Chapter 172 Overseas Layout
"How's Dubai doing lately?"
“Great! It’s the perfect Mumbai.”
"Hmm?" Ron looked up.
"There's a brand new city there, with spacious American cars scattered among the skyscrapers. There's no one on the road, and you can drive at 70 mph!"
Vinod was talking non-stop, and he was now dressed very nicely, with a clean shirt on his upper body, well-fitting jeans on his legs, and even a watch on his wrist.
He traveled to and from the Persian Gulf countries many times, and after seeing the prosperity there, he had a love-hate relationship with Mumbai.
Mumbai is the city where he lives, and all his friends and family are there. But there are too many bad things here, such as scarce water resources, crowded slums, and garbage dumps that can never be cleaned up.
It wasn't until he went to Dubai that he realized that it was the future that Mumbai had always dreamed of.
Not only are there a large number of Indian immigrants, but even the language is very similar.
Not only Vinod, but even the upper class in Mumbai are fond of Dubai.
When they hold parties, they unconsciously imitate the trends in Dubai.
For example, we invited professional artists to perform, let well-trained puppies demonstrate basketball shooting, and prepared a luxurious gift for the guests.
The entire Mumbai, from top to bottom, yearns for Dubai-style urban life.
Vinod was no exception, he kept talking non-stop, and Ron couldn't help but laugh and kicked him.
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Ah, Ron Baba, which one are you referring to?"
"Mumbai's mafia bosses like to remotely control the activities of the gangs in Mumbai from Dubai. I heard they're not having a good time lately?"
"It's not as good as before! Daoud didn't even have a big celebration for his birthday this time, not even a party."
Daoud fled to Dubai in the 1980s, having amassed a vast fortune through gold smuggling.
Dubai is a city of pleasure, which suits him very well.
He recreated Mumbai's past glory at lavish banquets, invited wave after wave of Mumbai's most famous movie stars and cricket players to fly to Dubai as his guests, and kept Bollywood actress Mandakini as his mistress.
After Dawood fled India, his gangster influence in India remained strong. He could continue to rest easy in Dubai.
But the explosion happened, and he happened to meet a stubborn policeman like Ajie.
As the facts of the case gradually came to light, Daoud's guilt in the terrorist attack was almost confirmed.
The Indian government is said to be considering sending an extradition request to Dubai for Dawood's arrest.
It is not known whether the rumor is true or not, but this gangster boss must have heard something and is now much more low-key than before.
"It seems that our business can be expanded to an agency." Ron had a vague idea in his mind.
"It's time to do this, Ron Baba. People there are very rich." Vinod strongly agreed with the decision.
"You've been to Dubai so many times. What do you think of the labor market there?"
"It's very profitable!" Vinod shook his head. "Millions of Indians go to the Persian Gulf to work every year."
India is only separated from them by a bay, but their geographical resources are vastly different.
Because of their prosperous oil economy, the Persian Gulf countries can offer salary levels far exceeding those in India.
As taxi drivers, Mumbai drivers' monthly income fluctuates around 1,000 rupees.
But in Dubai, the figure becomes more than 6,000 rupees.
The gap is six times, which is completely incomparable.
For some dangerous jobs, such as construction workers, the average salary in the Persian Gulf countries is around $500.
Converted into rupees, it is about 15,000, which is more than ten times higher than in India.
This huge gap has caused many male laborers from India's coastal states to sneak into the Persian Gulf countries to work.
India is too poor, but every household has a large population, both girls and boys.
According to traditional Indian customs, men in the family are obliged to prepare dowries for their sisters.
Yes, although the woman pays the dowry in India, it is the man who ultimately bears this part of the expenses.
Indian dowries are usually made mainly of gold, which is expensive and a real luxury.
This has also indirectly led to more and more people choosing to go to the Persian Gulf countries to work.
With a market of millions of people, opening an agency is a sure win.
"I'll leave this to you. Not only in Dubai, but other cities should also have branches of our travel agencies."
"Ron Baba, that's no problem, but I need help." After all, Vinod had not received much education, and some things were difficult for him.
"Okay, I'll transfer a few more people to you." Ron was planning to transfer the people from the Mumbai Tourism Information Company to the travel agency.
There is no hope for Mumbai's tourism industry this year, as its revenue has been easily surpassed by travel agencies.
Vinod has sent a total of 3,000 people to Dubai in the past few months, and a similar number of them have come back to renew their visas.
In total, there were 6,000 people going back and forth, and Ron collected 12 million rupees in service fees alone.
There are also many other kickbacks for arranging accommodation, air tickets, boat tickets, etc., which are just enough to pay the salaries of travel agency employees.
"By the way, I'll give you his contact information later. He's the leading actor in my movie. His family has been in the fabric business in Dubai for many years, so he must have a lot of local connections.
If you encounter any emergency, you can go there for help. I have already informed you in advance."
Lanka's family is seeking to return to India, and they need to use their connections before they come back, otherwise they will expire.
Speaking of Lanka, I don’t know what’s going on with the crew.
When Lanka heard director Shiv say that the crew was about to leave for Mumbai, she was so excited that she almost cried.
The rural life over the past month has been really hard to endure, especially after going to Uttarakhand. Without Ron's protection, problems arose frequently.
First, he had some unpleasantness with the local people. Due to the shortage of manpower, Lanka helped to make the board in the crew.
It was Saturday, and Saturday was ruled by Suni, the god of Saturn. Suni was in a bad mood, and Lanka became irritable as well.
A scoundrel in the crowd interrupted the filming several times, so Lanka asked him to be quiet, but the argument escalated into a physical altercation.
Because of this incident, the crew made the headlines of the local newspaper, which read as follows.
"People beat up the leading actor in the new play."
Lanka scoffed at the report, insisting the opposite was true.
"I beat up that bastard without saying a word."
But he was glad that the newspaper did not write it that way. If he was portrayed as an actor who was violent towards the crowd, the local thugs might have caused trouble for him.
Another worrying thing is that there are no homestays that are close to them like in Uttar Pradesh to cater to them.
The crew was shooting in the mountains of Uttarakhand, and eating was very inconvenient.
To prevent senior and shameless staff from snatching away most of the food, the producer came up with an idea.
He packed food for everyone in plastic bags in advance and distributed the meals in fixed quantities.
The food was prepared and delivered from a restaurant run by local Sikhs. It was generous in ingredients and portions, and cheese was added as if it was free.
But the producer understood Ron's stinginess and refused to spend an extra penny on the plates.
Therefore, the crew members could only eat directly from plastic bags, four bags per person, including rice, pancakes, bean paste and vegetables.
But the plastic bags were tough and difficult to tear open, so everyone had to use their teeth to tear the bags open, often getting a mouthful of chewed plastic film.
Lanka joked with the crew that if someone performed an autopsy on them in the future, they would definitely find all kinds of plastic bag fragments in each of their bodies.
Sure enough, Lanka had diarrhea every day for the next few days and almost didn't have the strength to hit the board.
There was also a time when the bus carrying the entire crew broke down on the way. It was already dinner time, and the bus would not arrive at their hotel until 2 a.m. at the earliest.
So the producer took out 400 rupees and let all 30 people in the car get off to have dinner.
This little money is useless.
Lanka and the crew members secretly cursed him more than once as a profiteer, a Vaishya among Vaishyas.
As a rich second-generation from Dubai, Lanka had no choice but to buy dinner for everyone, spending 1,200 rupees.
He didn't offer to share the cost because he couldn't bring himself to ask.
We are all colleagues who work together day and night. I can’t just say to them, “Remember to pay me back 40 rupees each.”
Lanka's silly performance made the actress who played his mother in the movie call him a sucker.
Of course, there were also good things happening. Thanks to fighting, he became a well-known actor in the local area.
Lanka was running on a mountain path when he was recognized by people, who came to him to ask for his autograph.
That was the most glorious moment in Lanka's life. He had imagined such a scene countless times before.
Others would follow him on his morning jogs and ask the hotel front desk: "Is there a movie actor living here? We want to meet him."
Then groups of people would go to Lanka's room and shake his hand.
At that moment, Lanka wished so much that his family in Dubai were there to witness the scene.
He also often went to an aunt's house for meals. The family had two daughters, both of whom fell in love with him.
This was what made Lanka most proud, as he thought he was still very popular with women.
In particular, the girls in the crew all had a crush on Ron, which made him doubt his own charm for a while.
Although there were many difficulties in the filming process, it at least made Aishan realize one fact.
Unless he has the right time, place and people, he will never become a big star.
A low-budget film, not to mention the tortuous shooting process, also cost a huge amount of money.
Even the small roles in the crew were invited after fierce competition.
Just imagine, which big Bollywood director would spend hundreds of millions of rupees on an unknown newcomer like him?
Obviously, his previous thinking was too naive, and he trusted the producer who promised to make him famous.
These are just Bollywood compliments, don't take them seriously.
Fortunately, he has taken the first step, and the filming of "Hail, Untouchable Mother" is about to be completed.
There are also several urban scenes that need to be shot in a Bollywood studio.
The film will be wrapped in about a week.
During the filming, Lanka, as the male lead, also had to record a song and sing another song with the female lead.
Other music composition work has already begun.
The subsequent post-production has nothing to do with Lanka.
He is looking forward to the day when the movie is released.
Well, Ron is also looking forward to it. At least the movie will make some money in the first step.
(End of this chapter)
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