BOLLYWOOD - Bombay's Hollywood, Mumbai

Mumbai is home to Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world. Bollywood produces over 1,000 films a year with ticket sales over 3.6 billion. The Bollywood stars are hugely popular and the gossip columns follow their every move.

All Bollywood movies feature elaborate song and dance sequences. Costumes are colorful and everyone is having a good time. The movies are not Oscar-worthy, nor are they meant to be. They are meant to entertain and as an escape - to take you away for 3 hours. All movies are in Hindi (no subtitles). You can follow the story most of the way in many of the movies.

Movie theaters are all across the city with some of the plushest theaters in malls. They have lounge sections inside the theaters - reclining chairs with delivery service for your popcorn or samosas, pizza, etc. (huge selection of food). Very comfortable!

If you get hooked, take some DVDs home with you. All have subtitles. In order to fight piracy, prices can be $1-2 for a DVD. They make great gifts as well! Don't buy any from any of the markets - those are pirated copies and the quality will not be good.

My personal favs include Kal Ho Na Ho, Jab We Met, Golmaal, Yuva, Khakee, and Kaal.

Dharavi is an amazing tourist spot.

A tourist watched 'Slumdog Millionaire' a month ago and is now in Mumbai for five days making his way through the dingy bylanes of the Asia's largest shantytown - 175-acre Dharavi, home to more than 600,000 people.

The urban sprawl has been made popular by the crossover movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' - which has picked up the maximum number of Oscar nominations in 2009. A global online tourism has unveiled a Oscar holiday destination package, is promoting Dharavi and the city of Mumbai as one of the hottest tourism destinations this spring and summer.

The movie captures life and locales of Mumbai- both in the shanties of Dharavi and in the homes of the rich. The music of the movie, which is the toast of the Oscar, captures the diversity of musical genres of the country
JOY HO! COUNTRY ON CLOUD 9 AS " SLUMDOG" SWEEPS 8 OSCARS

Bollywood is the popular name for Indian Film Industry which is one of the largest film producer industries in the world. Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood is not a physical entity it is the name of the most thriving Film industry in India. If you are visiting Mumbai then don’t forget to catch up a Hindi flick at any one of the numerous theatres or Multiplex. These movies depict a preview of the Indian society although with a little exaggerated but entertaining way. Most of the movies have love as there central theme, but also incorporate various shades of the life in India. These movies exhibit a colorful display of events along with song and dance sequence taking an important role in the plot.

I myself have always been a great lover of Indian movies and thus can see the remarkable new advancements in the art of movie making the plots are now hitting the grounds, the common people. This is surely a beginning of the new era of movies in which movies are more technically advanced, they are more plot centric and even the songs are placed very meticulously fitting the plot. Watching a movie is surely provides a peek-a- boo in the lives of Indians and most of them highlight the message of ‘Love Wins in the End’ ending always on a positive note which is missing in most of the movies made in the West.

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One of a must do in Mumbai is star-spotting! Bollywood is filming all the time whether it is in the studios or out on the streets. The studios are not opened to the public so your best bet is spotting them on the streets! The tall fair-skin one is usually the playing the lead. Although I have no idea who this is I snapped!

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Yeah, they are gonna make sense to you now, cos they have less of the senseless dance routine and more of the acting stuff.

But still will have the usual masala that goes into making a typical bollywood potboiler, have fun

International Film Festivals in Mumbai
The Pumelo International Film Festival(PiFF) ( http://www.pumelo.com ) is from March 5th to 7th & continues from 12th to 15th March at SDIMS & Cinemax Multiplex in Mumbai, India. International Films from world famous indie film directors. There is a competition for the best film based purely on audience choice & we also award prizes for best director, best cinematography, best music score, best short, best documentary, etc. The films screened at the Pumelo Film Festivals are selected by a jury comprising of Savio DSilva & Amit Mankani(noted script writers & film directors). The best film gets a prize of Rs.5000.

Enoma International Film Festival(EiFF) ( http://www.enoma.com/emff.htm ) for feature films is from 16th to 21st December in Mumbai. International Films from world famous indie film directors. They are now accepting entries for the same. Feature films must be more than 30 minutes in duration to qualify for screenings at Enoma International Film Festival. The best feature films get prizes of Rs.10000, Rs.5000 & Rs.2000 respectively. There are workshops, parties and conferences with film makers during this international festival.

Passes for the Film Festivals in Mumbai, India
Pumelo International Film Festival - 5-7 & 12-15 March
International Films from world famous indie film directors.
Delegate Passes for FREE. Only 200 Passes!

Call 26289400 or 9820262263 or 9820303192 now or collect your passes directly at Savio DSilva Classes, Shopper's Point, 1st Floor, Opposite Andheri Station (West), Mumbai, India.

Catch a flick in one of mumbais many cinema halls , theaters and multiplexes . AMong the most famous ones screening english films are Sterling ( VT ) , Regal ( Colaba ) , Inox ( Nariman Pt ) . Buy any local daily ie. Mirror , Mid-day , Afternoon for a complete listing !!

Wanna be in the movies?

Hango out on Coalba Causeway long enough and you will probably be asked by one of the touts/scouts if you are interested in working.

There are several kinds of jobs:

1. Extra - anyhitng from a day to working on a movie for the entrie film, your chance for an actual role increase with the amount of time you are going to be in Bombay.

2. Commercials and Print - these jobs are generally for a day or two - usually looking for girls who can dance, you make extra for bathing suit work.

PAY?
On one film I got about 1000 Rs per day, plus the hotel in Pune and 2 meals + travel to and from Pune.

Another film was 800 Rs per day.

Motorola commercial paid 2000 Rs for the weekend.