January 24, 2001 - MGR Film City in Madras
January 24, 2001 - MGR Film City in Madras |
MGR Film City One of the most famous actors in India was elected to run Madras. His initial were "MGR". One of his things he did is establish a film lot which any film company can use for shooting. The public is allowed in for a small fee and there are amusements for the kids. Here is Kumar buying tickets to enter. Note: the most expensive item is to take a still camera inside. |
 On the far right is the start of a new elevated train
line which will make this trip much easier and less expensive. (See below.) |
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 It is only a short walk to the children's swimming pool.
This day, I took Mumtaz, Kumar, Vela, and Prabhu. |
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The red dress that Vela is wearing is called a swimming costume. We buy it on Picroft's Road on the way to MGR because Vela always forgets to bring it. Also, they don't work very well and Vela hates them. |
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Tickets for the pool are purchased from a ticket seller who writes the start time and the ending time on the ticket. Since one hour in the swimming pool costs about 75 cents (US), no one normally swims there. Therefore, the kids have the place all to themselves Vela likes to bring different kids to the swimming pool. One day the guards caught a boy getting ready to do his laundry in the swimming pool. He had brought laundry soap and was going to wash his pants. Like all the kids of the neighborhood, he had never been to a swimming pool before. |
Ramu, Mari's brother who is also our rickshaw driver, loves to watch motion pictures being made. Here you see some very full-figured dancers doing a song and dance number for a motion picture. After the kids finish swimming and after Ramu and I have finished watch movies being made, we all go to a makeshift dinning hall on the film lot to have lunch. Total cost is about $20 US for the day. |
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And frequently, you can see all of the famous actors of Tamil movies. The lady sitting in the exact center of this picture is the star but I noticed that she watched all of the production so I think she is also the executive producer. While women have very little control in India, money talks. |
Madras produces more movies than any city in the world. So you can see a motion picture being made almost every day of the week at MGR Film City. Indian movie are exactly three hours long and have three popular songs in each motion picture plus at least four fight scenes. Filmmaking in India is particularly remarkable since most of the motion picture cameras are at least 50 years old and there is almost no sync sound. |
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Since India has so many languages, people are used to seeing movies which are dubbed into Tamil. These movies are totally out of sync with the lip movements. Therefore, filmmakers make no attempt to have the dialog in sync with the picture even for the movies which are filmed in Tamil, the language of Madras. Here is a better picture of the lady seated watching everything. |
Danger The only problem with the MGR Film City is the lack of maintenance on the facilities. When the kids came to the swimming pool in 1998, the guards forbid them from climbing up the slide instead of climbing the metal stairs. Three years later, the stairs have rotted away and the only way to the top of the slide is to walk up the slide. Notice in the picture that a number of the steps are missing. The bumper card rides (as with most amusement park rides in India) were purchased from Japan. Only two or three of the cars still work since no maintenance is done on the cars. This does not stop the kids from having lots of fun at 35 cents (US) per person. |
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Here is the new section of the city train tracks next to MGR Film City. Opposite is the section near Triplicane. In the picture opposite, there are thousands of tiny houses on the right built by the government next to the original canal, now sewer. |
Soon there will be a train line directly from Triplicane to MGR Film City. By 2001, you can probably now take this train which is not as much fun (or as scary) as a ride in an autorickshaw. |
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Coming Soon