Bombay: August 2 and 3, 2016.
August, 2 > Dharavi is one the biggest slums of Bombay. Slum is the English term to designate favela or bidonville. Do you remember the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”?
Nowadays, 1 500 000 people live in 217 hectares land (1 hectare is more or less as big as a football field).
August 3 > Bollywood is the largest films producer in the world. Only in 2014, it produced 252 films. Bollywood is known for its multi-million productions. The most expensive one cost more than USD 20 million.
August 2 > Karine and I payed 500 ruppes (7,50 USD) to visit Dharavi following the steps of “Reality Tours and Travel” organization, which claims bring back 80% of profits back to community. All the guides grew up in the slum and, with the project help, learned English and got the job. They show different areas and share their background, histories. Our guide doesn’t live in the slum anymore. Photos here are forbidden, of course!
August 3 > Karine and I earned 500 ruppes (7,50 USD) to “play” as figuration in “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”, in English: “Complicated are the matters of the heart”. It’s an (and another) Indian romantic drama film. It was written and directed by Karan Johar and it’s scheduled for release on October 28th. It features super national stars, just like Aishwarya Rai, Ranbir Kapoor or Anushka Sharma.
Oh, why we ended in this movie? They needed white people! LoL
August 2 > As in most slums, as in most favelas, as in most of the extremely poor places in developing and underdeveloped countries, the main Dharavi income comes from recycling. When the world doesn’t want something anymore, it ends most times in this kind of place. Walking here you see people manipulating chemical and dangerous substances with no protection, they try to separate hard materials.
Yes, because in most of the places in the world the beauty of recycling generally ends at the moment that we close our colorful bins (blue, yellow, red, green)!
August 3 > The Bollywood studios are called the ‘world’s largest dream factory’. Some touristic tours are organized and allow you discover better this incredible world. The tours take about 6 hours, so big! Walking here you see people manipulating some many high-tech materials. Everything is well coordinate; the tasks are precise and thoroughly divided.
August 2 > If you work recycling in Indian slums you can get between 70 and 250 rupees (1 and 3,70 USD) per day. Attracted by money, many people from neighboring countries, even poorer than India, come spend some months here to make money. They come from Pakistan, Bangladesh…
August 3 > If you are a big Bollywood star like Ranbir Kapoor you should earn between 20 and 25 crore rupees (3 million and 3,7 million USD) per movie. Bollywood productions are exported in more than 20 languages, especially to the neighboring countries. In Indonesia, for example, they watch the all-day Indian contents.
India, incredible India! > It says national slogan, so much sense…
