Bollywood Comes to Espanola (Hrithik Roshan’s Kites)

Yesterday me and the family decided to drive up to Abiquiu lake which is about 25 minutes outside of Espanola, New Mexico. The kids wanted to go swimming in the lake, but I wanted to get an early start to take some pictures of the awesome rocks/mountains. On the drive up we see this flatbed truck driving the other way carrying a crashed up burnt out river rafting bus. We commented that we hoped everyone was ok since it looked like a major accident! (Arjan went river rafting last week so she definitely was concerned!). When we got to where I wanted to take some photographs there was only one place to pull over from the road.

 When we pulled over from the road we wondered "What is going on here???". There were were already all kinds of vehicles packed in the area. There were a few burnt up, crashed police cars, trucks, semis, and lots of people moving around with a purpose.

I took this picture when I first got there before I knew what was going on. I thought someone might come over to me asking me why I was taking pictures and "spying" on the "secret" film so didn’t try to take much more.

We quickly realized that some type of movie production was going on, and this was the "base camp". We thought this was just another hollywood movie. Then as we are getting out of the car we see a Punjabi guy changing license plates on some trucks next to our car and he says hello, and we ask what is going on. He tells us that they are filming a bollywood movie called "Kites" starring Hrithik Roshan. Who would have ever thought of bollywood movie types filming outside little old Espanola, New Mexico??? The Punjabi guy said that the director and Hrithik were right "over there", and my wife urged me to go and try to meet them. I’m not much of a bollywood movie watcher so so didn’t pursue it, afterall I didn’t even remember which actor was Hrithik Roshan.

Earlier in the year Rakesh Roshan came to Espanola and was scouting locations for the film and I met him along with a few others at the SikhNet office on their tour of the Espanola Gurdwara with Sat Pal Singh Kohli. I didn’t think I would actually "bump" into them again when they actually filmed here. Even when it comes to Hollywood movies I don’t play that close attention to the "who’s who". My wife knows all the names, but I’m so bad with remembering names and don’t like all the "people" drama, so stay clear of it all. My wife would normally be commenting in a movie…."that’s so and so…from this or that movie…". 

 Anways, it was a fun day. We didn’t last long taking pictures of the rocks/mountains. We were not there early enough for the good photo lighting and Narayan was whining about not wanting to hike around and wanting to go to the lake. I’ll have to make another trip there around sunrise by myself to take pictures.

Next weekend we are celebrating Narayan’s 7th birthday and going to have the "party" at the Abiqueue lake, so part of our mission was to scout out some good spots. If any of you in Espanola want to join us you are most welcome! Here are a few pictures from the afternoon….

Cool looking mud/dirt that dried out into "crispy crunchy" mud. It was fun to walk on it, crunch, crunch.

  

In parts of the mountain there were the above rocks all over the place. They were very unique looking because they looked like dinosaur bones (or some type of bone)!

  

 

Narayan taking a break at Abiqueue lake.

9 Responses to “Bollywood Comes to Espanola (Hrithik Roshan’s Kites)”

1. tanzy0 says:

   August 4, 2008 at 8:41 am

   Thanxx a lot 4 sharing the article>>Would have been happier if u could get a snap of my favourite actor Hrithik Roshan.

2. Harpreet Singh says:

   August 5, 2008 at 9:53 am

   May be you could reveal this to all-things-celebreties-and-bollywood hungry Indian media. I am for sure they would publish it asap on their website and other mediums. Just to see how obsessed they are of TV stars!

3. Gurumustuk Singh says:

   August 5, 2008 at 4:27 pm

   Well, even though I seem to stray from movie stars and don’t know bollywood movies well… I might be going to a dinner party with Rakesh Roshan this weekend. I was invited…and might be an opportunity to plug the SikhNet Online Film Festival. You never know where things might go and what opportunities might come?

4. Surinder Singh (Canada) says:

   August 6, 2008 at 2:56 pm

   Gurumustuk, see if they will put you in the movie- this could be the start of a new bollywood career for you!  :)

5. Gurpreet Kaur says:

   August 7, 2008 at 3:57 am

   I think this whole website is amazing and what you all do fascinates me so much, i truly am inspired!! The juths are coming to England and performing at the local Gurdwara and I really can not contain myself!!

   I am a bollywood film fan and can not wait to see New Mexico through their eyes, hopefully one day I will see the sunsets and you all for myself :)

6. Gurumustuk Singh says:

   August 10, 2008 at 1:16 pm

   You can see some pictures of another related event at: http://www.mrsikhnet.com/index.php/2008/08/10/bollywood-star-craze-in-new-mexico/

7. Rahul says:

   August 15, 2008 at 10:02 am

   thanks singh sir for d info…….it will b very helpful if u can get d pics,news,views of d movie “kites”.n able 2 upld it!!!!!!………..hope 2 hear frm u soon!!!!!!!!!

8. sangita patel says:

   August 30, 2008 at 9:06 am

   can please let me know where to go to see the shooting. and to met them. my boys
   would love to see a bollywood shooting.please respond

9. Sarah says:

   September 4, 2008 at 1:37 pm

   kudos to Sangita! I agree!