Innovative Film City, Bidadi - Wholesome Family Entertainment

My parents were in town and they were to leave on Sunday. So we planned for a nice one-day outing from Bangalore for Saturday. We asked around and had zeroed in on the Innovative Film City at Bidadi, just outside of Bangalore. The thing that was making us consider our decision was the fact that it was not complete, and open only for a trial run. For a change, we did not make elaborate plans to leave at 7:00am because the Innovative Film City is just 42.5 Kms from home! So we woke leasurely and left home at 9:00am. The traffic was dense in spite of it being a Saturday. We took the Mysore Road route, headed to Kengeri satellite town and were in Bidadi by about 10:45am.

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The complex was open and there were only a few cars parked outside. The flow of people was just a trickle. The entry looks very impressive. Mind you, there is still some amount of construction going on and things are not complete. However, it provides wholesome fun for the entire family. The entry ticked is INR 50 per head and to take a camera inside one must shell out another INR 100. At the entry desk, you are handed a detailed map which also marks out the major fun points, that is, Dinosaur Land, Fossil Museum, Haunted House, Mirror Maze, Ripley's Believe it or Not, Cartoon City, Aqua Kingdom, Go Karting, Mini Golf, Miniature City, Fun Plex and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum. Some of these are still being completed, but some are open and fully functional.

The entire place was so huge that we got tired walking and could only see a few of the things. We walked in through High Street, which when completed will be the main market place. One can visualise the sellers selling their wares in the crowded market place. As you walk on, you come to a sign board that directs you to the various entertainment points in the Film City. We will describe to you the points that we visited.

Haunted Mansion:
We wanted to visit this. However, it was still under construction. We could visualise how it would look once completed. It looked really interesting.

Ripley's Believe it or Not:
This was the most talked about and was suppossed to be really good and entertaining. We decided to go here first because the crowd was still thin and we could spend some good quality time in there. We actually ended up spending one hour inside this maze of unbelievable things. At the entry, the walls are lined with some of the amazing facts from the World of Ripleys. Each one is worth a read. As you walk along, you hear a voice saying something, but you cant quite point out what it is. You are so engrossed in the facts written on the walls. The most interesting sight here is the magic tap. It is suspended in mid air with nothing to hold it up. Below it (about a foot and a half below) is a cask that is being filled up by water from this tap! See it to believe it.

Now you walk on and come to know the source of the voice you heard. Inside a room, you see Robert Ripley welcome you into his world. This is a must see. You walk on through this maze of amazing and sometimes repulsive facts. The world's tallest man, the world's fattest man, longest moustaches, 12 cigars smoked at the same time are just some of the amazing things you come across. Room upon room of fascinating facts welcomes you as you walk along this maze. There is even a small theatre which shows non-stop shows of Ripley's believe it or not. You exit from this building partly educated and excited and partly tired.

Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum:
Right next to Ripley's believe it or not is the Wax Museum of Louis Tussaud. He is the great-grandson of Marie Tussaud (of the fame of Maddam Tussaud's). The wax museum is not the best in the world. It was average, with some of the celebrities not looking like themselves! There were even some wax statues of cartoon characters like Hansel and Gretel, Beauty and the Beast, etc. Only the Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi looked like themselves. We passed through here, taking the cursory pictures. In fact, the wax statues look more realistic in the photographs than in person.

The Food Court:
Very often we are told not to judge a book by its cover. On this occasion however, we suggest that you do. The food in the food court IS as bad as it looks! There are many options, from Rajasthani to Madrasi to Chinese, but nothing looked or tasted any good. The good news is that many more eateries are coming up, one we saw was McDonalds. It is better to get your own packed lunch and eat it here.

Ripley's Mirror Maze:
Next stop was the Mirror Maze. Actually its very small, but the mirrors are placed in such a manner that it is difficult to make out where you are headed! At the entrance we had to wear plastic gloves so that we do not leave our fingerprints on the mirror. That way, another person coming through would know that there is a mirror there. We had a lot of fun trying to find our way through the maze, so much so that even after we found the exit, we decided to go back in to explore some more! There were a couple of people (or maybe just one person!) inside the maze cleaning the mirrors. That definitely added to the confusion.

Dinosaur World:
Our next stop was the Dinosaur World and the Fossil Museum. Now on the surface of it they might seem the same, but they are not. The Dinosaur World is a theme park with Dinosaur models, some large, some small. The Fossil Museum contains replicas of the actual fossils of Dinosaurs. Once in the Dinosaur world, you are led to a small theatre in which a movie is shown. We were least interested in that, and so exited ASAP! We walked through the Dinosaur World, enjoying the sights and sounds. All the dinosaurs were making their characteristic noises (or so we think) and some were even moving their heads a little. This was a good fun place to see. We spent about 10-15 minutes inside, clicking a lot of photos. The greenery here was real, and that added a lot to the atmosphere.

Fossil Museum:
The second of the Dinosaur series, it was not as interesting. It is a large hall that contains replicas of real fossils of Dinosaurs. There are even a couple of PS2 games that one can play in here. In the center of the hall is a huge replica of the bones of a Dinosaur put together, similar to the one in Jurassic Park.

Velocity - Go Karting:
It is a very short track with about 4 bends. However, what is interesting is that there is a choice of two types of karts. There is the family kart that seats 2 people and then there is the racing kart which seats one. The family karts are much slower and the racing karts are much faster. However, at one time only one type of kart is on the track. We decided to try out the family karts. So there were 4 family karts on the track, we started last. We managed to overtake all other karts and infact even lapped a couple of them! It was a total of 6 short laps, but thoroughly enjoying.

Funplex:
The Funplex is a building which houses the 4D cinema hall and also a lot of interesting video games. There was even a football simulation, which sadly was under maintenance while we were there. We were anyway quite tired and wanted to see the 4D movie before we left. There is a 4D movie every half an hour. The 4D movie was very entertaining and was much better than we have ever seen (we have seen one in Genting Highlands, Malaysia). The movie shown is an Ode to Mankind, and is about evolution. It is very interesting and "interactive". Basically 4D not only shows the objects in 3D, but also includes a dimension of feeling, where the viewer gets to feel the sights and sounds of what is being displayed on screen. For ex: if a lion roars at you, you feel it's breath on your face!

After doing so much we were very tired. We stopped at the Cafe Coffee Day to freshen up a bit and get ready for the drive back. It was only 42.5 kms, but the Bangalore traffic made it a 1hour 30 minute drive back. It was a real fun day. We will surely go back there soon and see the attractions that we missed out on. We hope it is completed soon, because it will be a great destination for families.

All-in-all it was a really enjoyable day. All the entertainment centers were very well done. They were all realistic and aesthetically arranged (for ex: The marine section of Ripley's believe it or not was arranged in a dark blue room, with a shark model). It's a must-visit.