Claire Brummet and Colin Whitchelo's big screen debut in a Bollywood movie

By Jack Brummet
Travel Editor

Last spring, we met Claire and her BF Colin in India and traveled together for two weeks.  After Keelin and I departed back to America, they continued traveling for another couple of months.  When they went back to Mumbai, they ended up being extras in a Bollywood movie being shot for Christmas release.  This is that movie, and it is scheduled to be released Christmas Eve.  It looks hilarious.

Claire isn't sure where or how they appear in the film, but is pretty sure they appear in the end credits-- those elaborate song and dance routines that often end Indian movies.

"Only once in a blue moon is such a great criminal born who is fearless as well as shameless! And that blue moon happens to be 24th December,2010. Watch the theatrical trailer of the year's most awaited film Tees Maar Khan, starring Akshay Kumar & Katrina Kaif.The film Releases on 24th December 2010"


---o0o---

Indian Phone Booth (from 2 weeks ago in Mumbai)

click to enlarge

In Mumbai: Seeing Love, Sex, and Dhoka by Dibakar Banerjee

Our last night in Mumbai we went to see a new Bollywood film--Love, Sex, and Dhoka, by Dibakar Banerjee...you can see a trailer for the movie here.

As you know, Indians love movies, and Bollywood cranks them out by--literally-the thousands. We were at a bit of a disadvantage, since, while the film did have an English title, it was in Hindi.

The movie opened with the usual announcements about turning off your cell phone and talking during the movie. The last announcement was about terrorism (a recurring and sometimes spooky theme in our visit):

In the event of an explosion,please help the injured
before you exit the auditorium.

The audience was more subdued than we expected, and almost all in their 20's and 30's. The movie itself was a series of interlocking stories, including a fascinating one based around a closed circuit camera system installed in a store and one (pixeled out) sex scene it captures. It was pretty funny (although we missed most of the non-visual jokes). The other stories were about two film students that fall in love while their parents oppose them. A pop star is wasted by a woman he spurned because she wouldn't come across. I'll admit it was not fully comprehensible, due to my extreme Hindi deficiency, but it was fun nonetheless. A review I read in the Mumbai Times the next day said this is a groundbreaking film for the post-modern generation. I'll have to take his word on that. I am looking forward to watching a dubbed or subtitled DVD version when I get back to America. (Note: unlike in Greece or Turkey, Indians call in the United States or USA (like they do in Mexico).
---o0o---

My Traveling Partners

Keelin Curran, Colin Whitcheloe, and Claire Brummet
at a fortification wall at a massive Fort we visited


Keelin standing at the sea wall with the Bay
of Bengal behind her



Claire and Colin with a pitcher of beer at
Leopolds in Mumbai. They--and many other
watering holes serve these silly "beer towers"
instead of pitchers

One more reason I love Bombay--an ox cart among the taxis, buses, trucks, and sedans

I couldn't get a good shot because there was too much traffic by the time I got my camera out, but you can see the red horns of two ox, drawing a cart behind a bus in insane traffic. The 70'ish looking oxcart driver (and the oxen) seemed entirely unflappable among the crazy driving, non-stop beeping horns, and exhaust.

---o0o---

Travelogue --On the road and in the air to Southern India

The Ellora Caves, which, of course, will be a focus of our archaeological explorations.

\







On Tuesday, All This Is That again becomes a travelogue for a couple of weeks, as I travel to India to visit Mumbai, Udaipur, Aurangabad, and Pune.  Some of my favorite posts on ATIT comes from my trips to NYC, Mexico, Great Britain, Florida, Turkey, and Greece. 

I'll try to start writing and posting photos Tuesday.  As always, I hope to rope in guest editors.  As always Pablo, will be providing political commentary...
---o0o---