Bollywood in Rome

So guess what everyone…I have made my first (maybe) debut in a Bollywood film! I was not, unfortunately, an official “extra”, but I tried really hard to get in the background of the shot and think I probably succeeded for at least a few seconds .

Here’s how it happened. Amy left Rome on Saturday, so we decided to get together for lunch last Wednesday to bid our final farewells. Amy got to Rome several hours before I finished classes, so we decided to meet at 1 on the Spanish Steps. While I was in class, Amy texted me to say that what looked like a bollywood film was being shot on the Spanish steps! Moreover, they were interviewing people to try to get them to be extras in the shot, but the people had to prove they were Italian (by speaking italian and showing some sort of identification). Regardless of the fact that I’m not actually Italian, I was pretty psyched, and a friend and I rushed over right after class. The second I saw the Indian actor, the Indian cast and crew, the wardrobe and the dance moves, I knew it had to be a bollywood movie (or at least a music video). Hannah, Amy and I squeezed our way into the background of the shot, and marveled at the extent of the scene. They even had an Indian gladiator!

After grabbing some gelato, sitting on the steps (which are beautiful now by the way, covered in flowers) and watching for a while, we decided to finally head over and get lunch. In honor of our exciting bollywood morning, we decided to go to this nice Indian/Pakistani restaurant (Himalaya’s Kashmir, I highly recommend it to anyone reading from Rome and getting a little tired of Italian food), pretty much the only ethnic food in Rome. They were closed when we got there (we got a little lost for a bit), but after seeing as mope around at the door let us in and said they could cook us something really quickly. They made us some amazing food right away, and the host sat down and talked to us for a little bit. He mentioned they were shooting a bollywood movie in Piazza di Spagna, and excited to find out a little more about it, we inquired further.

It turned out that this restaurant was the one who was catering to the cast and film crew, and they were all coming to the restaurant for dinner that night. They actually had to close the restaurant to feed the film party because the actor(s) (Raj Kapoor’s son-in-law?) were concerned about security. They said, however, if we wanted to stay for dinner they’d be happy to have us there, and we could meet everyone in the cast (and maybe see if we could finagle some jobs as extras)!

More to follow…