quite an unbelievable bargain. We all agreed that the lunch alone was worth more than that. I bought the T-shirt, something I'll actually enjoy wearing with an "Om" symbol on the front, for only 200 rupees which is a little over $5. Even with a weak dollar this was quite the entertainment value!

The commute to get to Ramoji is an adventure in itself, our first opportunity to see the Indian countryside. Our colleague was used to relying on his wife for navigation and was truly lost without her. We stopped several times to ask directions and had to make a few U-turns in heavy Hyderabad traffic. On the way back we took a different route which led us through small towns and pasture land. There were herds of sheep on the road as well as cattle. At one point a large cow came straight down the street towards us at a dead run. Fortunately he had no interest in a test of strength as our little Suzuki automobile would have lost big time. In one town we saw a monkey cross the road in front of us and climb up a wall on the other side. His hands were able to grab onto the stucco quite effectively and he pulled himself up with little evident effort. His brown fur looked thick and clean, I wondered if he was a community pet or just freeloading. There are also lots of dogs in Hyderabad, although it is a problem in some communities people generally seem to tolerate and enjoy them.

In the evening we sat on the hotel patio and enjoyed the evening air. Dinner consisted of a tasty Biryani, lamb kebobs and tandoori chicken accompanied by several sauces, and fresh naan of course. We also downed a few bottles of Kingfisher, the excellent local brew. It took me awhile last time I was here to realize that the evenings in India are very special. Temperatures cool, a soft breeze blows and everything slows down. These are times to have long conversations, think about the next blog post or just generally relax with friends.

Thanks for listening