Episode 3 Hotel India

Mumbai...

INDIAN MUSIC PLAYS

..the biggest city in India.

Steeped in culture...

..and in tradition.

It's home to one of the oldest and grandest hotels in the world,

The Taj Mahal Palace.

It's beyond just luxury.

You know, this is this...mirage in the middle of this city.

Famed for its opulent ballrooms...

..and obsessive attention to detail.

For India's elite,

The Taj has always been THE place to get married.

It's where people meet to fall in love.

LAUGHTER

How was I proposed to?

Well, there have been three proposals in the past! SHE LAUGHS

But with everyone wanting their wedding to stand out from the crowd...

Let's not compromise quality.

Let's not compromise.

..the hotel must strive to meet ever-increasing demands.

This is India and we frankly don't say no to anything.

CAR HORN

MUSIC: Spring Cleaning by Fats Waller

# Polish the leaves

# Make 'em green again

# Shake out the trees

# Change the scene again

# Spring cleaning

# Getting ready for love... #

The food and beverage department

accounts for over half the hotel's revenue.

And Mehr is one of their youngest managers.

The food and beverage operation at The Taj Mahal Palace

is actually the largest in the country.

We are an operation that has 500 staff members.

It would be close to 1,000-1,500 meals a day.

Mehr runs a team of 12 managers...

-Good morning, everyone. ALL:

-Good morning.

..who oversee the eight restaurants, two bars and ten banquet rooms.

OK, let's start going through the numbers.

Each day she calls a meeting to discuss sales figures and targets.

-So, as of now, against a target of 16.38 you're on 11.62.

-Yes, ma'am.

And your daily average is actually below what it needs to be

-in order to gain an incentive?

-Yes, ma'am.

So your team is not getting an incentive this month.

-So what are we going to do about it?

-We'll pick it up.

We are just off by almost 2,000 rupees only.

-2,000 per day, my dear.

-Yes.

So if you talk about it, you are really, really off.

So you need to have a concrete plan over the next eight days

if you want to go on the positive side.

Let's move on with the next department. You start.

I think being in the middle of a man's world

is actually...

It has... It's been difficult getting here,

but I quite honestly think that once you are here

it's just about performance.

I think that's what I've been telling all of you,

one big-ticket item can change

your entire, entire scope of how things run.

And big wines, come on.

You've got sake sitting in the store worth 15 lakhs,

so, please, start picking it up and selling it.

But you have to constantly...

you know, be a little more aggressive than what you might be inherently.

More than anything, between both of you,

I want the bar snacks revisited in the hotel.

Your snack selection is fairly sad,

so I would like you to relook at it,

come back to me with suggestions. See what is available in the market.

A little more salty, makes you want to drink more.

So accordingly, please, look at your options.

And, please, don't get me three types of olives, yeah?

So...get something interesting.

Every year the hotel hosts hundreds of weddings

for the elite families of Mumbai...

Chef, Mehr.

Sea Lounge. We're removing the two centre chandeliers.

..and Mehr's food and beverage department

is responsible for making them happen.

OK, so the round one is closer to the window side? OK.

Tomorrow we have a really big wedding event for 800-1,000 people.

OK. Thanks. Thanks.

The Sea Lounge is going to be the dessert lounge.

So, essentially, we're going to remove the main chandelier

and put up these huge suspended acrylic, you know, sheets,

which are going to carry the entire dessert buffet.

It is difficult to keep thinking differently for each person.

You know, when a guest just says, "I leave it to you," and is willing to pay anything for it,

I think then for us as well, you know, there is no limit

to how you need to think about it and what you need to do.

So there really are no limits. And for us, guest is God.

We put forward whatever we can for them.

So that's how it is.

When money is no object, everything is examined

to see what can be better or different

and there's one area on which a wedding will stand or fall -

the food.

I mean, that's Chef's forte,

he always comes up with something new for each guest.

And this is something very unique.

A wedding is all about fun, sometimes one-upmanship

You'll have the fresh foie gras, you'll have the caviar...

and you'll have the truffles, the lobsters and the crabs.

We don't have one-day ceremonies,

we have about five, six or ten days at times, ten-day ceremonies.

Depending on your pocket, how much you can afford.

Can we ask Sheeta to just polish this?

This is like...

-It's clean but it's not polished, if she can just shine it up.

-OK.

Everyone knows that having a wedding at The Taj

is, you know, obviously expensive.

And automatically when you see The Taj on a wedding invitation,

you obviously think that this is, you know, a great family.

All in all, I think this one is totally done, there's no problem,

just get these ladders out of here.

OK?

That's it.

Each family wants their wedding to be different from what they've seen earlier.

We never get guests who tell us, "I remember seeing that format and I like it and please use it."

We, actually, always get guests that say, "We've seen these formats, show us something else."

And that's always the difficulty,

in trying to create something new each time, for each event, for each family,

trying to live up to that expectation of getting something which is unique.

-Are we taking now only the Crystal Room?

-No.

Arshad told us to keep the Boiler Room as well as the Crystal Room.

We will give them an option and then they'll decide.

With 38 billion spent on weddings in India last year,

the catering sales department

has to make sure families keep coming back to the hotel.

Mahtaab is meeting the Karvat and Mehta families

to discuss the final details of their wedding.

It's a two-day event.

We have a Sangeet function, which is for around 400-440 people.

The wedding is for around 400 people.

And the wedding reception is over 700-800 people.

-This is my son, Parth.

-Yes, I already met him.

-Yes, we met.

Parth, Rittika and their families

all want their wedding to live up to the billing.

-OK.

-So should we start from the 22nd event?

OK, yeah.

It's a big wedding with us,

giving us a minimum revenue of around 35 lakhs.

How much is 35 lakhs?

35 lakhs is how many?

3.5 million rupees.

-So that's £35,000, isn't it?

-Yes.

Last time we were talking about that, you know,

for the food you're going to serve in a ballroom, if it's not booked.

If the ballroom is available,

we will be willing enough to offer to you because it's nicer,

but at the same time...

What's the biggest spend on a wedding in Taj?

It was 4.5 crores plus taxes.

Plus the rooms which was about 80 lakhs, I think.

-That's hundreds of thousands?

-Exactly.

I think what is happening is that all those people

-who are coming in Taj, they're coming with great expectations.

-I'm sure.

There are so many marriages happening around,

so when they come here they should feel it, "Oh, this is something great!"

That's the only difference we have to make.

There is a lot of competition within the social, you know,

within the social life itself.

If I'm calling one celebrity, they'll call two celebrities

for their event to make their function a little more hyped.

Because of the heritage and because of so many memories

which are there were all the guests, they keep coming.

28 years ago Parth's parents, Ambrish and Yujita,

had their own wedding in the hotel's Crystal Room.

We can do sushi but that would be at an additional cost.

-OK.

-Is that something...?

LAUGHTER

Theirs was an arranged marriage.

The first introduction took place in the Sea Lounge at the hotel.

We came here and met each other

and talked for a little bit more than one and a half hours

and tried to exchange information about each other.

Then we thought, "Yeah, this seems to be a right partner."

And then we met in this room.

Then we have a kind of a courtship period for a couple of months.

We got engaged in February

and then we got married here in the Crystal Room in May.

It's always a little bit difficult,

because you are just engaged to a person for three months,

you don't know the family members or your husband-to-be very well.

After marriage you are expected to live in an extended family,

so you expected to do a lot of adjustment

and fit into the family ways and how they live together.

And so when I went down the stairs, I was crying

and I was very sad that, "OK, now I'm going to stay with my husband in a new house."

You are going into something

where there are too many things which are not exactly clear to you.

But that's how it is.

But there's a lot of not only emotions,

but there is a kind of prestige and status also which goes with Taj.

So when you are getting married at Taj, you know, people...

You get this, "Wow! That's a great place!" Like that, yeah.

We need additionally two chicken grilled sandwiches

and we need tandoori chicken now.

So whatever version of it, chicken tikka, but you just do it quickly.

Chicken tikka? I'll send you the message,

I think it's only one portion of the chicken tikka, but two portions of the grilled...

Yeah, yeah. But he's saying urgent. I don't know how urgent. Yeah? Bye.

This is an emergency order for a minister who's kind of getting out of a cabinet meeting,

so that happens sometimes because Mantralaya is right next door,

which is where all the government meetings happen.

So sometimes we get these emergency orders

that so-and-so is leaving from a meeting to another meeting,

so give us quickly something packed so that they can eat it in the car.

So that's exactly what's happening right now.

I was five when I walked into the hotel, actually.

Every few minutes you have to step out of the outlet and check this.

OK.

I had moved to Mumbai from a small town called Pune,

which was just about four hours from here at that time.

You're supposed to come out and check it.

There's exactly one way it goes, this goes in diamond shape,

this goes as a square. Yeah?

So, please, keep an eye on this.

So we walked in really scared and we went to the grand staircase.

I will never forget that moment,

when I looked up the grand staircase at the beautiful blue dome.

And I remember thinking, even as tiny as I was,

I remember thinking to myself that, you know, "I want to own this place."

Mehr spends at least 12 hours a day, 6 days a week in the hotel.

Please, let's not have this, huh?

There is a standard font size.

This is incorrect because you've got this in bold.

This is incorrect because you didn't have an explanation and it's not even the same font size.

Every tag out of the six is different.

So since you've just taken over the first thing you will do...

It's a different life,

but at the same time it's a life you wouldn't want to change for anything.

I mean, it's contagious.

Once you get used to it, you just don't feel like doing anything else.

I mean, it's the way...it's the way we've all become.

The hotel is more of a home.

Your friends are here, your entire life is the hotel.

The hotel is a home away from home for staff.

Many have left the villages of their birth to work here.

-Good afternoon, everyone. ALL:

-Good afternoon.

Today, arrivals, we have 37 for the evening.

Departures 26 and house count will be 199 people in house.

Guests of room number 641 who checked out on 17th,

we have got the excellent feedback.

I'll just read the comment.

"Special thanks to Manush for his help, he was amazing in his work,

"he never let us worry about our plans and further travelling worries.

"Everything was just so smooth done by him." So great job, Manush.

-Thank you.

-APPLAUSE

And now if you can share what all you have done for the guest?

It's, basically, I just met those guests in the evening every time

and just checked for their plans.

They didn't have any fixed itinerary, basically,

so I told them, "Let me just plan an itinerary for you."

-So complete leisure.

-Complete leisure.

So starting from cocktails, till the dinner, till cognac and till next day's shopping.

-Oh, that's great.

-And during the time of checkout,

I made sure that the flight is confirmed,

the seats are booked, the car arrangement was done properly.

Oh, that's brilliant.

As far as the VIP movements are concerned for the day, we have...

a few regular guests coming back again.

-Great.

-Dana Gillespie is a blues singer

who's been coming to the hotel for over 30 years.

SHE SIGHS

Wonderful! Home, home, home!

And a view over my favourite view.

Truly my favourite view.

How fabulous.

She's here with her piano player for a performance in the hotel.

-That's your room.

-SHE SIGHS

Yes!

Yes!

SHE SIGHS

Happy bunny I am.

Totally happy.

Yeah!

Joaquin, come and have a look at the bed.

I could have a foot... No, a cricket team in here if I wanted.

-Too late.

-Too late! And at my age, I can't be bothered.

-I might have done in the old days.

-THEY LAUGH

During the '60s and '70s,

Dana performed and recorded with the likes of David Bowie and Mick Jagger

and appeared in numerous films and stage productions.

Yeah, definitely cool.

And now onto the bed.

Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

SHE SIGHS

So totally over the top.

I love excess.

SHE LAUGHS

Of course, they always say if you've got to ask the price of something,

then you're not rich enough to stay here.

INDISTINCT

Oh, I hear somebody on the bell. Better go.

Maybe it's somebody exciting, wouldn't that be nice. Let's see.

A suite at the hotel can cost anything from £2,000-£9,000 a night.

-Ready to get this chocolate...

-I've been caught.

Well, I know, you know me and chocolates. Yippee.

Put it right there. It's something I can look forward...

You all right, then?

-My pleasure.

-Thanks very much.

-My pleasure.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-SHE SIGHS

-Service!

Bye. Look at that, chocolates on demand!

Cheers!

Musicians don't usually stay in this kind of splendour.

And, you know, when you encounter it,

it makes you feel so fabulous

that I think your life just goes better.

Although, I know full well if I step outside the door here,

I'm into the mad markets of Colaba and hustle and bustle.

But here it's like a sanctuary for the soul.

This is the edge of two worlds

and when you come in here you're cocooned.

It used to be that this whole area of Calaba around The Taj

was the inner circle of Bombay.

A bit like being, I suppose, Knightsbridge, Kensington...Chelsea,

that kind of thing in London would be this thing.

But now it's all shifted to Bandra where the new money is,

where the film stars are.

It's all very nice,

but I kind of like this old-fashioned British area around here.

The moment you walk through the front doors of The Taj,

it's like, for me anyway, I've come home,

the arms are out, it holds you close,

you're nestled in glorious luxury.

I've never ever had a bad time here.

I just feel joy the moment I walk in the doors.

I was actually in India when the terrorist attack happened.

It hurt me. It was almost like my child, my family was being attacked.

And this building shouldn't be hurt by anyone,

it should be nurtured and loved, which is what I do with it.

You know, I go into great hotels all over the world,

but this is the most special to my heart.

And will remain so till my dying day.

The 1,500 staff must be constantly at the ready for whoever is coming to dinner.

Morning, chef.

Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning.

While the Chief Justice might be the host of the evening,

please don't end up serving him last. OK?

The Bombay High Court is hosting a dinner in honour of the President of India.

So it's a sit-down dinner for about 100 people.

That's the excitement for today.

Second last from your side. Second from your side.

It's slightly towards the flowers.

I think you reach the stage only once you know you've done the detailing so many times.

Yes. Now the third one is slightly towards the chair.

We're fairly confident that, you know, it's all going right.

INDISTINCT

HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

The hotel has a team of 250 chefs.

Many have been here all their working lives.

I'm from a family of Taj.

My father started working here in '71.

My mum started working here in '73.

They got married in '75.

Their best man used to work here,

the maid of honour used to work here.

And... So this is the only life I have always known.

SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

When I joined we had a master chef,

who had already worked in this company for about 50 odd years.

In his 40 years at the hotel, Chef Oberoi has cooked for everyone

from Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama to Liz Hurley and Sharon Stone.

You know, this hotel is different, we work like a family.

More or less I have seen the generations here.

For me, the chefs are like children, young children.

They are like cheese and wine.

They mature more with the times.

My boss, he doesn't need to shout. He just comes in and stands.

SHE LAUGHS

And you can hear... It's pin-drop silence.

He doesn't shout, he doesn't scream, he doesn't do any of those things.

He doesn't use verbal abuse, nothing.

He just comes and he just stands. He tells us this is what he wants.

And that's it. Somehow it just gets done. It's like a miracle.

He takes care of us that way.

So in return, we have absolutely no issue

putting in those few hours, putting in that little bit extra.

No problems at all doing it.

I mean, of course, we fight and we crib and we bitch

and we complain and we do everything that happens at home.

It's just like that.

Because right now, this evening, we are going to require

a lot of people to do a lot of things,

so everybody is going to come from somewhere or other to help us

so everybody has got a small job to do and all the small, small jobs

get taken care of, the big job just becomes easy.

As well as banquets and restaurants, the kitchens are on stand-by

for requests at any time, day or night.

In-room dining. Good evening. May I assist you?

Yes, sir. What would you like to have?

Do you have anything particular in mind, sir?

In-room dining takes in excess of 170 orders every 24 hours.

Definitely, ma'am. To drink, ma'am,

you'd like to have a fresh lemon soda sweet and a Diet Coke, ma'am?

Thank you for calling in-room dining.

The time right now on the watch is 9.10. Just allow my steward

to reach your room within 40 minutes' time or soon as it's ready, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am, I'm sending it right away. Thank you for calling.

Anyone who wants food brought to their room talks to Janice.

Our voice must be pleasant because we are here

to talk to the guests because the guests are gods

they are looking after us.

This has gone, 363?

There was a lady who said, "You've got such a beautiful voice,

"I want to see you how you look." I spoke to my boss and he said, "Go."

So the lady said,

"I just wanted to know who was the one with the beautiful voice

"and I'm so happy I met you. Whenever you speak on the phone,

"it's so cheerful, it's so nice, I feel very happy."

Tom Cruise has stayed with us.

Hillary Clinton has stayed with us.

Everybody had gathered in the main lobby

and we gave a warm greeting to Mrs Clinton.

It was really very nice.

Move, move, move.

We even had this actress who has got six kids.

Her husband is famous. I think he's a football player. He's the first...

Actually, I'm very bad at names, I'm so sorry.

I forgot. What was that actress?

DIALLING TONE

There was an actress who was staying in Taj.

She had six kids, all of different descent.

Chinese and all that thing.

Angela Jolie. Thank you.

Brad Pitt. Angela Jolie.

So these people, what they do, they don't come from the main entrance,

they always come from the back entrance.

So that's the time when I saw her, face-to-face, and looked really good.

Replace it and just leave that.

Mostly in India people settle down between the age of 23 to 29.

We're lucky to have met each other at a time when both of us

wanted to settle down in life.

So it was very...

We met at the gym.

Yeah.

And I saw her at the gym and I just felt like going

and saying hello to her.

Unlike their parents, Rittika and Parth's marriage was not arranged.

But tradition is still important.

We were very confident ourselves that, you know, because

when we met each other and spoke to each other,

we were judging each other...

-I didn't know that!

-Judging each other in the sense...

-Keeping our parents' expectations in mind.

-Yeah.

So I was not only looking for what only I want,

but what also my family wants out of my wife.

It was very easy for us to convince our parents

because we had already done the thinking on behalf of them.

After the wedding,

Rittika will live with Parth in his parents' family home.

Tonight, basically, we're trying to put all the dances together

We have a sequence of dances for the sangeet.

This is Indian dances, Bollywood dances.

INDIAN MUSIC PLAYS

INDIAN SONG PLAYS

My parents got married at Taj 28 years ago,

so every time it's their

wedding anniversary, we go there and have a family dinner together.

So I thought it would be a great idea to introduce my parents

to Rittika on that day.

PEOPLE CHATTER

Left, right.

HE SINGS

-"Are you nervous?"

-No.

-We're not. I'm not.

-I'm not either.

Why aren't you nervous?

That's everyone's favourite question - "Are you nervous?"

And I'm, like, "Why should I be nervous?

"I know who I'm getting married to and I really like her.

"I want to settle down with her. I love her."

-I'm actually looking forward to it.

-Why should I be nervous about it?

I'm just excited. And we're looking forward to it.

-Taj has kind of like been a lucky place where...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-A lot of...

-A lot of things...

-..have worked out for us.

..have worked out for the better.

And now we're getting married there, so it's a great thing. Yeah.

Weddings are not only celebrated in the hotel, they're also made there.

The Sea Lounge, the original home of high tea in Mumbai,

is where an establishment families have gathered

to arrange marriages for generations.

The hotel is gorgeous. It's just really outstanding.

We know it's very famous

and I just found out that it's where people meet to fall in love.

LAUGHTER

-Is that what brought you here?

-No!

I just found out about it today.

This is delicious. Can I come back tomorrow and have another one?

-Well, she's had her dessert first.

-I have. Life's short.

Eat dessert first.

Well, we need to get their check

and go back to the hotel for cocktail hour.

-With milk?

-No, thank you.

-No milk?

-No, thanks.

In an arranged marriage, the boy and the girl meet for the first time

under a supervised setting with both their families present.

And the Sea Lounge, for some reason, has always held that position.

How was I proposed to?

Well, they have been three proposals, if you must!

Since you're asking.

And the first one was indeed at the Sea Lounge,

where before I could sit myself down and order a cup of tea,

I was asked whether I'd be interested

in marrying the gentleman,

which was rather abrupt and I said, "Can we just order some tea?"

And I need to... You know what they say, "Stay calm and have more tea."

Shobhaa De was in her early teens

when her father first brought her to the hotel.

She was spotted by a modelling scout

and is now one of the most famous women in India.

I could not have imagined at 14

that I would ever, ever step into the Taj,

because the Taj was like a mirage that all of us in Mumbai,

those of us who weren't rich rich and couldn't afford to walk in

would have been too intimidated to walk in.

We would often come, the family, to the Gateway of India,

which is a landmark,

and the kind of place that families would come over weekends

and we'd look at the Taj and I'd wonder to myself,

"Would I ever be able to walk in there?"

When I'm sitting here at this window, which I do quite often,

and I'm looking out

and I see people there taking pictures of these windows,

they're taking pictures of the Taj and wondered maybe,

"If we work really hard one day," like I did as a 14-year-old girl,

like, five years from now,

they'll be sitting where you and I are sitting.

And that's what the Taj symbolises - it symbolises success and ambition.

And it's a reflection of all that we dreamt of

as young girls and young men.

There's no resentment. Nobody out there will say,

"Oh, look at all those rich people sitting there

"and look at how decadent it all is."

They are saying, "One day we're going to own that,

"and we'll be here,

"ordering exactly what they're ordering right there."

The Taj opened its doors in 1903,

supposedly built after its founder,

JN Tata, was refused entry

to another hotel in the city

for not being European.

It was the first hotel that was opened to Indians.

It gave us, after the sun had set on the Empire,

and even before, a sense of belonging and a sense of welcome

when we weren't welcome in any other place.

So that they had the vision to create something

that was meant for their own countrymen

and to do it with so much elan and such splendour -

already it was a big post-colonial symbol

at least for people like myself.

That's what it still represents.

-Good afternoon, sir. How are you doing today?

-Fine.

The luxury for me, the true luxury of coming to the Taj,

is to be made a member of the Taj family.

To come here, you feel welcome like you would feel welcomed

in a very close and loved relative's home.

It's not impersonal, it's never impersonal.

CAR HORN BEEPS

With the wedding day approaching,

Rittika is having her final dress fitting.

One of the things that you understand at an Indian wedding

is that it's not just the two people getting married,

it's more of a...families getting introduced to each other

and, um, families becoming one.

In fact, I think we had made it very clear that

if the parents don't get along, then we might reconsider everything.

See on the front, because it's a little heavy, it's going down.

-It rises a little bit on the hips.

-Yeah.

'I met his parents alone to begin with.

'So we met at the Taj for the first time.'

That time it didn't really hit me that I'm going to meet his parents

for the first time, so I was very casual about it.

I think it was only a few fractions before they entered

the restaurant where I was panicking. I'm like, "Oh, my God!

"This is going to be the first time I'm meeting your parents!

"I need to be at my best," and stuff.

But they were really, really comforting,

so I didn't feel like I was going to a test.

It seemed very natural to talk to them and, um...

we got along pretty well.

-This looks...

-This looks more...

-I think.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

'The Taj, for more than me, it's more like'

a tradition for Parth cos his parents got married there.

-You OK?

-Good job.

-I'm happy.

'It makes them like a little extended family,'

and then knowing that we've always had all our important moments there,

it's all the more special to share it with them,

this particular wedding, yeah.

-Good evening. May I come in?

-Please.

After you. You can leave the door.

-As you know, I'm always happy to see you.

-Nice to see you, too.

-Got you lovely chocolates.

-Yes! And one with a heart!

You are a killer! Thanks very much. That's very kind of you.

-Thank you so much for staying with us. Thank you so much, ma'am.

-Bye.

Have a pleasant evening.

It is quite nice that my every whim - well, some of them -

is catered for, you know,

he's sort of, "Can I help you?"

He kind of sorted the bill,

he sorted my boarding pass for tomorrow,

sorted the car - everything!

But that's normal in these hotels.

But it makes me go, "Glory, hallelujah,"

that these places exist,

you know, these bubbles

from the real world out there.

I've got to put my jewellery on, but I like a spot of glitter.

You know, it kind of goes with my profession, doesn't it?

The other thing I have to always do before going off to a gig

is dolloping on jasmine oil

because I like smelling like 1,001 Nights.

It means that actually I can never really kiss a married man

cos it'll permeate everywhere

and the wife would find out on the way home,

but I love jasmine, jasmine and more jasmine.

I've just got to put my shoes on, and then we're out of here.

OK.

Well, I only wear flat shoes.

I used to have an outrageous selection of shoes like that

with skirts like that and slits up to there, plunging.

I'm talking about the '70s, of course.

Now at my age it would be highly inappropriate,

but it's good to have those good memories,

and occasionally I get people saying,

"I've just seen pictures of you on YouTube or something in the

"'60s and '70s.

"Gosh! Did you look like that?"

Yes, I did.

Right.

Let's, um, boogie on down.

Double-check I've got my key.

Yes.

Good.

# Well, I woke up this morning... #

That's it. To work.

# With an awful aching head

# I woke up this morning, yeah

# With an awful aching head

# How's my man just left me

# With a room and an empty bed

# Now he was a deep sea diver

# Oh, he could hold his breath for long

# Yeah. #

PHONE RINGS Good evening. May I assist you?

# Oh, he's a deep sea diver

# He could hold his breath for long

# But when he got down to the bottom

# Ooh! Well, that man could do no wrong

# Now he's gone and left me with nothing but an empty bed. #

The hotel is hosting a wedding for Mumbai's high society, and everyone

from the pastry chefs to the florist has been called into action.

Let's not compromise quality.

Let's not compromise.

For the last 45 years,

Kamal has been creating flower arrangements in the hotel.

I know you're a very good worker,

but this is wrong.

I don't want any rubbish on the floor, please.

Kamal is creating a floral centrepiece for the wedding.

It must be faultless.

You plan first how much will go in this.

You have to... We know exactly in one foot how many hydrangeas go,

how many roses go,

so then we give you the footage.

Sometimes we may go wrong by five or ten pieces.

So that is what today the matter has happened.

We have gone a little wrong. That's why I'm calling for more flowers,

and some have come damaged,

so they have to be returned and brought new ones.

Huh? No. We took everything from him.

Assisting Kamal is her business partner, Bharti.

One minute.

He is saying that he told you these are going to come with the pink touch.

He never told me. Has he gone mad?

-Who is this?

-Asheesh.

-I don't want to talk to Asheesh.

Sachan knows I've asked for only white.

So you don't want any of this?

Asheesh, what do you want to do now?

I asked this question from Sachan also and I told Sachan this...

No, Sachan didn't tell her that.

Sachan did not tell her that.

No, he has to take it away from here.

All right. One minute.

How many hydrangeas tomorrow he's getting?

-I don't want...

-Green.

-I don't want.

-OK.

I'll talk to Asheesh.

Why is he getting green hydrangeas?

Who has ordered?

-Not for us. He's getting them.

-But what is his rate?

-255.

-Tell him I've been getting at 200.

I told him 200.

-I don't know how you cope with this much to do!

-We both cope.

She's more of a... What shall I... My backbone.

If she's not there, I'm lost.

Mary had a little lamb.

-How long have you two worked together?

-16 years.

I've become too dependent on her, which is bad, no?

No, it's not. I always tell everybody I have two mums,

one at home and one here.

Good morning.

I had a fight just now. You know why?

BOTH TALK AT ONCE

This is the most beautiful flower arrangement.

Whenever she does flowers, we just don't have to worry.

We just kind of leave it into her hands,

right from conceptualisation to supervision,

and that's what I came here to see.

You will find her, like,

five o'clock in the morning, she'll be here,

and we'll make sure that by the time everything's not completed to her perfection,

she's not going to leave the place.

It's beautiful.

-Tonight's going to be a very beautiful flower arrangement.

-I hope so, please.

-Now I'm getting stressed!

-You just have to tell her. Everything, she takes care.

That's why probably...

She must have done the top 500 weddings in her career in Mumbai

where people just take her name and that's about it, you don't

have to worry about it any more.

-She's been in the hotel for 25 years.

-45 years.

-45, sorry, sorry!

This is a timeless hotel, so, you know, 25, 45, 55! It goes on!

I was trying to make you feel younger!

He's making me feel younger!

If I'd said 45, you wouldn't have felt like that, right?

-Thank you.

-Thank you. I'll catch you later.

In the olden era, most people who joined the hotel,

you would join it as your first job

and kind of continue,

and loyalty was very high.

Now, what's started happening

is that over the last few years,

once we're getting the newer younger people coming in,

you find that there are a lot more different job opportunities

which come in and then people tend to leave for a few extra bucks very easily.

However, when you say that, still a lot of people still have

an aspiration to come and work for the hotel.

It's as much an aspiration for an employee to come and work in here

as much as it is for a guest to come and stay here.

The wedding cake is too big to assemble in the kitchen,

so the chefs have brought it into the Crystal Room.

Please don't keep it here.

Kamal is concerned that in this cramped space,

the cake might get damaged.

I'm just putting my hands up.

-I can't keep it here.

-I'm not responsible.

I'll keep guard.

No, no. You keep your waiter here.

I know, but why can't it go somewhere that side?

It can go...there's a place.

This is as far from the stage as is possible.

-Put the cake here at your own risk.

-Yes, I told them that.

It's a disclaimer from the florist.

Yes, I will... Yes. My boys won't do that, I know.

Because this is crucial.

The amount of effort which goes in a wedding is a lot more in India

than anywhere else in the world.

Parents save money all their life to actually get their children married

and it's a huge social statement.

Tonight, you'll have some of the top 500 people of the city visiting this wedding.

You'll really see that tonight,

the dessert counter will be the best that you've ever seen.

We've got a fantastic wedding cake,

the flowers are very beautifully done,

so as the hotel is known for doing its best weddings,

panache is extremely important.

So that's why you see people really go over the top.

The stage is looking nice.

The importance of weddings is,

I would say, too much.

People spend money

and money and more money.

There are communities

who want to spend lots of money.

Personally, if you ask me my view,

I don't believe in it.

I had my children's marriage,

which was so simple,

just in a little temple,

like how you have in church,

and a few people for the reception.

Just a few people,

just about 80, 90, that's it.

In our family, we believe in...

..living very moderately.

Let me see the roses.

Red roses.

Open cut?

My husband, when he was alive, he used to tell me, "That's your home."

He says, "This is your second home."

I used to say, "No, that's my second home." He used to say, "No."

We used to have arguments over this.

It was three-quarters of the day I was here.

And my son, he doesn't like me working too much.

He says, "Time to rest."

Yes, work for passion, but I guess I have a family here to support.

Eight boys. And every time I say I want to retire, they start crying,

"No! As long as you can just come here and oversee, we'll manage."

HORNS BEEP

INDIAN SONG PLAYS

I had always a passion for flowers, always.

The young girls, also, they always like flowers.

You know what? It never ends, passion.

Passion is something which never ends.

It's basically auspicious to decorate your hands

before the wedding.

There is particular shapes that they regularly apply

when it comes to bridal henna.

The fun is supposed to be that the groom is supposed to find his name

in all the designs and patterns that they draw.

It's like every ritual, you're getting closer to the other family.

You're becoming one big family,

so if you just have no rituals and... I guess you don't get so close.

When Rittika marries Parth, there will be five generations

of family present,

including her 85-year-old grandmother,

and, flying in especially,

her great-grandmother, who is 100.

-Her grandfather, he said always Vaishnavi.

-Yeah.

He always said Vaishnavi.

Vaishnavi is a goddess, so when she was to be born,

Grandfather had a dream,

and he told us in our house, we are going to get a goddess,

so everybody was saying, "What is he saying?

"What is he saying?" And then we got this little girl.

So everybody knows that we have a goddess at home.

Vaishnavi.

And always, everything goes without any mistake

because that's how it is for her.

It's going to go right.

If you get the person home, you think is the right person,

you're very happy because then you know that you don't have

to worry that...that's what I have as a feeling, you know, coming,

that he's going to take care.

-Are you happy?

-yeah.

-She's going to a better house.

-Yeah. For that, I'm very, very happy.

There is something our literature which says

when you choose a bridegroom, there are, let's say, nine things

which are important, out of which the first thing is the family.

So I think she gets a lot of good things, so she's lucky.

-She's a lucky girl.

-She's lucky, yeah.

For Mumbai, this hotel is very dear to everyone,

because for a lot of families, it's almost three generations of loyalty.

For us, the guests become almost family.

That's exactly how they feel.

The hotel gets into your blood. I think you just... You feel it.

After some time, it's in your system.

Wait till the day you have to leave. Just wait for it.

You...you become such a part of it

and it becomes such a part of you that you never want to let go.

You know when the terrorists attacked the place?

I was just across the water, so I actually heard the gunshots.

I saw the place go up in flames.

I realised they were out to destroy the building.

He entered, he pointed the gun at me.

Almost point-blank, they fired at us.

INDIAN SONG PLAYS