More from my brother on working on the Bollywood film:
For about two and a half weeks, I worked as an "art department
assistant" on a Bollywood film called "Hastey Hastey." The crew, which
was largely shipped in from India, all stayed in a rather unusual Best Western in N.J.
Although untypical of hotels in New Jersey, this sort of hotel is
apparently quite common in India. They serve only Indian food, and
almost all of the guests are Indian.
The crew was expected to work 12-16 hour days, with no days off, for
forty days straight. Often, we would get back to the hotel at
midnight, with a 7:00 AM call time the next morning. Needless to say,
I wasn't happy with this arrangement, and I quit one week ago (I gave
one week's notice, and Wednesday was my last day). I think some of the
Americans are getting fed up, and there might be a mass walk-out some
time soon.
The production was very poorly organized, with the producers often
neglecting to get shooting permits for locations. I guess they
intended on showing up and quickly filming without being noticed... in
MANHATTAN.
My job was to drive a box truck carrying the wardrobe supplies. I'm a
really terrible driver, and I smashed into numerous inanimate objects
(fortunately, the damage wasn't entirely noticeable). I got lost
pretty much every time I got into the truck. A lot of my driving was
through midtown Manhattan, including Times Square.
The people, in general, were pretty nice. They taught me some Hindi,
mostly swear words. By the end of the shoot, their enthusiasm for
teaching me dirty words became unnerving.
Some of the actors are apparently rather famous in India.
Here are some publicity shots.
The short dude is like the Indian Rob Snyder.
Posted by alangage at June 22, 2007 10:13 PM
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