Becoming a "Yes!" Woman (Krishten! Freak Out!)

I would like to preface this post by apologizing for the length of this post. Please do not let the length deter you from reading the post. So give you more incentive to read this post I will tell you right up front that I'm in a movie. Now you have to read the whole thing. Commencing in 3... 2... 1...

My dearest cousin MacKenzie said to me “I want you become a ‘yes’ woman while you're in India.” That was some good advice Mac.

A few days ago, after telegu class, one of the guys in the program, Sam, asked if anyone in the group was interested in going to a lunch with some of his contacts for his research. Sam is researching sustainable agriculture, and as part of that research often visits a small farming community in which the lunch was being held. I wasn’t initially interested, but Hilary made the excellent point that I probably wasn’t going to do my research anyway, so I might as well join her and Sam.

“Okay, yes.”

You know what? I’m glad I went.

It was a fascinating community of radswamis, a non-hindu religion that follows a guru but does have some hindu elements. They believe in not being a burden to society and have created a mostly self-sufficient community. Everyone has jobs that help in supporting and continuing their community. There are multiple farms that everyone will work on in the morning before they go to their jobs. The crops are distributed among the people, and the rest sold. The income from the crops that they sell go back into the farming fund.

There was a distinct difference between this community and the rest of Vizag. The houses, though still in poor condition by American standards, were in much better condition by Indian standards. The streets
were clean, and I only heard two car horns go off for the 3 hours I was there—and believe me, that is quite a feat.On his way back from working on the farms the next day, Sam saw the set by the beach and immediately ran back to tell Glo, who is researching perception of women in Telegu cinema, what was going on. Glo excitedly asked if I wanted to come with her to the set.

“YES PLEASE!”

Glo, Hilary, and I rushed out to where Sam told us they were filming, and almost immediately our inner non-whoreish groupies came out. From the sight of guys walking around in matching red and white outfits, and the loud booming music we could tell they were filming an “item song” or musical number.We did some wandering and found out that it was a Bengali film, and we weren’t familiar with any of the actors. The translator that was with us kindly helped us to find the director for Glo to interview, which led to interviewing the leading lady, and ultimately the Hero,

We stayed to watch as they filmed more of the music sequence. The actual length of each take was surprisingly short--no longer than 10 seconds. However, the ironic thing was that the we are on a movie set, and people were flocking around and taking pictures of us and not the movie stars. As it got closer to the middle of the day it got harder to tolerate the heat, so we went home for a few hours only to come back and find them still filming, what I imagine to be only a few seconds further in the song from when we left.

Take note of the umbrella guys standing by to cover the actors between takes.

Buffalos running through the set. Pretty standard for India.

We stayed for a couple more hours watching as they moved from one set to the other, crying "Take! Sound! Action!". Then the inevitable question came: "Guys, what if we could be in the movie?"

"YES!"

We eventually caught up with the director again, and after much debate among the three of us as to who would do the deed, mustered up the courage to give him our "mobile" numbers so he could call us if he needed any extras or "junior artiste's". He smiled and told us to wait till shooting was done for the day, and at the rate the sun was going down we knew that wouldn't be too far away--so we happily obliged.

A large man that we recognized as the choreographer from earlier that day approached us, telling us that the shooting location for the next day hadn't yet been decided, but that he would call us the next morning to tell us, so we could meet them there. We tried to keep cool as we could until we got of the rickshaw (Indian form of taxi, only smaller and able to fit more people than you would think possible). But once we were around the corner from our house, we let loose.

Holy. Crap.

As my love of Bollywood movies has grown, I thought it would be so fun to be in an Indian movie--however unrealistic that dream might of seemed to be. I guess it wasn't so unrealistic. What better way to fulfill that dream than being an extra in a crappy untitled Bengali film?

It was a miracle that we were able to find the location they were shooting at. Getting directions in India is similar to getting directions on an Indian reservation in America. There aren't street names, only landmarks, and villages, and a lot of driving until you find it. It seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere, but for being out in the middle of nowhere there were a lot of rickshaws driving by. When we arrived, they were filming a dance sequence with the dancers on top of the bus, and hanging outside of the windows while the Hero was swinging from the door lip syncing his heart out. Random? Yes. But this just confirms my suspicion that anything goes in India.

We sat. We waited. Felt awkward. Waited and felt awkward. Were served lunch at tables, a luxury which only the director got. Felt awkward again. Waited some more. Waiting because there is a lot of downtime for setup, and also because we're in India, meaning there is not rush to do anything. Awkward because we obviously did not belong. We didn't know where we should be in case they suddenly needed us. Awkward because everyone else had a purpose but us. Awkward because we were no longer just outsiders observing the action, but now a part of the action.

Then finally after hanging around for 3 or 4 hours, were told that the director was looking for us. We followed a man onto the same motor coach, to see they were continuing the dance sequence inside the bus, only now there were going to be 3 random white girls along for the ride. We were placed in the shot, in the seats in front of the camera, and shown the dance we were supposed to do in our seats. The choreographer thensaid "and when I point to you (me) I want you to stand up and dance."

Crap.

"Ummm, er, uh what kind of dance are you looking for?"

"It doesn't matter, just dance. Do whatever comes. Freak out. What's your name?"

"Uhh, Kirsten."

"Kay, Krishten, when I point and say 'Krishten, freak out!' I want you to freak out."

Four things are running through my head at this point.

1. I haven't even heard the song yet.

2. Why me?

3. How am I supposed to freak out in a Sari?

4. Why did I volunteer for this?

Right... I volunteered for this. And what have I learned so far about India? Any thing goes. Just do it.

"Okay." Not as firm as yes, but close enough.

When the time came, I freaked, and it was great.

When that part was done, we waited some more (big surprise). To our surprise they wanted us in another scene that would take place the next day. This was getting more involved than we had anticipated. Still, how could we say no?

So to make an already long story, just a little bit shorter...

TheypickedGloandIupthenextmorningtheyfedusagainwereinnotjustonebut5moreshotswhichinvolved

usbeingwooedanddancingaround,with,andholdinghandswiththeHERO.

Glo and I with the Hero and dancers on Day 2 of shooting

They wanted me to use my camera as a prop. Remember: Anything goes.

Totally bonkers? Yeah, you bet.

One of the strangest, awkward, unreal, memorable, dream fulfilling days of my entire life?

"Yes."

"Epic Breeze" fan!