One minute you’re hot, the next you’re not. Such is the life of a Tollywood star! On our second day back in India Kim and I were approached by a man who asked us if we’d like to be extras in a Tollywood movie. Tollywood is Tamil Nadu’s version of Bollywood. Hell yeah was our immediate response. We not only had a chance to be movie stars but we were also going to be paid $20 each for our efforts!
We were told we’d be picked up the next morning at 8:30 and taken to the set. So when we woke up the next morning at 7:45 and there was a knock on our door and a man standing there saying ‘Ready’? We were like, ‘Well, no actually we’re not. We were told to be ready for 8:30 and its only 7:45’. Already we were being difficult “stars”!
The set turned out to be an English bookstore. I couldn’t have picked a better place to spend the next 10 hours. We’d expected to arrive and see a bunch of other foreigners milling about but, to our surprise, we were the only ones. We were fed breakfast and then it was off to work. The scene that was being shot, from what we could gather, was girl meets boy or “hero” as they referred to him, in a bookstore. For the first scene Kim and I were in the background and we’re pretty sure we were in the shot. All we had to do was pretend to be browsing at books. That was no problem as we both found plenty of books we were genuinely interested in. I even bought a few at the end of the day! After that scene they didn’t really need us so we just loitered about outside and drank chai until it was time for lunch.
It was after lunch that the action really began. The director called me over and told me I’d be shooting a scene with the “hero” and that I’d have to say a line in Tamil. I was instantly nervous. My heart started pounding and my palms got all sweaty but I thought I’d give it a go. I had to say the following line – Mundrawade Tamil parum shangum. I’ve written it phonetically because I have no idea how to spell it. Furthermore I have absolutely no idea what it means! I suspect it’s a reference to a famous temple in a town called Madurai but that’s only a guess. I had to say the line for the director and he seemed extremely unimpressed with my first two attempts. All I could think was, ‘Well, excuse me but I don’t speak Tamil’! But my third attempt must have been better because I got a thumbs up and a smile.
When the time came to do the shot they decided to put Kim in the scene with me which instantly made me feel better. He didn’t have to say anything though, lucky bugger! We never received any clear direction from anyone as to what we were supposed to be doing or where we were supposed to be looking. I only knew that I had a line to say and that Kim and I had to follow the “hero” as he walked by. So we winged it and although I absolutely nailed my line I was looking down when I should have been looking up so we had to do another take. By then I was so nervous that I completely screwed up my line and we were told to go sit down. They then did another take without us and then moved on to the next scene. Tollywood is so fickle! About an hour later as things were wrapping up for the day they called us over, told us to stand still, powdered our faces and asked us to look straight ahead at the camera. So, we’re pretty sure we’re still in the scene after all. We just weren’t good enough when it came to talking and walking. But the standing still, looking straight ahead thing we nailed!
At the end of the day when we received our pay of 750 Rupees or $20 CND each we felt as if we’d really earned it. The crazy thing is that 750 Rupees is more than most people in India earn in a day or even a week. Even crazier is that the money remained in our pocket for less than an hour. We bought some toiletries, got some credit for our phone, had some dinner and that was it, it was all gone. That was just one more experience that made us think about where we come from and all the privileges that come along with being born in countries where daily life is not a constant struggle and the thoughts of shelter, food and safety are not daily concerns. We’re lucky, plain and simple.
We were told we’d be picked up the next morning at 8:30 and taken to the set. So when we woke up the next morning at 7:45 and there was a knock on our door and a man standing there saying ‘Ready’? We were like, ‘Well, no actually we’re not. We were told to be ready for 8:30 and its only 7:45’. Already we were being difficult “stars”!
The set turned out to be an English bookstore. I couldn’t have picked a better place to spend the next 10 hours. We’d expected to arrive and see a bunch of other foreigners milling about but, to our surprise, we were the only ones. We were fed breakfast and then it was off to work. The scene that was being shot, from what we could gather, was girl meets boy or “hero” as they referred to him, in a bookstore. For the first scene Kim and I were in the background and we’re pretty sure we were in the shot. All we had to do was pretend to be browsing at books. That was no problem as we both found plenty of books we were genuinely interested in. I even bought a few at the end of the day! After that scene they didn’t really need us so we just loitered about outside and drank chai until it was time for lunch.
It was after lunch that the action really began. The director called me over and told me I’d be shooting a scene with the “hero” and that I’d have to say a line in Tamil. I was instantly nervous. My heart started pounding and my palms got all sweaty but I thought I’d give it a go. I had to say the following line – Mundrawade Tamil parum shangum. I’ve written it phonetically because I have no idea how to spell it. Furthermore I have absolutely no idea what it means! I suspect it’s a reference to a famous temple in a town called Madurai but that’s only a guess. I had to say the line for the director and he seemed extremely unimpressed with my first two attempts. All I could think was, ‘Well, excuse me but I don’t speak Tamil’! But my third attempt must have been better because I got a thumbs up and a smile.
When the time came to do the shot they decided to put Kim in the scene with me which instantly made me feel better. He didn’t have to say anything though, lucky bugger! We never received any clear direction from anyone as to what we were supposed to be doing or where we were supposed to be looking. I only knew that I had a line to say and that Kim and I had to follow the “hero” as he walked by. So we winged it and although I absolutely nailed my line I was looking down when I should have been looking up so we had to do another take. By then I was so nervous that I completely screwed up my line and we were told to go sit down. They then did another take without us and then moved on to the next scene. Tollywood is so fickle! About an hour later as things were wrapping up for the day they called us over, told us to stand still, powdered our faces and asked us to look straight ahead at the camera. So, we’re pretty sure we’re still in the scene after all. We just weren’t good enough when it came to talking and walking. But the standing still, looking straight ahead thing we nailed!
At the end of the day when we received our pay of 750 Rupees or $20 CND each we felt as if we’d really earned it. The crazy thing is that 750 Rupees is more than most people in India earn in a day or even a week. Even crazier is that the money remained in our pocket for less than an hour. We bought some toiletries, got some credit for our phone, had some dinner and that was it, it was all gone. That was just one more experience that made us think about where we come from and all the privileges that come along with being born in countries where daily life is not a constant struggle and the thoughts of shelter, food and safety are not daily concerns. We’re lucky, plain and simple.
