HOLI HOLI farewells!

I stepped into another Bollywood extravaganza for the usual 500 Rupees and free food but this time it was high-budget, superstar studded, with the energetic Bollywood dance routine that my Bollywood dreams are made of. The film: Double Dhamaal. I got to dance "loud and with high energy" in the background of one of the scenes with one of the stars of the show, Sanjay Dutt, and then got to witness Bollywood's own "Sexy Siren" (so named because she actually does kissing scenes in her films. Shock!) Mallika Sherawat diva in action with yet more background dancing in my usual style of the seaweed dance. (My seaweed dance consists of swaying, eyes closed, arms raised in a fluid seaweed-like motion irrespective of the tune so it works for drum n bass, electro, folk music, all genres are covered here!). It's one to add to the CV I'm sure!

The day after was Holi Holi, a colourful festival where paints of many colours and toxicities are thrown into the air and on each other. The festival combines the celebration of the full moon, the advent of spring, and a way of showing, that despite the ranges in skin colour, that when everyone is covered in paint everyone of every colour is united in the same smudge of vibrant colours - this is my favourite interpretation of Holi.

Khote Sikke

25.11.10 After mere hours in India I was persuaded to work as an extra on a Bollywood shoot (it's the norm, every traveller is asked at least three times in a day I'm sure!). Lured in by 500 Rupees and food (maybe more so by the food than this great opportunity to begin my Bollywood acting career). The scenes were set on Goan beaches, so of course we were taken to grotty Mumbai beach as a cheap and local alternative. It featured an international cast: English, American, Swedish, Swiss, Australian, Canadian and of course Indian.The day mostly involved lots of walking, or "passing" as we know it in the trade, in straight lines, diagonal lines, solo, in pairs, in groups - there was a lot of scope here for us amateurs. The stylist put us in '90s beach clothes, so you know, we looked super on trend in front of the camera. I did the whole shoot with no make-up so now my white, pasty, boy-face will forever be captured and screened on Indian daytime tv. Not quite the Bollywood all-singing all-dancing spectacle I was hoping for!