Ramoji film city ±╖±╖

Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex, over 2000 acres of land . It is also one of Asia’s most popular tourism and recreation centres. It is situated near Hayathnagar on Hyderabad - Vijayawada, NH9 highway, about 25 km from Hyderabad. This place is an enchanting blend of man-made wonders and nature's pristine beauty far from bustling metropolis of Hyderabad.

History

The media mogul, entrepreneur and film producer, Ramoji Rao of the Ramoji Group, opened the facility 1996. The creation of the Ramoji Film City is an outcome of the Ramoji Group's long-standing association with Indian cinema. Since a few decades, Usha Kiron Movies, the dedicated film production house of the Ramoji Group has produced over 80 films in several languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and Bangla .

Studio features

One of the many film sets at the studios

RFC offers comprehensive and international standard pre-production, production, and post-production resources for film makers. It offers over 500 set locations. There are scores of extraordinary gardens, authentic sets, about 50 studio floors, a digital film facility, the support systems, outdoor locations, high-tech laboratories, wealth of technology, greenery, landscape and lavish locales. The RFC infrastructure includes custom-designed locations & mock-ups, set construction, properties & costumes, shooting stages, cameras and equipment, audio post-production, digital-post-production/SFX as well as film processing.

Twenty international films, and nearly forty Indian films can be produced simultaneously in the complex. It has attracted not only filmmakers from the country, but also producers from Hollywood. Everything that is required for making a film, that is, raw film, cameras, processing labs, editing consoles, stage properties, studio floors, travel arrangements, recreation and past-time is available in the studios.

Tourism

A special Coach which takes visitors around the studios

Every year, the studios attracts over a million tourists visit the complex creating revenues in billions of rupees (INR) ^[4]. Located at the entrance of the film city are the 3-star hotel, TaraSitara for the film production units as well as for tourists. Once inside, there is Hawa Mahal, based along the lines of the and a 5-star hotel, Golconda Fort, which is on a hilltop from where you can have a bird’s eye view of the whole studios.

A Japanese garden, the ETV planet (a multi-purpose editing suit), a pool, artificial waterfalls, breathtakingly accurate airport terminal, hospital set, railway station, churches, mosques and temples, shopping plazas, palace interiors, chateaus, rural complexes, urban dwellings, and a winding highway are some other places for tourists to visit. For shopping enthusiasts, there are nice handicrafts, pottery and other decorative articles for purchase.

One of the many gardens at Ramoji

The vintage Film City coaches will take the visitors on a journey around the studios. Each of these well-conducted tours will let you have a tètè-è-tètè with the stunning locales. The visitors are shown around the various sets where blockbusters have been filmed or the numerous gardens where the Indian song sequences were choreographed. There is Parade, a prop-shop, where you costumes of actors as shown in a film can be ordered. One can find a nursery, Shangrila, where the visitors can take back exotic plants back home. There are several settings in the studios which lead the visitors from streets of the Mauryan Empire or the Mughal Empire or even the American Wild Wild West. There's also the famous Hollywood sign displayed on the hills at the studios.

If tired and hungry, there's enough variety of food on the platter. Alampana, Chanakya, Gunsmoke and Ganga Jamuna are the restaurants that are available to pamper the taste buds.

For the fitness-conscious lot, there is Samson & Delilah for you, arguably one of Asia’s best-equipped health clubs that has a gymnasium with sophisticated equipment and facilities such as jacuzzis, sauna, steam bath, herbal massage. The club house features recreational facilities like table tennis, billiards, badminton, tennis and other facilities for aerobics or yoga.

The Film City even has honeymoon packages for the newly married couples who are on the lookout for a getaway destination. It caters to the corporate world by offering banquet halls.

Magadha, Meena Bazaar, Frontierland or Black Cat Warehouse are a few avenues from where the visitors can carry home souvenirs of their visit.

Golkonda the myth ╙╙δδ╙╙

Golkonda (or Golconda), is a ruined city of south-central India. Situated west of Hyderabad, capital of ancient Hyderabad state (c. 1364–1512), it was later one of the five Muslim kingdoms of the Deccan known as Deccan sultanates until its capture by the Mughal Aurangzeb's forces in 1687. Aurangzeb besieged the fort for nine long months. Had it not been for the treachery of an official who opened a side gate, Golconda would never have been vanquished. Its stones breathe eternal defiance.

Three granite walls of megalithic construction surround the Golconda Fort, with the outermost wall having a circumference of about 7 km.

The most important builder of Golconda was Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali, the fourth Qutb king. Ibrahim was following in the spirit of his ancestors, the Qutub Shahi kings, a great family of builders who had ruled the kingdom of Golconda from 1512. Their first capital, the fortress citadel of Golconda, was rebuilt for defense from invading Mughals from the north. They laid out Golconda's splendid monuments, now in ruins, and designed a perfect acoustical system by which a handclap sounded at the fort's main gates, the grand portico, was heard at the top of the citadel, situated on a 300-foot-high granite hill. This is one of the fascinating features of the fort.

They ruled over the Telangana region and some parts of present day Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The Fort

Golconda fort overlooking Hyderabad

A Golconda Gate

Golconda consists of four distinct forts with a 10 km long outer wall with 87 semi circular bastions; some still mounted with cannons, eight gateways, four drawbridges and number of royal apartments & halls, temples, mosques, magazines, stables etc, inside. The lowest of these is the outermost enclosure into which we enter by the "Fateh Darwaza" (Victory gate, so called after Aurangzeb’s triumphant army marched in through this gate) studded with giant iron spikes (to prevent elephants from battering them down) near the south-eastern corner. At Fateh Darwaza can be experienced the fantastic acoustic effects, characteristic of the engineering marvels at Golconda. A hand clap at a certain point below the dome at the entrance reverberates and can be heard clearly at the 'Bala Hisar' pavilion, the highest point almost a kilometre away, this worked as a warning note to the royals in case of an attack.

Bala Hissar Gate is the main entrance to the fort located on the eastern side. It has a pointed arch bordered by rows of scrollwork. The spandrels have yalis and decorated roundels. The area above the door has peacocks with ornate tails flanking an ornamental arched niche. The granite block lintel below has sculpted yalis flanking a disc. The design of peacocks and lions is a blend of Hindu - Muslim architecture.

Toli Masjid, situated at Karvan, about 2 km from the Golconda fort, was built in 1671 by Mir Musa Khan Mahaldar, royal architect of Abdullah Qutb Shah. The facade consists of five arches, each with lotus medallions in the spandrels. The central arch is slightly wider and more ornate. The mosque inside is divided into two halls, a transverse outer hall and an inner hall entered through triple arches.s

History

In the 16th century, Golconda was the capital of the Qutb Shahi kingdom, near Hyderabad. The city was home to one of the most powerful Muslim sultanates in the region and was the center of a flourishing diamond trade. Golconda once the capital of Hyderbad state before moving to Charminar, and fortress 11 km west of the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh state, India (location 17°23′00″N, 78°24′15″E).

According to a legend, the fort derives its name from Golla Konda, which is a Telugu word for Shepherd's Hill. It is believed that a shepherd boy came across an idol on the hill. This led to the construction of a mud fort by the then Kakatiya dynasty ruler of the kingdom around the site.

The city and fortress are built on a granite hill that is 120 meters (400ft) high and is surrounded by massive crenellated ramparts. The beginnings of the fort date to the 1143, when the Hindu Kakatiya dynasty ruled the area. The Kakatiya dynasty were followed by the state of Warangal, which was later conquered by the Islamic Bahmani Sultanat. The fort became the capital of a major province in the Sultanate and after its collapse the capital of the Qutb Shahi kings. The fort finally fell into ruins after a siege and its fall to Mughal emperor Aurangazeb.

After the collapse of the Bahmani Sultanat, Golconda rose to prominence as the seat of the Qutb Shahi dynasty around 1507. Over a period of 62 years the mud fort was expanded by the first three Qutb Shahi kings into a massive fort of granite, extending around 5 km in circumference. It remained the capital of the Qutb Shahi dynasty until 1590 when the capital was shifted to Charminar. The Qutb Shahis expanded the fort, whose 10 km outer wall enclosed the city. The Qutb Shahi sultanate lasted until its conquest by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1687. The fortress held out against Aurangzeb for eight months, falling to the Mughals through treachery.

Kancharla Gopanna, popularly known as Bhaktha Ramadaasu, a devout hindu, who sold temple jewels was kept in a jail located inside the fort.

The Fort

Golconda fort overlooking Hyderabad

A Golconda Gate

Golconda consists of four distinct forts with a 10 km long outer wall with 87 semi circular bastions; some still mounted with cannons, eight gateways, four drawbridges and number of royal apartments & halls, temples, mosques, magazines, stables etc, inside. The lowest of these is the outermost enclosure into which we enter by the "Fateh Darwaza" (Victory gate, so called after Aurangzeb’s triumphant army marched in through this gate) studded with giant iron spikes (to prevent elephants from battering them down) near the south-eastern corner. At Fateh Darwaza can be experienced the fantastic acoustic effects, characteristic of the engineering marvels at Golconda. A hand clap at a certain point below the dome at the entrance reverberates and can be heard clearly at the 'Bala Hisar' pavilion, the highest point almost a kilometre away, this worked as a warning note to the royals in case of an attack.

Bala Hissar Gate is the main entrance to the fort located on the eastern side. It has a pointed arch bordered by rows of scrollwork. The spandrels have yalis and decorated roundels. The area above the door has peacocks with ornate tails flanking an ornamental arched niche. The granite block lintel below has sculpted yalis flanking a disc. The design of peacocks and lions is a blend of Hindu - Muslim architecture.

Toli Masjid, situated at Karvan, about 2 km from the Golconda fort, was built in 1671 by Mir Musa Khan Mahaldar, royal architect of Abdullah Qutb Shah. The facade consists of five arches, each with lotus medallions in the spandrels. The central arch is slightly wider and more ornate. The mosque inside is divided into two halls, a transverse outer hall and an inner hall entered through triple arches.