Ramoji Film City

We met our driver downstairs at 9:30 am on Sunday to head out to Ramoji Film City. It’s the world’s largest film studio and they shoot many of the Bollywood movies there, unlike when you go to Universal Studios in Florida and it’s really just a theme park.

The film city is a little over an hour outside of Hyderabad central, and with traffic it was a fairly long ride. It was nice to see a different part of the city though, and we had a different driver that day who spoke English really well (probably the best so far) and pointed out plenty of things along the way and told us different stories. He also showed us where the homes of a few film stars are in Banjara Hills, which is my favorite part of Hyderabad. We saw some seriously huge houses that would rival mansions in LA. Once we got closer to the film city we saw a big fruit market and a place where they sell live chickens, and then a ton of people living in tents. (moreso than around our neighborhood).

Finally we arrived and went to the ticket office. They had two options and the more expensive one included an air conditioned bus tour and lunch at the luxury hotel on property, so we selected that one. Knowing the park was HUGE, I realized there was no way I could walk around in the heat all day. After we finished at the ticket gate we got back in the car and drove into the actual park, which was actually kind of far from the ticket area.

Our driver told us that Ramoji Rao, the man who owns the film city, is a major businessman and owns newspaper companies, clothing stores and tons of other businesses. There’s actually a village on the land around the park, so I guess he bought the road that goes through it (was a little hard to understand the whole story, but I think that was the gist of it). We got out of the car at this little office and went inside to check in and wait for our bus. It basically looked like an old person’s living room; they had maroon couches, some newspapers and a TV and everyone was sitting around waiting for their names to be called. When we got our tickets they gave us a passbook with tickets for each area of the park, for lunch and so forth. The guy in the front of the room ripped off our tickets and handed us two souvenir baseball hats. They were white with a red brim and totally 1980s looking. Neither of us were planning on wearing them, but we felt bad saying we didn't want them. We tried to leave them in the room but the tour guide noticed! I said we could give them to some poor people but we ended up forgetting them on the bus in the end. Oh well.

Anyway, T and I passed the time by reading the matrimonial ads in the newspaper. People place ads looking for suitable matches, basically like a personal ad in the States, only they aren’t just looking for a date. The sections are arranged by caste and usually state the person’s education, looks, etc. A lot of them said things like “looking for fair, beautiful girl” or “tall, handsome, educated man.” They also list acceptable ages, usually by year, as in “first preference given to 1985 and 1986-born girls.” One of them said “innocent divorcee, marriage not consummated.” It was really interesting to read through all of the ads. I think most Americans view arranged marriages in a negative way, but I was saying that it probably makes things a lot easier than just hoping you’ll meet someone eventually.

Anyway, after at least 20 minutes or so our name was called and we proceeded to the bus along with about 15 other people. The “AC bus” definitely didn’t have AC and was more like a small shuttle type vehicle. Our tour guide introduced himself (he spoke in English, but between the accent and how fast he was talking we really couldn’t understand much of what he was saying) and we drove into the park and got out at this cave area. He didn’t explain anything so I don’t really know if they film anything in it or if it was just part of the theme park area. It was made to look like an Indiana Jones type temple. We took a few pictures outside and then walked through the cave, where they had a random “one-minute show” involving a hologram on the wall. The tour guide was very excited about taking our picture and kept telling us to give him our camera so he could take more pictures of us in front of various places.

We piled back into the bus and drove through more of the park, where the guide pointed out different film sets and explained which movies were filmed there. The rest of the people on the bus were oohing and aahing with recognition and getting really excited. I only knew two of the films he mentioned but it was still kind of cool to see the gardens and street scenes where they make the movies. Some of the buildings had four sides so they could be used for many different shots; one building had an airport façade in the front, the other side was a church, the back was a hospital and I think the last side was a bank. We drove through Indian market sets, London street scenes and a bunch of really elaborate gardens. I wish we could have jumped out to take pics, but we weren’t allowed.

The bus let us out in the main area of the theme park, where they had a section with kiddie rides, a mechanical bull and a giant creepy blue head. Our guide ripped off our tickets for the “bumping cars” and told us to go on them. We explained that we didn’t want to ride them, and he looked v. confused. One thing we’ve noticed here is people don’t seem to understand why you don’t want something that’s included in a package or if it’s free. Finally we explained that we’d rather give the tickets to some kids (if you don’t buy the VIP package you have to pay to go on any rides) and he eventually understood and gave them to some children. The guide told us to wait in the shade and the bus would take us to lunch instead.

We ate at a hotel called Sitara, which was very fancy in an over-the-top, covered in gold kinda way. Anyway, we had a lunch buffet of Indian food in the restaurant there. I stuck with veg biryani and naan, while T tried some sort of fish and a bunch of other stuff. After lunch we got on a different bus that was much nicer and had air conditioning. The driver let us out at a different area of the park, this time it was Hollywood-themed and they even had a big Hollywood sign up on the hill. We proceeded over to the Spirit of Ramjoi dance show, which was in a big building. I’ve never been in an indoor theater without air conditioning, but there’s a first time for everything. They had some ceiling fans (but only four of them) so it really didn’t do much considering the amount of people in the room. It was quite possibly hotter in there than it was out in the 90-some degree sun. The show began with some traditional dancing, then moved on to three guys in clown outfits dancing to “Cotton Eyed Joe” (so random) and doing some corny tricks, then went back to traditional dancing. We basically ran out after it was over to get some fresh air, along with everyone else.

Our tour guide moved us on to the movie making show, which thankfully was in an air conditioned building. We watched a short video with Mr. Rao and then moved into a room to watch a demonstration of green screen technology. They picked a volunteer from the audience to sit in a horse-drawn cart (without a horse, obviously) and to pretend she was holding the reins, using a whip and stuff. Then they showed the actual background and everyone was hysterically laughing. It was definitely funny but I guess being jaded Americans we didn’t think it was exciting as everyone else.

We moved into another room, or in the case of everyone else, ran, pushed and shoved into the next room, to watch a demonstration of a sound studio and the different tools they use to add sound to movies. Lastly they showed us the full movie of the girl in the cart with sound. The guy running the show was speaking in mostly Hindi, mixed with some English, so we only understood every few words. It would be something like hindi hindi hindi “watch this” hindi hindi hindi “it takes many people to make a movie” hindi hindi hindi. In the rest of the park they made the announcements in English and even the movie with Mr. Rao was in English.

I had to go to the bathroom the entire show so I ran out to find the first one before we moved on. As expected, no TP and I was again glad that we brought Charmin to Go. The bathroom stalls had water all over the floor so I kept looking in each one to see if there was a cleaner one, then an older lady pointed toward the hole in the floor toilets, so I figured I’d suck it up and go in the stall. I had to roll my pant legs up and the whole experience was slightly hilarious.

Next we followed our group over to the stunt show. Everyone went running for the door like it was a life or death situation when they opened up the gates, so we kind of hung in the back until the crowds subsided. The stunt show involved a Wild West set, historically inaccurate costumes, unusual sound effects and bad acting. It was definitely worth attending for the comedy factor.

After the stunt show we went over to a ride called Ramjoi Tower. As usual, we had no idea what to expect because the guide just herded everyone over and told us to go inside. It ended up being like a Tower of Terror type ride...but not really. While we were waiting we see the elevator floor numbers change, so we get in this car (very similar to TOT) and expect it’s going to be something exciting. Only once it started it didn’t actually move, a screen opened in front of you and showed a simulated “view” from the top of the tower. So it was just a motion simulator type thing, but they had some effects like water coming out at you (“I hope this isn’t from the tap,” we said) and you could feel fake rat tails on your feet, just like the one show at Disney. The ride even exited into a gift shop! Felt like home.

Next we went on a ripoff of It’s a Small World, except this one didn’t have a catchy song, just music. It was the same exact concept down to the dancing children and different countries. After that we went to wait in the shade for the bus to take us to the next area. While T was in the bathroom a bunch of guys wanted to take their picture with me like I was a celebrity or something. We didn't see any other non-Indians all day so I'm fairly sure I was the only white girl in the park. All of the people I know who have gone to India had this happen to them, so I wasn't every surprised. T came back and was standing there like “what’s going on” as I’m sitting on a bench posing with random people for photos. The tour guides thought it was funny, too.

We got on the bus and went to another section of the park, which was a Chinese theme. Here we were directed to the “thrill ride,” which was a little flight simulator capsule, like the kind you’d see at a mall or a Catholic school carnival. We went on that ride and decided to call it a day and skip tea and snacks at the hotel. It was almost 5 p.m. at that point and we were exhausted and really, really hot. The tour guide had to call our driver and tell him where to meet us, and we got back on a different bus. This one resembled a Winnebago from the 1960s complete with orange décor. There were little fans at each seat, even though the bus had AC. I should have taken a picture.

Anyway, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while before going to dinner at Ginger Court, a really cool rooftop restaurant. It was nice to sit outside and chill out for a while with a Kingfisher. The food was very good, although we ordered the wrong kind of naan and it had spices in it. My mouth was on fire! Overall it was a great way to end our last weekend here in Hyderabad. This weekend we’re off to the Taj Mahal!