(Udita Goswami and I on Set dressed for the pyjama party bollywood dance sequence)
18th November 10.30pm!!! ?
Yeahy!! Today I finished filming at 10.30pm, but then, I did start at 8am!
(Day off today, so more time to write).
For the last 3 days, I have been unwell, shivers, light headidness and a slight temperature. Feeling better today though. It all started 3 days ago.
3 days ago we started the Bollywood dance routine. Now, I thought that we would have a day to rehearse the routine, and then shoot on set! How wrong was I. You learn the routine 10 mins before you record it! Yep! How much pressure did I feel? For my music shows, I like to rehearse at least 2 weeks in advance! I met the choreographer, Feroz, who has worked with some of the top names, including Shah Ruch Khan. He is a long haired chap, with a well groomed beard, and a hip style about him. He turned up with 2 beautiful assistants, who took myself and Udita Goswami aside, to teach us the steps and the expressions that went with them. Can you imagine..steps, expressions, camera angles and lyrics to the song, that onc again were given to me just before we recorded them! I rose to the challenge! I had no choice!
It did take me a little longer than Udita, because the way they do their count to dance routines is different to the UK, and also, the steps are more theatrical! The expressions are also very sweet and girlie, and the outfits, so cute! I had to dance in fluffy black slippers at one point! Not easy on the calves! The heat of Bhopal, coupled with the dance routines, made us so sweaty! When you see the song, you wont believe we were up till 4am shooting in fluffy slippers in this humid heat with flying cockroaches, and the those massive grass hoppers. I am less scared of them now, and not screaming as much as I used to when they jump at me!
The dance routine took 3 days to shoot, in all sorts of locations, from a spa, to a pool, to the road side! Oh and that?s another thing! I have never driven in India before, and I had to drive with a camera attached to the boot! How did I feel? Terrified!!! Firstly, never driven here, then secondly, I couldn?t see half the road for the camera! I didn?t crash, and I am alive!
There was an easier driving course however, in the resort where we were filming, was a kids play area, where they had little giraffes and tiger cars. They were up to my knees, and, Udita and I decided we would do 3 laps of the play centre, being pushed by other people on the set! We were laughing so much, we nearly fell off! At one point, I tried to overtake her on the inside, only to crash my fluffy giraffe head into her fluffy lion bottom! It broke the day up a little, and seeing as everyone had worked so hard, the camera crew harder than us, the laughter gave us a little break from the filming, and energised us for the next scene! It's nice to see everyone laughing like children!
The road quickly became full of fans, who were waiting by the road side and cheered as we drove by! It gave us the oomph to keep our energy up till 4am! (we were in a proper car here!).By 4am, I started to feel really weak, and nearly passed out They rushed me back to the hotel and a doctor was called. He examined me and said that I had a temperature from exhaustion! I was working over 12hrs a day and had not slept for 34 hours when I had arrived. He gave me some antibiotics and told me to rest!
Well, now I can, a day after the doctor told me to, as I had to shoot today. We shot at an amazing spa in the morning, where I met a lovely little puppy, who was waiting outside the spa to greet me. He can?t have been that old, 3 weeks perhaps. I started playing with him, and I missed my dogs so much at that moment, I also felt a little sad, because in India the welfare of animals is obviously not as looked after as it is in the UK, and I really wanted to give this little baby dog a home! I do hope he grows up healthy and happy!
Gaurav and I had a screen kiss, and trust me, my bollywood screen kiss was..well..not really a kiss?more a..how can I put it..pretend one! ;-). The camera angles make it look real!
We then shot in an outdoor restaurant by the most amazing lake ever! It's Asias largest artificial lake, and provides water for the city. It's the same lake I drive past in the mornings to shoot. It was so romantic! There was a ghazal singer singing out doors on a raised stage, that almost looked like a tree house, and pink balloons in the shape of hearts everywhere! The place was lit up with xmas lights, and it truly looked like the set of an indian wedding!
It?s wedding season here, and yesterday was a festival of marriage. On the way back from the shoot I saw so many women dressed in bright red saris with their grooms! It was so beautiful to see! The streets became glamourous, and every woman glittered gold, like shining stars!
I have been inundated with press here, and every time I get a break from shooting, there has been one interview or another! It?s all really great, but the work is tough! Whoever said making a film was easy lied!
Yesterday was also Eid here, and a lot of the crew turned up in white kameez, and we were all giving each other Eid greetings. I felt such sadness in my heart, as I rememebred my childhood memories of Eid.
I haven?t spoken to you yet about Mitlesh. He is my assistant, my shadow, or ?boy?, as he is called here. He basically does everything for me. I am not really used to having a shadow like that, and today I asked him where his family were. He lost his parents at a young age, and grew up with his uncle, who used to beat him. His father died from an alcohol related disease. I wanted to cry when I heard his story, he is so sweet. Sometimes we sit and I invite him to eat with me. I ask what he wants to eat, and he always says that he will have whatever I am eating, though he was brave enough to ask for a cup of tea once!
In many countries, there is a huge class system, and we are blessed not to really have that so much in the UK. People like Mitlesh exist everywhere in India and he is one of lucky ones.
In Western countries, our worries are nothing compared to that of the worries that they have here. We must always be happy for what we have now, and not waste our lives in meaningless worries! Aspire to things, make your dreams come true, but never get lost in the meaningless, materialism that has become the God of the world! The world of footballers wives, and meaningless celebrities, has encouraged our society into a worthless existance.
I do find it a tad hard, knowing his story, and that he does so much for me, and having a blessed life as I do now. But I also related to his sadness, as my childhood was also not the best of childhoods! I feel like I want to look after him! He is like a timid little deer.
This whole trip is proving really emotional for me. I am shooting a Bollywood film, something I grew up with, something a part of my culture, and something, I have always wanted to do. Doing this is touching my heart and soul in many many ways. I find myself having to stop myself from getting emotional. The ghazal singer at the restaurant was singing songs that I had grown up with, and that childhood memory of actually believeing in the Bollywood films, came back to me. I was that 5 year old girl, dreaming of Bollywood, and now, as an adult, I am doing Bollywood!
The film is great, the songs are amazing, and India has really embraced me and I have embraced it back!
Source: http://blog.sofiahayat.com/2010/11/diary-of-bollywood-star-in-india-diary_19.html
Kendra Wilkinson Pauly D Kourtney Kardashian Khloe Kardashian
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