Ramoji Film City

After reading about this online and also at the hotel, that it was like Bollywood and Universal Studios I thought it would be a fun thing to do.  We set off once again with a driver and it was around 45 minutes drive away.  On arrival our driver purchased tickets for us and we proceeded to the entrance gate.  Men and women are separated and go through different security screening.  We had a slight hiccup with Maddy’s Polaroid camera, as amazingly it seemed no-one had ever seen one.   So after being examined for several minutes by around ten different security guards they let us through!

Once through we were all herded onto buses to take us to the actual Film City which was around 10 – 15 minutes away.  I realised once again we were the only Western tourists there and thus had lots of attention on the bus.  So many questions, we were all talking to someone at once!  Driving there seemed to be great fun for the drivers who tried to be the first there by speeding up once it turned into a one way highway!

Overlooking Ramoji Film City which is set over 1,600 acres

When we alighted this bus we then all boarded several open air small trains to take us to the individual lots.  No lingering was allowed and I realised at this point that it was going to be a very regimented day.  No walking between different film lots was allowed, a bus or small train would take you onto the next place.

Everywhere we stopped we had photos taken with everyone, especially Maddy!  There were young guys lining up, we did have to say no a few times as we would not have got anywhere!

Some film lots were definitely better than others, but I wouldn’t described it as a Universal or Bollywood!

Wishing for a train to anywhere! 

So eerily lifelike! 

We stopped for lunch at the beautiful Sitara Hotel, located in the middle of the City.

The very fancy Sitara Hotel

With lunch over, Anthony had had enough of this theme park!  Obviously we didn’t see half of what was on offer and unfortunately there was no filming going on that day.

I would love to hear from anyone who has been to Ramoji Film City, I haven’t met anyone yet!

 

Thanks for reading