Bollywood Dreams
The Charlotte Observor had a piece earlier this month on a Bollywood movie that was partly shot in North Carolina, and that holds a very special place in my heart (keep reading). The plot? Apparently it chronicles the ups and downs of a race car driver's career. I'm not sure if the makers of this movie got the idea from Talladega Nights, but both of the movies were partly shot at Rockingham Parkway in North Carolina and copying Hollywood does seem to be a common tactic in Bollywood. The article introduces the world of Bollywood to its North Carolinian readers by quoting the following graphic in Businessweek:
OK, by now you've realized a bit of irony about this movie project:
It is a case of "in-sourcing," bringing jobs and money from India to the Carolinas.
But more than anything, it might speak to the popularity of racing, worldwide.
"I didn't believe he could really be here," says Raval, a filmmaking student at N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. "I just couldn't believe it. Not until I saw him in person. And then, there he was. So very, very handsome."
Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this movie is because it features not only veteran pin-up Rani Mukherjee and up-and-coming heart throb Saif Ali Khan, but also yours truly. While touring India a few months ago, myself and a friend were asked to be extras on a film that was supposed to be set in America whose working title was "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Actually, my white friend was asked to be an extra, and I was told that they already had more brown people than they knew what to do with. I went anyway and both of us were made to dance around on the balconies of fire escapes on a set that looked vaguely like a stereotype of 1980s Manhattan for about 12 hours while Rani and Saif shot a minute and a half of a music video. When this movie gets ready to break box office records, look for me at the end of a dance sequence, where I'll be visible directly behind and above Saif with my fist pointing towards the sky screaming "Yeah!!"
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