Stars unstruck

Movies promote tourism. Rather should be: Movies promote commercialization. This weekend I had been to a place, which had it not been for the movies, would still have been a pristine location, untouched by commercialization and urbanization. But thanks to the numerous films that are shot here on and off, today this place and its surrounding areas have become a lot more commercial. But it still has retained its own charm. The due credit must be given to the locals of that place for still maintaining the sanctity of the place. Am sure that had that been happening somewhere in the cities, all people would have gone berserk by now. And as time passed by, they would themselves have started acting like stars, forget the film stars. Thankfully, the locals in this village have somewhat become indifferent to films. Ask them about any location where a film was shot and they will just point in that direction with so much indifference that it will make you wonder whether they have understood what you have asked them. But then that is what it means to them now. Probably nothing! Am sure they are proud of the fact that their place is on the international screen, but that doesn’t stop them from being themselves. Their standard of living definitely has improved. But they still are the same people beneath that urbanized and commercialized exterior. And unlike in cities, people here do not go berserk when a film crew comes to shoot in their village. We visited a family there, very much normal people like us. As we were leaving their homely abode, we came to know that it was here that the cast of a popular film made themselves at home, in between their shots. Had it been a family in the city, I am sure that the first topic of conversation would have been the film stars or rather would am sure that it would have been the only topic of conversation. Makes me wonder what it is that makes people in the city so star crazy.