Innovative Film City - An Innovative Day Out

A quick holiday in Bangalore, the IT capital of India, and by coincidence lot of relatives happened to be here too. Got a day to spend together and instead of water theme parks and resort's day out package, decided to check out the Innovative Film City. Called them to know their rates , timing route. The response was good and got all the information needed. 

This place is in the Bangalore - Mysore route, around 30 kms from Bangalore town. 

Thanks to the notorious Bangalore traffic we took around 2 hours to cover this distance. This is situated away from the hustle and bustle of busy city. The parking lot was huge and there were lot of cars already parked there. We were concerned on whether it will be real crowded. The person in the ticket counter explained that there is a minimum charge of around Rs.650 per person and this includes free entry to around 10 different innovative creations. Earlier they charged a minimum entrance fee of Rs. 50 and for visiting each stall we had to pay separately which allowed the visitors to chose what they want to visit. But this option was not available now. The entrance itself wore a different look.
A touch of European architecture and the entrance wall was real huge. 

There were some huge cartoon characters at the entrance.Kids were a little afraid to go near them, but we made them pose near those characters. 

It was a real hot day and felt sorry for the guys inside those cartoon characters who had to wear this thick clothing and would be really sweating and suffering inside while showing the mask of happy face outside. Got inside the huge beautifully architectured wall and it was a whole new world. Felt like we stepped into another country so quickly. 

One more look at the entrance from inside. It is really beautiful. Just keep on watching it for the level of 

detail. 

It is the commercial area here, with some shopes housed in the set of buildings on either side of the walk way and I will not be exagerating, if I say that I felt like walking through a European country. 

The path way led to the a building where some activities are going on. Some small rides for children, there was an archery contest and a movie theatre. 

The movie theatre was aptly christened Innovative talkies. Yes it was akin to the movie theatres of yester years and surely bring back lots of memories for those who has seen it in real. 

Decided against visiting the theatre as kiddos were not at all interested. Hence stepped out of this buidling into path way again. The path continued to be beautiful 

From the brochure, found out that they have named this as High Street, London and it definitely looks so. The toddler's park is here and it is quite a safe area too. 

Lots and lots of items to keep your toddlers engaged and it will be quite difficult to take them out of this area. Almost all visitors passing by were stopping in the middle of this pathway near a statue for a photo shoot. At times even a small queue is formed for their turn to take a snap. The statues were really attractive. 

Watch closely and we could see what the jet of water was meant to be. 

There was something kept for sale, which is a good picnic add on kit. Watch this 

The table, chair and umbrella set folds smartly into that easy to carry case, which will fit in any car easily. An innovative product really !! Have look at the classy looking buildings around. 

As we walked ahead suddenly all eyes caught fixed on a plane crash. Yes it looked very real, an aeroplane with its front protruding out of a building as if it came piercing through. 

There was a fire engine too in the same building. People were busy checking out the real life replica of the fire engine, sitting in the driver seat, checking out the water pump, taking pictures and satisfying themselves. 

But the real innovative creation was the aeroplane. We had a tough time convincing our kids that it is not a real one. 

Slowly but steadily we have entered core of innovative film city. The first of the show stealer is here. It was a haunted house. 

The beautiful horse carriage with skulls around near the haunted house gives an idea of what to expect inside. 

The house is not for the weak hearts and kids, but for others it is not really haunting also. We had a realy fun time inside and we were making enough noises to make haunted feel hunted. Some of the tricks played inside were not up to the mark, but generally the ambience was enough to create a haunted experience. Just watch the show inside. 

The popular TV show Ripley's believe it or not has made its presence here and aptly so, since it is all about innovation. The building itself had some innovation when seen from the outside. There was a well dressed chimpanzee climbing up and down the rope hung down and it seemed so real 

It needs a real close observation and some technical reason to find out how the operation is carried out. Inside the building there are so many things, many pictures with facts all of which makes us tell, "Oh! this is unbelievable". We had a touch time explaining to kids the how of some of the things which we saw, especially the pipe which was suspended in thin air, from which water was flowing down continuously. It was an example of innovation reaching supreme levels. For example, just watch this ship 

Would you belive this? It is made out of match sticks alone. Once we came out of the world of unbelivable facts, we heard some music and somebody singing to the tune. Found out that a Karoke session was going on and anyone can enroll to test their singing skills. My wife's nephew jumped in and a malayalam song was soon being aired around, thanks to her excellent singing skills. After the singing session, we were again into the innovative world. Next up was the wax mueseum. The look of the building was like a beautiful fort. 

The wax replicas were so original that quite often we felt the statues were having life. There was opportunity to pose with the tallest man on earth, with the shortest man on earth and with the fattest man. The range of collection was just awesome. If there was Pope Jone Paul, Mother Theresa and co signifying the peaceful face of earth, there was Monalisa, Harry potter etc symbolising the influence of powerful chararter portrayals, the michael jackson, Elvis Presley, Mr. Bean, etc from the entertainment world, the Shakespear (whose image I have never seen before) representing the literary world and there were world leaders too. 

That was some experience, as we passed through a lot of characters each one of them challenging the other in terms of their originality. Saluting the creators of those statues. Wonderful, original and simply too good. We all were so indulged in the innovations around that time just flew and we forgot that it was already past two. The food court inside the film city offers a range of choices. Eventhough it was little bit crowded, there were ample space. 

No wonder, lunch time was spend discussing about the things seen so far. We had our lunch pretty quickly, just to ensure that we could enjoy more on what the Innovative Film city had to offer. Went straight to the Funplex where we could take part in some games. But just outside the funplex there was cricket nets and the cricket buffs among us went straight inside for to face the bowling machine, while others took some well needed rest. 

Time to get into the funplex, which houses some games and the 4D movie theatre. 

On one side there was a netted area with some military barracks like arrangement. This was the area for shooting game. 

We booked for the game and went to watch the 4D movie. By the time we came out of the 4D movie after experiencing the free fall, the vigorous shaking and the effect of mouse moving through our legs, the shooting game was ready. 

We had to form two teams. Each person will be give a gun which has small rubber bullets. The teams have to position themselves behind the hiding places and shoot the members of other team. The special jackets which we wear, senses the bullet hit and transmit the information to a counter and display board. When the time ends, the team which has got the maximum shots on the opposition wins. 

We formed an all girls team and an all boys team (eventhough age wise these were not boys and girls) and the shooting spree started. The boys team strategy was to directly get into the enemy's territory and hit the target. But the plan failed miserably and the boys team got bombarded with an array of those rubber bullets before they could even react. The victory margin for the girls team was not to be disclosed to anyone. Eventhough the bullets were made of rubber, those which hit the bare hand and legs had left their impression, which faded off only after a week. 

More than the game, more time was taken to celebrate the victory and to explain the funny sequences which happened inside the shooting arena. 

Next up was the carting experience. I took my boy for a spin, who sat behind the steering wheel. The track was not adventourous and speeds were not insane, but it was enough for the little driver's adrenalin to rush as could be seen from the enthusiasm of my son. 

Needless to say, I too enjoyed the drive. When we were enjoying the drive others went into the kids park nearby. It was almost evening as natural light was fading. The whole of afternoon was spent for some events which gave a workout to the body while ladies had a much needed rest. After a cup of tea we went inside the mirror maze, where finding the way out was fun, thanks to the mirrors which reflected all the paths and sometimes we go an hit the mirror. 

Even those who found the path, came back just to ensure that those inside are misguided to prolong the fun. Going these places with a huge gang which mix up nicely is definitely more fun than going with 2 or 3 persons, the fun just multiplies. By the time we came out of the mirror maze, it was already dark. There was a small Water park, which had a wave pool and some small rides. But the water park closes at 7pm and it was already 7. So we decided to skip the water park and proceeded to Jurassic Park and it turned out that the best time to visit this park was at night. We were recevied by this dinosaur. 

Soon different varieties of dinosaurs were around and it was fun playing pranks on each other, posing with them, trying to play hide and seek behind dinosaur. 

The day was soon going to end and the fun just reached its climax. Actually there were none other than us in this park and we were running around playing pranks on each other. 

Once out of Jurassic park we saw a carnival like area where there were some beautifully illuminated rides and some carnival games. 

Even though the ride's time was over, all of us engaged in some carnival games. 

It was almost eight when we decided to call it a day as an announcement came to that effect. Before we leave the Innovative world on more shot of the higt street well lit at night. 

Overall it was a very good experience and there is innovation all around. The best way to enjoy is to be part of a team and visit this place. There are things which make you wow, things which brings a smile, things which makes your body work out, fun games, rides for the elders, rides for the kids and a lot more. 

Infact they are adding more things to the well maintained city which will surely add to the fun and make even those who visited revisit this place.