mumbai - networking bollywood?

I am finally in Mumbai! Glamorous home to Bollywood. I am peeing my pants with excitement. I haven't met any celebrities yet, but I'm keeping my hopes up. I got here yesterday afternoon, looking pretty nasty after 2 consecutive nights on trains with no shower in between. I arrived at Bandra station in north Mumbai, which is like, 10km from where I am staying in the south so I had to attempt to navigate the local trains to get to my hotel. This was somewhat terrifying, since the train station was in the middle of a huge ghetto. Bandra is a ritzy neighbourhood too, stars live there! But not around the train station, I'm guessing. I could have taken a taxi but I'm cheap. I made it in the end and didn't even get groped (Mumbai's local trains are known for being cramped and groping of ladies occurs) because I stayed in the ladies-only compartment. Haha.

Anyway, I've been wasting no time in my attempts at getting famous. The first thing I did (after showering) was have dinner at this cafe where I heard they often scout for Bollywood extras. I was not scouted during dinner, so I asked one of the guys working there if he knew anything about it. He gave me a phone contact, and I ended up talking to some dude who said there was a shoot on the day after tomorrow and to call him back about it. Promising... except I asked what the film was, and I thought he said "Race" which doesn't make any sense because that film releases in 2 weeks so they couldn't possibly still be filming anything. So maybe I misheard. Or maybe he's a sketchbag. Who knows. I'll have to call back and see. The restaurant dude was nice though - I asked him if his Bollywood contact was a good guy and he said "Well, I don't trust him, but you can judge for yourself." Greeeeeat. Restaurant guy asks for my autograph every time I go in there now though, since I'm going to be a star, obviously. He's funny.

Regardless, I didn't even need to put that much effort into trying to get into a film - I've been scouted about 4 times now just walking down the street!! I am amassing business cards! Firstly, last night this guy stopped me about working as an extra in a TV serial (i.e. Indian soap opera type thing, probably). I said sure, I'd do it, since I figured it'd put me in contact with the right people. So I agreed to meet the next morning (today) for the shoot. I wish I could properly describe this scout guy - he is everything you would imagine a Bollywood scout to be. He is a slimy little weasel of a guy, with greasy hair slicked back in a ponytail, a shady smile, a shirt with stars on it (like the shape, not celebrities). After scouting me, he then asked me out for a drink. I declined politely, and then I wandered off to a coffee shop. I ended up getting into a chat with a semi-creepy dude at the coffee shop, but the discussion was harmless and relatively interesting so I wasn't concerned. But then all of a sudden, mid-conversation, sketchy Bollywood scout appears in the coffee shop and tells me his boss is outside and wants to meet me. HOW he found me in the coffee shop I don't know. He claims he just walked by and saw me... unlikely, but whatever. So anyway, I go outside, and his boss isn't there, he says he just wanted to get me away from the guy I was talking to in the coffee shop, because he says he knows him and he's a big sketchbag and I shouldn't be talking to him. At which point I just started laughing because I'd only been in Mumbai a few hours and it was all so ridiculous I didn't know how else to respond. But then his boss phoned, so I talk to the boss on the phone (the boss is the one who arranges all the extra work, after the scout finds people I guess) and the boss says that they're all going out to this bar for drinks and I should come. Which I decline, obviously. And then he tries to be all charming on the phone and talk me into it, saying that two other western girls were coming. And then I said straight out I wasn't interested, so that ended that.

So this morning I show up at the meeting place for the alleged shoot today. The other people haven't shown up though so me and sketchy scout walk to their hotel to pick them up. (He wanted to take a taxi but I refused to get into a taxi alone with him so we had to walk, haha.) Anyway, at the hotel I met his boss. What his boss was doing at the hotel where the western girls were staying is beyond me. He was creepy too, I should mention. After a bit of disorientation, it turns out the supposed TV serial shoot has been postponed to the afternoon. So I go about my business, shopping and snacking and seeing Mumbai. Later in the morning, I run into sketchy scout dude again, who says his boss wants me to do a TV commercial for a mobile phone company, which is a character role and pays big money (like 3$ an hour versus 1$ an hour, woohoo! I'm not doing this for the money, clearly). So I spoke to the boss again on the phone, we'll see what happens with all that. After that I phoned them in the afternoon, only to hear that the TV shoot's been moved to tomorrow. Lame. A few hours later, I run into sketchy scout in the street again (HE IS EVERYWHERE. HE MATERIALIZES OUT OF THIN AIR CONSTANTLY. It's so disturbing. We're like good buddies now, we've unfortunately met about 40 times since yesterday), who informs me of a film happening tomorrow which he's scouting people for, but he can't scout me because it's a different boss and I'm already doing the TV serial. I said no way, forget the serial, I want to do the film. So he writes my name down for the film thing. And then he follows me down the street asking me if I want to go for a drink. And then he says he wants to take me to a disco. I politely decline, as usual.

A bit later, I am scouted by ANOTHER guy on the street. (Actually I was scouted by a second dude before this but he works for the same guy as the first one so not important.) This guy tells me about the same film in the morning, except he is like a million times more legit sounding. I asked a bunch of questions and he answered them. They have 2 films and a TV serial in the works tomorrow. Allegedly one of the films has John Abraham (big Bollywood hottie) in it, although he is not expected to be on set tomorrow. I expressed a preference to work in the John Abraham film anyway. Soooooo exciting if that works out. I told him I wanted to see Film City and meet some celebrities and whatnot, and he said he'd see what was happening. He said he was going to Film City on the 10th and I could go with him if I wanted to. Haha, we'll see. So, SUPPOSEDLY I am going to working in a film tomorrow. Oooooh I hope it works out.

Bad news though, I have asked both the legit-seeming scout and "the boss" about the possibility of working on Ghajini, Aamir Khan's current film, but both told me that there aren't any western people required for that film. Awwwww. My dreams of starring opposite Aamir Khan have been temporarily shattered. I'm still gonna try to meet him though.

In other news, I took a nice boat tour of Mumbai's harbour. Also, I finished A Brief History of Time, and while I still don't understand quantum mechanics I have a better general idea of it than I did before. I have now moved on to reading The English Patient. I phoned Micah last night to see what he's gotten himself up to and if he's coming to Mumbai at some point. It turns out he's made a bunch of Israeli friends in Pushkar and they've gone on a camel safari. He was in the middle of the desert last night when we spoke. Now they're on their way to Rishikesh, which is a big spiritual hotspot for India - basically where hippie backpackers go to get stoned and do yoga. It's kind of funny that we're having such different experiences. He's gone with the hippies and I'm navigating Bollywood sleaze. India is a crazy place. You meet so many random people. Tonight in a cafe I met this 60-something year old woman, who is a flight attendant for Delta on a stopover between flights. She's been a flight attendant for 41 years, and has been all over the world, and gave me good tips to get over my fear of flying. We ended up chatting for almost 2 hours.

Now I need to sleep. I will report to this blog immediately if I manage to obtain photos of myself with Bollywood celebrities.