Starting with the very beginning, the guide was late in the morning. We planned for 9-930 the night before, but he didn’t arrive until 10:30am citing traffic as the reason. But as Indians we are all well aware that traffic is the norm in Mumbai and should be planned for accordingly.

A late start means everything was either delayed or rushed as a result. We proceeded with the tour and had to mention each of the viewpoints serving as a reminder whereas I would think it’s an expectation that the guide would show us everything without mention. At Taj and Gateway of India we made a short stopover but were wondering that for us it turned out that we had already seen it before but for other tourists how would you expect them to see and enjoy the place in a short rushed time? We then reminded him of Mani Bhawan and other viewpoints, before making our way towards “star homes”.

This was definitely the most oversold part of the tour as we saw Shahrukh Khan and Salman’s house and Farhan Akhtar. In fact there were other houses on the way that we enquired about to which the guide informed us that it belonged to this celebrity etc, but again I would think this is an expectation, especially when your travellers are Indian. (no kidding, I was able to provide more celebrity addresses on an Ola cab ride) we asked of other houses in Pali Hill and Amitabh’s house but it was “out of the way” and also apparently the houses you show depends on where the tour begins which is quite disappointing, a tour should have a proper itinerary.

After the fact, I also reconciled with the word doc and noticed the restaurant we were taken to was Shalimar and not Copperchimney – we were not given an option and once again, this speaks to my point that as the guest I felt like I should have policed the entire route and every fine detail (maybe I should have gotten paid to be the co-pilot). The restaurant was definitely not hygienic as there were fruit flies on pickles and even our drinks but since we were already “late” for the dance we made our way out to SJ. The studio itself is pretty substandard and for serials, yet the guide did a good job to show us around because he was kind enough to arrange us another viewing of another shoot at Filmistaan. At the same time, he emphasized that it was a personal favor though he mentioned the company has relations with studios so they are aware of shoots so not sure if the facts reconciled there and if it really was an additional favor. Such additional favors feel quite burdening so would try and watch the language for guests.

The highlights were the singing studio though again the experience should not feel rushed and feel as if it is not included in the tour but done as a favor. (The guide was kind to ask if any of us sings, but if we said no it would not be a part of the tour… I would expect the tour to be complete as per the itinerary because a traveller would not know what a recording studio experience is like regardless of whether or not they sing).It should be a more organized natural part of the tour as it changes the way one perceives the tour and enjoys it.

All in all, at over $200 per person the tour was not worth the price whatsoever. The car itself was substandard, I’m sure at that cost a newer fresher car can be arranged as it smelled of smoke (cigarette smokes) which is quite disgusting.