This is Ruby. Bae is a hard working uni student who played peacock-lady at the opening of Hightail bar last week.
She was raised by her mama in Pascoe Vale, and wanted to be an actor when she grew up (who the hell didn’t tho, it’s the only occupation you know aside from teacher, bus driver and milkbar owner). She made it onto a few sets in The Land of Oz (and also became a dancer) but then realised there was a huge gap in the Asian market for Westerners so headed for the dazzling lights of BOLLYWOOD…
What did you think of India because personally i hated it when I went?
“You’ll either fall in love with it or hate, there’s no in-between”, that’s what a friend said when I told them I was off on a Bollywood contract. How right they were. I travelled a lot when I was over there, filming takes place all over India (I don’t think people realise how huge that country is). Some days I loved it and others, not so much. I lived in Mumbai, there are 21 million people in just one city, its hectic. The street food, the hospitality and the history of Indian people is incredible. But if you’re prepared to completely surrender yourself to India, it’ll change you forever in the best way possible. You have to keep up with it or prepare to get left behind. It’s busy, there’s so many smells happening and it is really overwhelming on your senses. That being said, the street food, the hospitality and the history of Indian people is incredible. If you’re prepared to completely surrender yourself to India, it’ll change you forever in the best way possible.
What is the difference between working in India and working here?
There’s no equity for a dancer in India, so if something goes wrong you have to play it smart and figure out a plan of attack. But there’s WAAAY more work in India, at one point I worked 24 days straight on different films – crazy!
Where were you mostly living?
It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are, in Mumbai, everyone lives on top of each other. I lived in an apartment with five other girls from my agency. There were three main agencies that had foreign dancers so we all used to hang out together, all Australian and British.
Did you have to learn to Bollywood dance?
For some movies, yes. Luckily rehearsals were pretty intense and because I was already a dancer it wasn’t too difficult to pick up as it can be tricky though!
What movies were you in?
Oh, go, so many. The production rate of films is CRAZY. I think i ended up working on 23 films when i was there. My favourite was a huuuge blockbuster: DHOOM 3
What are the Bollywood stars like?
Not dissimilar to what I imagine movie stars in Hollywood to be like. They are SO famous because Indians live for their music and it brings everyone together, The stars have assistants and private trailers, we don’t have a lot to do with them but they were all really nice. I have one friend who I knew prior to going over there, she’s a star and she’s absolutely taking India by storm (not to mention how kind she is. She dropped over to my apartment one day with coffee from Melbourne so I wasn’t so homesick).
How were you treated as a woman?
India isn’t very progressive when it comes to equality and human rights (something im incredibly passionate about). As an Aussie, completely fine. As a woman, not so much. Sometimes people will try to sexualise you in films because of the ‘white girl’, you really just have to kick and scream and refuse until they give in. This only happened 3 times but it definitely made me aware of how women were perceived. That’s not to say all Indian men are like that, they’re not. But in general, you have to cover up and absolutely can’t walk around on you own at nighttime, no matter how busy it is on the street.
What was the night life like over there?
The night life was amazing! We used to have to sneak out of the house and pray our agent didn’t catch us partying. New years eve once we told asked our agent for the night off so we could ‘recuperate’ from a heavy filming schedule. We booked a 5-star hotel and spent new years eve at the biggest, wildest and best pool party I’ve ever been to in my life- the line up was enough to make anyone in Australia envious.
Craziest scene you were part of in Bollywood?
There was 5 of us on a job and we were asked to jump into a pool. It was 6 degrees outside, mosquitoes were everywhere and there were live electrical chords hanging in the water. We couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous and dangerous it was – initially we thought it was a joke but it wasn’t long before they had out towels ready for us. At least we would have gotten dry if we had been electrocuted.
Top fun facts:
– 90% of the makeup artists are men.
– All the dancing is really modern, traditional Bollywood dancing isn’t that common. Most of the choreographers have worked in LA so the moves are pretty westernised.
– Bollywood films are famous for breaking out into song in just about any situation but funnily enough, none of the actors sing their songs. Someone else is taken to the studio to record it. There’s a whole lot of lip synching involved.