How I was Exploited by the Indian Film Industry and Enjoyed Nearly Every Aspect of It

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Posted by John Kruth
December 29, 2006 9:57 AM
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And now for Part 2 of How I was Exploited by the Indian Film Industry and Enjoyed Nearly Every Aspect of It -

Suddenly this little adventure seemed to come with a tight leash attached - Every time I even thought about going for water or juice or something one of the assistants would say - Please John Kruthi, your place, your costume - which meant my sunglasses - even when they were busy fiddling with cameras or some such thing - they only had two of course with no lights - shooting had to stop by 6 pm when the sun went down - Just one step above art school...
Finally we had a break for lunch - lemon rice, spinach, spicy potatoes - all very delish - then back to stand on the balcony to watch the stunt man bungy jump off the roof of the run-down Maha Ganesh Wedding Hall - They also hung the leading man from a crane so he could "swim" through the sky as he "plummeted to his death" as the crowd below scattered frantically away - Suddenly the whole day had disappeared - I should mention that the balcony where we were standing was attached to a men's boarding house where I met some very interesting characters that I photographed - more pix to come - So once again my friend Cameron was right - He's been coming here for 10 years studying mrdangam with Subash (the terribly under-rated younger brother of Vikku who plays ghatam and sings with John McLaughlin in Shakti) Cameron told me to watch out - "These guys will suck up your time and pay you nothing" - He said they are legendary for skipping town without paying their tab - So the sun is going down - the last jump of the day has been shot for the fourth time - the chai cart has been wheeled out and the extras are lining up to get paid their 100 rupees - literally TWO DOLLARS! for standing around all day - being yelled at - commanded by a chain-smoking director and his crew - but as I said the lunch was good - so I go talk with the assistant director about my pay - He leads me through a dark corridor where people are sitting beside or sleeping on top of motorcylces to where the production team is sitting with calculators and piles of cash - they have me sign some paper and hand me 300 rupees SIX BUCKS for 2 days of standing around AND DELIVERING MY LINE - "I'm helpless- Go talk to Bush!" on the third take which was a lot better than the idiot cop with the megaphone who had to scream over and over again "Hello Sir! I am here to help you!" ad nauseum - So the ass. director asks me to come back tomorrow at 8 AM for the third day of shooting and I say, "You'll have to talk to my agent." "Who is that?" he asks. "Me " I say and tell him. "For 3 dollars a day it is not possible." He said they would send someone over to my hotel room and negotiate that night - Ambrose and Chandru - my collegues in the film tell me not to be annoyed but I tell them that "you and I are being exploited" (Ah! a strike is in the making!) - Chandru, a Krishna devotee says to me, "John Kruthi, do not think of it as a salary - it is an honorarium." Okay I get his point but say I won't be back tomorrow and they seem disappointed - maybe not so much that I won't be returning the next day but maybe they thought I should be more spiritually realized than to care about money but me and my "Old Testament Principals" says "Yes I know what you mean - but these guys are WRONG! I mean don't you think my line was at least worth 10 dollars AND I did it on the 3rd take." As I'm leaving the ass. director says, "Okay, See you tomorrow and please bring me two CD's of your music." I tell him I gave them to the director already and if he wants them they are $15 each - Business is Business!" He just looks at me with a little grin and does that Indian/Parkinson head-shake thing as if to say this little drama is totally absurd in the big picture of things - which it is -

So now on the way back to my bed bug nightmare hotel room I'm feeling GUILTY! After all I had a good time, a nice lunch, met some very, funny interesting guys and on top of it got paid 6 bucks so what have I got to bitch about? Got some great photos (soon I promise) and a story to tell - Oh now I feel like the ugly, materialistic American! In the meantime Javier, Ganesh's kanjira student from Espana and I head off into the carbon torture tunnel - Absolutley the worst traffic jam yet - sitting stuck inside "the subway" a tunnel which connects West Mambalam where we are staying to the next neighborhood where the famous department store Pothy's is and a whole buzzing illuminated strip of stores, jewelry shops and schmata (Yiddish slang for "rag") merchants - through the motherlode of silk scarves and sarees in every electric hue you can think of -

To make a long story shorter - (I'm hungry now its 10:30 - time for breakfast then off to my lesson) - It seems Javier can't get enough carbon monoxide - he's still young -so he rolls a cigarette and smokes it in the cab while we sit, stuck in the insane snnarl of honking motorbikes and autorickshaws - To amuse myself I take out the camera and start shooting everyone - everybody is very friendly, enjoying posing on their bikes for their portraits - We end up missing both concerts - we are so tied up in traffic - maybe we would've seen the second one if we had gotten out and walked but I think my brain wasn't capable of figuring that out at the time as essentially I was brain dead/poisoned by fumes from these little 2 stroke engines used for chain saws back in the U.S. - We wind up eating at High Class Veg Saravanna Hotel when suddenly I notice Javier lifting his Chinese spring roll to his mouth with HIS LEFT HAND! I lean over and whisper "Dude, do NOT eat with your left hand - You will freak these people out completely!" "Why?" he says, innocently - "Because you wipe your ass with your left hand!" And he says "How do you know that?" "Everybody does, it's the custom," I say, "but these people are gonna freak if they see you do it!" He says "But I'm left-handed!" and I reply "You bette get over it!" So we wander around for a couple hours as the merchants close up and sweep up and cows and dogs feast on the debris -

This morning I woke up around nine - I pack my "costume" in my bag and head off - late - but maybe I'll happen to "drop by" the shoot and see what's happening. No one is there! - Cameron was right - they skipped town - So I sat down at my favorite local greasy spoon - sans the spoon - when a guy sits down at my table and asks me where I'm from - "New York," I tell him - then he catches a glimpse of my mosquito/junky perforated hands, arms and neck - "What do you do?" he asked. "I'm a musician." "That is why they [the mosquitoes and bed bugs] like you. You have music in your veins."

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