Introduction
Ever wondered how those wonderful movie sets come to life. Ever wanted to spend some time in the fantasy lands seen in the movies. Ramoji Film City brings your dreams to reality by taking you from the world of reality to the world of dreams. Situated around 25 k.m. from the heart of Hyderabad City, Ramoji Film City is a huge land spread comprising of beautiful sets and entertainment parks. Commercially, this place has been the filming ground for thousands of Indian Movies every year. Now it is open for public as well to view these scenic beauties.
The Place
As you enter Ramoji Film City, you get a brief glimpse of what is in store. A huge hoarding a la Jurassic Park entry scene with ’’Ramoji Film City’’ written on it welcomes you. Inside, there are two guided tours and after that the visitors are free to select their own haunts and visit them.
Guided Tour #1: The Gardens
Tour #1 kicks off with a tour of gardens. The first garden that we see is a Greek Garden. Beautifully set in ancient Greece, we see Greek architecture, beautiful Greek fountains and nice little gardens to suite the surroundings. Move slightly forward we enter the Roman garden, with hundreds of Roman Gods, Goddesses sculptured around, A fantastic fountain with the Roman Sun God riding a beautiful 7 horse chariot. The pathways in these gardens are also made in such a way that chariots can move around in them. This is just the pre-cursor of what is in store. There are around 60 such different theme gardens including, Brindavan Garden in Bangalore to the Mughlai gardens in Delhi with all the beautiful monuments providing the background. For kids there is a special Animal garden with plantations in the shape of beautiful animals. Then the tour moves on and takes you to some of the sets. The best part is at each turn there is a new set on the horizon. So we went from the streets of Delhi in India to the streets of Switzerland at the turn of a street and from there moved to London in another turn and winded up at Texas at another turn. Then move onto the International Airport, which if you go on the other side is the Hospital, you move on to another side and it is a Church and the other side it is Police Station. So depending on which side you view this building it acts as an Airport or Church or Police Station or Hospital. Of course, the guide reels off a long list of movies shot at each of these locations. At the end of this tour, we are left to choose which garden we want to cool off our heels for some time and get ready for the next tour.
Guided Tour #2 The Kavala Caves
The next tour is exclusively for the caves. Here the ancient caves meet the technology of the 21st century. A nice little tibetian monk welcomes us into the dark caves and takes us to some places where we see beautiful sculptures. Suddenly, these sculptures come to life and start dancing around and then settle back to their own positions. A sight to behold. At the end of this we are brought back to the centre of Ramoji and left to decide our next course.
Dada Jinn’s Fundustan
This is an entertainment park for the kids... It is complete with rides, magic shows, video games and a mystery house which is full of mystery and horror... Add to these there are a few small speciality huts each having something mysterious in store, you need to enter these and close the door to find out and then... (I am not going to reveal what is inside...)
Eureka
Next come to the theme parks of Ramoji... As you enter Eureka, you see three options: On your left is a Mughal Empire, Right in front of you is the Mauryan Empire and to your right is the Wild Wild West... Each of these is complete with its own Restaurant to match the theme, shops, and a show... Don’t miss the ’’Spirit of Ramoji’’ Show and the ’’Wild West Shootout’’. These shows are fantastic. The Rest After all these if you still have the energy for more fun, then enter the maze (Bhool Bulaiya) garden and try to figure your way out. Also if you are lucky you might just stumble onto a film shooting and get to meet some film stars. Then there are great prop shops where you can buy costumes and props in sync with the latest doing business in the movie worlds. Don’t forget to snatch your own piece of souvenior.
Low Down
The entrance fees to Ramoji Film city: For Adults: Rs. 200; For Kids: Rs. 150. Visiting Hours: Morning 9 am to 6 pm Daily.
Mode of Visit
Now there can be two approaches to the visit. If you are on a short notice, pick up a tour package arranged by AP Tourism. You simply need to go to any office of AP Tourism and register, they would arrange for a bus to Ramoji and back. Their charges are Rs. 380 which includes the ticket fees. You reach Ramoji around 9:30 and are back at around 6:30. Ramoji being a huge stretch of land, is difficult to cover in a single day, especially if you have kids. They would not leave Fundustan easily.
So the better option is come over and stay in Ramoji itself for a day. Ramoji hoasts excellent hotelling facilities in Hotel Sitara (5 star) and Hotel Tara (3 star).
Contact Information For further details you can contact Ramoji Film City at these numbers 91-40-55510912/55510913 and email: rfcsales@hd2.dot.net.in. Summary This is a land of dreams.
For people who want to see a lot of places, but can’t affort to go, this place gives you a chance to be there without being there :). A fantastic outing with the whole family. If you come to hyderabad, this is a must see...