- 4 months ago
Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour S02E01
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TravelTranscript
00:00Some say the best way to live life
00:09I'll touch the back of it. I'll touch the back. No, not the face.
00:14Is to reach out and grab it with both hands.
00:17Yes, well done.
00:20That's exactly what we did on our grand tour of Italy and it changed our lives.
00:27I gave Rylan a crash course in art appreciation and I showed Rob how to let
00:34what's left of his hair down. Our cultural Odyssey taught us new things about
00:39ourselves and each other. I have been looking at a painting for half an hour.
00:43The experiment is working. Now we want to take it to the next level.
00:50You're stunning. We're getting out of the galleries and right to the heart of the art.
00:55Sort of surreal, don't you think?
00:57Currency. And culture of one of the oldest civilizations on the planet.
01:02Just walk, just walk. We're in India.
01:04We have no taboo. You know, our gods make love.
01:08You can't get to me. Oh, that's a big one, isn't it?
01:11No, don't go for me.
01:13We're following in the footsteps of E.M. Forster, who a century ago changed the way the world saw this country
01:19in his dazzling novel, A Passage to India.
01:22That's here. That's exactly it. That's literally here.
01:29You have a slightly psychotic problem. Psychiatric problem? Yeah.
01:34Yeah, we're on our own passage to India.
01:37Oh, no, Rob. Come on. Come on.
01:39Through India.
01:41You know what? I think I've got diarrhea.
01:43And out the other side.
01:45To see if the art and culture of this amazing country...
01:49Look at the detail.
01:50...can show us how to live our best lives.
01:53This is incredible.
01:54Why am I doing... Do you know what? I do anything stupid that... What?
02:00That is the most beautiful art that I've ever seen.
02:03Whoa. What a huge clock.
02:05I feel like as the trip's going on, it's getting better and better.
02:09I don't know what's coming next.
02:12Don't read it. Do it.
02:29So, this is Delhi.
02:31It's Delhi.
02:32Oh, my God. We are in the middle of the road, Robert.
02:36Win hacks. Ryan, take a break.
02:40The middle of the... The oncoming traffic.
02:43Sorry. Why are we not in a car with aircon?
02:48Because I wanted you to see it properly.
02:50You know when a parent might teach someone to swim
02:52teach someone to swim and just throws you into the water this is this that's what it's like this
02:56is india this is delhi you know there's 33 million people in this city i know it's authentic yeah
03:03but literally you could have put me on the m25 at five o'clock because all i'm in is a traffic jam
03:11i've traveled in all sorts of places in the world i've been to india many times and
03:16i love this country it's got its own special brand of human magic
03:25this is horrendous horrendous how does anyone get anywhere stop bibbing
03:33i've never ever been to asia apart from maldives
03:38and the maldives was basically like basalden with a beach
03:46the only delhi i've ever been to is at the ice street this is not fun
03:54what helps you to relax normally all saints pure shores and a red wire
04:00many faces i have seen la la la no no you see if you don't know the words to a place i could call
04:07mine in a place i could call i'm coming coming closer to you
04:16can you hear what i did it's falling in my head i believe
04:21oh because he hasn't traveled outside of a zone of rylan safety
04:30why are you pipping i want him to feel safer around the unexpected and he isn't at the moment
04:35something's in my eye just for love oh my god no i'm mad at him
04:38he's a little bit worried about well all the stuff that india is
04:44like we ain't getting thrown out the stuff that it can throw at you which um you don't necessarily want
04:50but you know who cares they're the modem for that sort of thing
04:56armed only with a rubber bung and a sense of adventure my literary hero e.m forster came to
05:02india in 1912 and created a passage to india his revolutionary novel which transformed the way
05:09brits thought about this country at least most of them
05:13a passage to india is set against the backdrop of a crumbling british
05:44it's about friendship across the divide cultural difference and discovering what really matters
05:49in life i've wanted to follow in forster's footsteps ever since i read it in my 20s
05:55soon after arriving in delhi forster came here to the market of chani chalk
06:00just walk just walk just walk okay thank you like a dead pigeon dead pigeon
06:10right okay we can go we can go we can go johnny just relax
06:13i mean like i thought i knew roughly what i might be getting into but i didn't see it being this chaotic
06:23there is a lot to see here be aware of like my eyes hurt from like sensory overload
06:35there's a man pissing on a roof it's all going on there's just so much color and smell and bustle and
06:47instead of allowing it to wash over you i've got in in my hair going oh my god oh my god get out of my way
06:55i feel like the benevolent headmistress of a school for excluded children
06:58here in chandini chalk forster would sit for hours and watch the world go by
07:06from his balcony rob says in a passage to india forster describes india as a mysterious
07:13confusing muddle oh my god and i don't do muddles are you hungry no i believe it or not i'm very um
07:30not good with big crowds of people oh it's very busy i love being in control of everything this is
07:36the food market here i just like all my ducks in a row but then i've become very rigid
07:43in what i do and sort of blinkered there's a wheelie bin i just want to chill out a bit there's
07:49a wheelie bin i'm touching the wheelie bin oh my god so there's no zebra crossings here
07:54well let's weave in and out of moving traffic them rickshaws robert i'm stuck
07:59there's two-way traffic now i just want to experience new things and feel things that
08:05i didn't think i could feel thank you very much you like the spice of it
08:09well i like spice but i don't know what's in it are you nervous about eating a bit i'm really
08:16nervous about daily belly rylan might be petrified but this trip is an eye-opener for me too i normally
08:23stay in my safe space of galleries and museums but forster was all about finding culture in the real
08:29world what i'm really hoping for is that the people the art the encounters that i have will help
08:38me be a little bit more connected to the world to myself and to others which is what i need really
08:46oh there's a dog pull yourself together stray dogs well rob there's a lot of dogs about just ignore them
08:55don't you know indians 40 rupees foreign tourists 600 rubies do we go to the window yeah
09:07two please thank you thank you hi i've got a token oh thank you it's like thought park
09:18yeah don't you feel how calm this is yeah it is calm i mean once you're away from the road it's
09:24a bit more chill rylan's escape from chaos normally involves a sunbed a pool and a porn star martini
09:33but when brits like forster found india overwhelming this was their escape are these dogs all right
09:40they're fine honey don't call them over if you ignore the dogs you can enter an oasis of
09:47calm in the heart of delhi as forster wrote to his aunt he couldn't imagine anywhere that would be more
09:54amazing oh this is incredible oh my god this is beautiful
10:08this is her mayans too back in the 1500s the mughals a muslim dynasty from central asia
10:16swept eastward into india creating a mighty empire
10:23hamayana was a second emperor
10:29he died after accidentally falling down the stairs whilst trying to pray
10:36his favorite wife commissioned this mausoleum as his burial chamber
10:40that's a tomb yes all of this for a place to be buried in
10:48i know there's some school kids there hi
10:53today her mind's tumor tracks school trips and anyone with a smartphone
10:58in the old days they had to rely on postcards
11:01so i'll show you something like that what so that's it right and um who collected this postcard
11:10after he'd been here forster yeah that is crazy that we're standing in that picture now
11:15like me forster was a bit of an architecture groupie he even said that the great art of india has always
11:22been in its architecture just so pretty and even though rob thinks he can teach me all i need to
11:28know about india i think he sometimes makes it up to sound clever so i found us a local expert anish
11:36so this is the og mausoleum that set off the mausoleum craze across the mughal empire i love
11:42that og maus oji maus you've been to the taj i have the taj is also a mausoleum inspired in some
11:50ways by this one but this is the sort of mausoleum for humayu so he is the emperor of the mughal dynasty
11:56which rules india up until the 19th century they're like the royals they're the royals of course humayu
12:01was muslim but he was the muslim emperor of a largely hindu country but in that you also had
12:09fairly well actually with certain amounts of conflict as is expected so they've been a part
12:15of creating a country that's diverse culturally religiously ethnically and a country that celebrated
12:21diversity i build something so grand in death so i love it well this is probably this right
12:28up my street it's probably the grave you'd have yeah is this kind of like as he would say a
12:32a kind of bling headstone it is a bling headstone it's almost like a stamp of authority in a in a
12:38strange way to say this is what we're doing this is how important we are and this is how grand we are
12:44yeah but this is architecture unlike any other so you're seeing of course a lot of persian elements
12:52yeah the domes the sort of arches you're seeing the little grills that are very persian now the one
12:58thing to remember here is you not see any humans or animals no you cannot depict any living form under
13:06islam so this becomes the golden age for geometry and geometric design so you see these beautiful
13:14geometric designs yeah but it mixes with incredible indian architectural forms so you'll see those little
13:19domes the blue ones yeah and motifs that span every religion you can think of this architecture really
13:26speaks to blending all the different identities together but this is a blending that's not
13:30intentional this is what happens when multiple communities live together in coexistence or cohabitation
13:36so basically this wasn't an intentional building to be multicultural it just was because people were
13:44multicultural absolutely you know in a strange way it was the hotbed of cosmopolitanism
13:51well back in the day because you could come to delhi and escape where you came from
13:56em forster also came here to escape where he came from he was a closeted gay man trying to get away
14:03from buttoned up edwardian society he was seduced by the romance of india
14:11her mayans tomb inspired the taj mahal and therefore indirectly inspired one of my mum's favorite
14:16photographs lady die acting all coy on a bench i want to get a little photo on the bench
14:24i know it's not the taj mahal but i want to do a little day i know just for mummy do you mind no
14:29wait i guess i think you'll be the lady die of the humangus i think i love it
14:35this is what i want to get lady die yes do you know why this photograph was iconic
14:40because she was alone because of all the drama not just drama but because of what that mausoleum
14:44represented it was all like romance and stuff right built for his great love of his life
14:48take the photo robert i'm going to think of lady dyer hell have no fury like a lady's gone yeah
14:56come on ladies i
15:01ready there we go i'm sure this counts for blasphemy and multiple counts to royal family
15:08this royal family everyone loves it it just feels very sedate in the midst of this storm of noise and
15:18traffic but i think there's a part of me that's going to have to learn to love the chaos you know
15:23i can't be in a walled garden for this entire trip
15:39how many countries have you visited i'd say like 20 america yeah south america what's america's like
15:46what you saw a few countries in south america oh okay so america columbia uh-huh did you actually go to
15:51kind of didn't you just go to a five-star result well i was filming a show but i saw cartagena for
15:57a day yeah so america columbia ireland uk france germany spain in the uk all right thank you okay off
16:05spain then going through eurovisions so israel yeah elizabeth portugal so you are learned europe the
16:13netherlands that's the same thing as hollow italy sardinia study is part of italy right so that's that
16:19counts as one how many countries you've been probably about the same number of men you've
16:25slept with didn't realize there was that many countries all right so i might not be as well
16:32traveled as rob but there's something about the mix of people and culture here that's really familiar
16:38you know i grew up in stepney green in east london and sort of the community that i grew up in was
16:43white bangladeshi indian pakistani an amalgamation of people just all together at school playing out
16:52it was just quite normal for me but i don't really know loads about india i know there's something
17:00historical with the british being here and stuff like that it all just feels a little bit surreal
17:08still at the minute for me because i genuinely have no idea the british india thing really began
17:14in the 17th century with the east india company they were a small london firm who came to trade
17:21and made so much money they decided they might as well take over the whole place eventually india became
17:28part of the british empire and for 200 years we ruled the country for our own benefit
17:34the british thought the way to enjoy india was to make it as british as possible so we brought cricket
17:42and trains which prove useful for taking our treasure back home along with tea curry and words such as
17:49pajamas bungalow and pucker it's now three quarters of a century since britain left india after having
17:57apparently pocketed 36 trillion pounds but we did leave them with a legal system democracy and an
18:06enduring memory of us in the buildings we left behind it's very regent street i mean it could be
18:16couldn't it all of that architecture looks like this is so london what's really interesting is all of
18:20these columns roman exactly that sort of backward looking architecture to project power who did
18:27design all this so a lot of it is designed by an architect called lutyens so he's invited to come
18:34and design a lot of new delhi like 1911 it hadn't even been here before it just turned up and done it
18:42right lutyens most prominent design is india gate which has become one of the most popular destinations in
18:50the city oh it's warm today it's gorgeous all right let's go and have a little look what we can
18:59see this is nice look at that i know right wow look at that what does it look like looks like marble
19:08arch it's like a copy of the mall and then we look that way and then you just see like these domes it's
19:14like st paul's cathedral almost like the royal red buckingham palace the mall i mean it feels beautiful
19:20but as gorgeous as it is it doesn't feel like it belongs yeah it just feels like i'm in central
19:27london but someone turned the sun up lutyens had a deep disdain for the subjects of the british empire
19:36saying the very low intellect of the native spoils much i do not think it possible for indians and whites
19:42to mix freely views which are really troubling my question i guess is can you divorce the fact
19:51something's beautiful from its past from its history i think we do and i'm looking around here no one's
19:59starting exit like it down no one's pulling it down people are here loving it
20:05are you a tourist in delhi yeah but what do you think when you see this big imperial british
20:13architecture here what do you think about it i think that's classic yeah vintage timeless it's such
20:19a great place to be are you proud of these buildings everything all indians should should be proud
20:26what's so fascinating to me is they're not troubled by what this means there's me kind of thinking about
20:34the history and all the rest of it but at its core i asked rylan what do you think and he says well
20:39it's beautiful whatever its problematic past to say the least ultimately it's just beautiful
20:48today without the brits india's thriving and is the fastest growing economy in the world
20:56what's this entry into main colony it's a gated community a gated community in delhi
21:04the gated communities that once housed the british elite are now owned by indians
21:09a bit of money here babe there are now 185 billionaires in this country and many of this
21:16new generation of up-and-coming indians like to display their status through art this is a gaff
21:23while rob's been busy reading em forster i've got us access to one of the biggest private art
21:28collections in the whole of delhi
21:35gosh oh wow it's it opens on it shall we yes of you thank you hi just look at this house
21:42oh that's beautiful this is stunning oh my goodness hi hi
21:50shalini she dances she sings art collector art connoisseur i like things more than people
21:58yep my reality tv addiction has come in handy i'm obsessed with shalini passi one of the stars of a
22:04crazy netflix show about the extravagant lives of india's uber rich and a woman i just had to meet
22:11shalini's the wife of a billionaire businessman and owner of a spectacular house that doubles as
22:16her own personal gallery honestly your house is beautiful and you look a vision yourself thank you
22:22so much we'd love to have a look around come on so yeah this is a painting by an indian contemporary
22:27artist jitish kalat he came over saw the space and i said you know i would want the sky to reflect
22:33inside because this home is all about indoor outdoor and also i definitely wanted blue because
22:39blue is a color which i love i have to say when i walked in i got goosebumps a little happy that was the
22:45idea let's go see more yes how much art do you actually i've never really like counted the pieces
22:52but i think that it's a fairly large collection and we do rotate it pinch yoga laga any top name yeah
22:59i will need a pin amita amita you have to be behind the camera not hiding there there's a lot of people
23:08here yeah yeah is this your staff yeah yeah how many stuff have you got many i don't know i don't
23:15know but you know their names yeah of course because if i had to me they're family okay family
23:21to me yeah this is the first time i've ever been present in an imperious click oh i have literally
23:26seen the click when you go to a house like this you normally have a little rob like if you go buckingham
23:32palace you take a loo roll do you know what i mean but i think she'd put the heat out on that
23:37i find this quite um well a a sort of branch of the erotic yes absolutely you're right uh it's
23:46titled theater of sad she's taken mundane objects and given them a new lease of life so it's about
23:51sadomasochism yes and you brought my teeth out as well that is so funny this is for me one of the most
23:59powerful works in my collection i just wondered how you negotiated for it because when you're speaking
24:04i didn't i just had to call up the person and say you know i'm obsessed with this work and i want it
24:09they said what it's a million pounds or a million dollars far whatever so i was like i don't care
24:14whatever it costs it has to be mine yeah because you loved it yeah i loved it so much
24:21just killing me that like every five minutes there might be like a click or something and like 500
24:26people come out of a cupboard i mean what a life she's very eccentric which i love the artwork is
24:33off the chain i mean she said the amount of art that she's got she doesn't even know
24:37because some of it's on rotation that is status
24:45i have a question sorry i am fascinated by this art deco piece you have would ryle and i be able to try
24:51some on later ourselves do yeah of course you know i have never ever it's india it's a land of excess
25:03let him be this is real i'm sorry darling i'm sorry i didn't mean to be sorry they are gorgeous
25:10they are very gorgeous please make sure they don't fall yeah and and it's crass but it's important
25:14people understand my hands are now worth millions yeah when a country has been colonized lots of
25:21places in the world find that very very difficult yeah to take whatever darkness of the past yeah
25:27and like your artwork yeah move on move on yeah they were you know so many things which are very sad
25:34which happen which cannot be turned back but like uk that is now is not those people you've got george
25:42the fifth and queen mary emperor and empress of india can you see why i'm a bit surprised nobody
25:47else has ever questioned it except the british themselves anyway uh now uh indians rule um britain
25:55all the top uh like the top industrials the business people are of indian origin you're so right
26:01the status of it all is what i find really fascinating because you walk through this gate
26:08and the walls are dripping with multi-million pounds worth of art something in her buying it
26:14speaks to her and her power she wouldn't have it otherwise what have you got right i wouldn't say
26:21i've got like traditional art i've got three diary room chairs from big brother the second diary room
26:28chair i did actually buy in an auction a few thousand i paid for that yeah um and the third diary room chair was
26:34when i was hosting big brother and i stole it because it was my ex-husband's diary room chair
26:39and now that sits outside in the garage
26:44i still can't get rid of it though it's history
26:49i love that
26:49in a passage to india forster suggests if you want to see the real india try meeting indians
27:07well we've met a billionaire but what about the indians who live below the poverty line
27:12so i don't have any money i'm sorry that's really tragic right no no i can't look though
27:20it's the road be careful here it's not your class that matters but your caste
27:27for the past 3000 years the caste system has divided hindus into four rigid groups
27:35at the top are the brahmins traditionally they were priests today they're often politicians or lawyers
27:42in the government at the bottom are shudras responsible for labouring jobs but a quarter of
27:48the population are in a group that's not even allowed in the caste system the dalits
27:55traditionally responsible for street sweeping and toilet cleaning they used to be known as the
28:00untouchables but the dalits are starting to have a voice
28:04this is naveen kumar an up-and-coming rapper i found him online and not just because he likes to
28:14walk around shirtless but because he's a dalit who uses his music to call out the injustice of the caste
28:19system how are you man island nice to see you you well to meet you it's naveen yeah naveen kumar
28:28you consider a house where there are four floors yeah these four floors are actually the four casts
28:34and now imagine there is no staircase so there's no way you know where you can go up or down so you're
28:40in the basement we are this house we are not in this house you're not even in the house we are uh below
28:47so in whatever capacity i can i bring my people up and and this pedestal goes so high that you don't
28:54need this building in 1950 the caste system was technically abolished but today dalits still suffer
29:02from social exclusion and violence do you feel that people treat you differently because of your caste
29:09yeah they make you realize that you are nothing and a lot of people have died by suicide because of
29:15discrimination at workplace when you perform do you ever feel unsafe once i was performing and there
29:24was a gunshot i was kind of scared because that area has the most reported crimes against dalits they're
29:32killed they're lynched but i am putting my fist up and talking about it by the end of my performance they
29:39were all with me this for me is the change that i can bring through my art i had no idea about this
29:47caste system before i came to this country that's literally like all of the people that i know growing
29:52up and my family wouldn't have any opportunity in life there was no way i could have been doing the
29:59job that i'm doing now or earn the money that i've earned over the years because of where i've come from
30:04i come out of a council house and that's crazy i really really didn't realize it was like that here
30:10but you know there's a bit of hope out there i think you know with naveed and being proud of who
30:15he is and taking those sort of knocks and making him stronger and putting it into his art
30:23the rap i can't stand is when the artist will stand up and talk about
30:28bitches and watches and yeah some idea about the world that's not real but when
30:33they stand up and talk about their lived experience you can listen for hours it's it's real poetry
30:40let us do something exciting we could probably freestyle together and uh like a little r r
30:46r collab yeah yeah like a collab yeah yeah come on let's go team bro naveen takes his rap out onto
30:53delhi streets where he believes words of music can bring about real change he wants us to join him
30:59in an impromptu performance tonight but first we need to fuel up with some truly authentic indian food
31:08one of my favorite things is to look through foreign mcdonald's when you
31:13i'm having a fillet of fish double fillet of fish fillet of fish yeah
31:17fillet fish my absolute food porn let me see for me i'm getting a mc spicy paneer because i'm in india
31:23this takes me back to my childhood no when it's opened in southgate this would be the only place
31:30that i'd go and hang out with my dad in if you were to ask most people about rob they'd probably
31:36say he was a right posho not from a single parent family where you just see your dad at weekends for
31:42fast food but a bit like naveen rob has mastered the art of using culture to forge his own way in the
31:49world and not letting his background define him i am somebody without question who has invented an
31:56artifice my voice the things that i've determined myself to be interested in so growing up the type
32:05of class that i aspired for was the type that had art and books or is i still walk around my mum's house
32:12now and they go telly telly book anywhere anywhere book i wanted to be the real deal you know you may
32:20be poor in money but you have impeccable manners or you have a library of poetry in your brain and so
32:27consequently you're never poor really right so we've got to write lyrics okay well i don't think we should
32:32do it together no we can't do it together no it won't work we are not elton and bernie you know
32:36i've got my phone hang on
32:47helps the juices flow when you're creating yeah like having the lyrics you know yeah thank you so much
32:57for us success can almost buy your way out of your class and we've been able to do that yeah despite
33:03we're lucky right dad's a taxi driver you know single mum yeah but the idea that you can never
33:09do that and what's more your children can't either no it's frightening but need to you know be mindful
33:18the fact that it does go on in our own no i don't think it doesn't it's not as a verb but you know
33:25it's like now with some people you know you bring your husband home and people like what's he do for
33:30a living and that is probably one of the first things that people ask right yeah and why the
33:34fuck does it matter well that's nothing you okay yeah yeah you are they're going to be performing in
33:39a market what we're going to be performing in a market we're busking yeah suppose i wonder why
33:44did get changed yeah i'm not getting changed i'm in a market we're just spitting our bars for the
33:50people of delhi i'm absolutely not doing that you are i'm not you are when in delhi slam put when
33:57did you slam poetry yeah naveen do you want to sit on this one because you're the like yeah you're
34:03the star naveen wants us to start out like he did on a street corner for anyone who'll stop work to
34:10listen let's go i'm scared no no don't be okay let's see the bait here we go here we go so should i go
34:21first yeah yeah sure i'm living in a crisis and i don't know who i am my cast was so low but i
34:27couldn't give a damn yo constantly reminded that i'll never really make emotions that are mine i
34:32will never let you take yeah i push and push the barriers until my eyes sweep pushed hard like a
34:36trolley on supermarket sweep when i reached my goal it was then i realized that my cast was the passion
34:42that was dripping from my eyes the parties and the fame it was all such fun i guess it's how it feels when
34:47it's only just begun but the days got long the nights felt cold is this the life i dream of really
34:52what have i been sold they all say to me that i should be so grateful resentment in their gaze that
34:57just feels so hateful i know how lucky some say i should be at the end of the day i just miss me
35:04that is beautiful many cards that is that has some meaning to it yeah it moved me thank you it's just
35:12it's just like with my job like there's two me's so there's work me and then home me and sometimes i
35:17just miss normal you bring me in you're not good yeah it's cool the name is rinda won't find me on
35:24tinder ain't gonna bang any tom or a pinder need dating advice i just go to linda see empty sex burns
35:31my soul to a cinder emerge to the world on a day that was gay gaga tommy baby you were born this way
35:37but i pray for the day when we don't have to say where to love who we love is the price that we pay
35:42haters may hate they may stand in our way but light winds over dark we forever disobey yes yo rob
35:50let me take over yeah
35:53yeah
36:07do you know what i think david brought us here to see like his people really like people are coming
36:21here to grab their food get a photocopy this isn't on the tourist trail this is real delhi and i like
36:29it obviously i've got rylan into art galleries and that's great but also it's about art coming out onto
36:36the street as well that's just as important my work isn't good that doesn't matter it's precisely
36:45what poetry should be where it should be heard yes yes give them a little props man good job so good
36:56we have just performed in the market in delhi yeah with laine see it wasn't all bad did you enjoy it
37:03no i loved it i knew you did what was the verdict over there so they were like we loved it oh good
37:09uh they said nice we'll take that and quote yeah yeah we'll take that nice is good yeah not very poetic
37:15no but we'll take no no no but in hindi they said that uh we had a lot of fun so i'm actually equally
37:20proud of you too i can see rylan is beginning to really get delhi but today is a big test for him
37:29it's his 36th birthday and he always celebrates a big day with his mum linda morning morning
37:37what are you doing it's rylan's birthday it's down to me to make it special
37:47do you want to sing happy birthday with me
37:49you do have time for this shit i have to do my wedding show big time oh it'll be two seconds you
37:55getting married oh congratulations hello i bought friends happy birthday to you happy birthday to you
38:07happy birthday dear rylan happy birthday to you i just met them outside i thought it'd add to the
38:18chorus okay because you're not a home of your family so i thought i'd add more people is that people
38:22from the left or yes yeah oh thank you the thing oh they're nice just pull it no the other way oh god
38:34it's like a party oh look at that pollution so yesterday i went to the market and i wanted to
38:41get you something indian do you go to the market is that where you went yeah i went to the market
38:45no thank you i want to get you something that i knew was going to be a tiny bit bling but also
38:49be a bit profound the first thing i looked up was you know what's a hindu sign for luck and that's
38:56what it was i just don't think he can have this in brentwood well i can't have that no i can't walk
39:03around with that especially with you hanging about i think that's a problem but i'm gonna ask for a
39:10lakshmi it is not gonna give me it i'm just saying all right all right i don't think it's cheap
39:15oh oh i like it that's lakshmi she's a goddess of wealth prosperity good fortune and luck that's
39:25everything i wish for you on your birthday i love it so much thank you what are your hopes for this
39:30year just be happy i feel like last few years i think when we were in italy i was still sort of
39:39trying to find myself and i feel like a year's past and i know who i am i know what i want yeah
39:46and i know i'm good enough i thought i wanted a scaffolder who could read proust as you know
39:54basically all i want is someone's just can make me laugh you are never touching me no i'm what are
40:01you talking about i'm just saying i'm a bit drunk on the champagne somebody that can make me laugh
40:06no that's that's that's the one thing that i've learned the only thing that matters is if a sunday
40:11night shit tv on is if that person makes you laugh wants to know how your day's been and wants
40:20to be laying with you that's all that matters but i think it's hard because when you find
40:24something like you that makes you genuine like belly laugh from your soul you've got me anyway
40:29that's a fair point so i could have my you can have your cake and then you can sleep with someone
40:34now okay fine to that to cake and sleeping with other people before we do at least the cake part
40:47of that at a small party i've made some extra arrangements hi uh my friend rob sent me yeah i've
40:54sent rylan for some ayurvedic treatments it's a mind relaxation therapy clothes yeah off okay i'm
41:04prepared to let go of some inhibitions but contrary to i suppose popular belief i don't really like
41:14getting my kit off and i actually really don't like being touched by strange men although there was this
41:19one night down the port in marbella that was quite eventful shall we say i wanted him to have an indian
41:26spa day pushing the boundaries somewhat what's happening they're going to put all sorts of heavenly
41:34oils on his head i'm hoping he's going to leave feeling refreshed renewed and ready for his greatest year
41:45ever it feels like hot warm liquid on my face i mean i do feel relaxed but i can still hear the road
42:04there are so many different experiences of thinking inwardly here that maybe this is a place that offers
42:13the opportunity to think outside of the western box and find something new
42:22what will he feels warm i want him to be sufficiently comfortable that he
42:28delights in it all i mean you can't see my hands but i've definitely found myself
42:33i think i've just got to learn to take little moments like this just stop and then i'll be all right
42:50oiled up and chilled out now i'm ready for the mean streets of delhi
42:54you've seen a cow in the street no i've never seen a cow like just wandering about bye
43:04no there's just dirt everywhere
43:07come on cows come on some time ago he was getting freaked out by the whole thing now he's walking up
43:13the street with a herd of cattle don't go for me he's finally had the serenity to accept the delight
43:20of a city that you can't control but sometimes you don't want to be in control you can't control
43:26the city its layers control you and what you need to do is just surrender into it mind the cows
43:37oh this is interesting gosh there's bananas but the ends of hands holding each other sort of
43:44surreal don't you think like dahlia surrealist it's like banksy on crack
43:50once upon a time i had to force this man to talk about art now i can't shut him up look at that
43:59that beautiful it's really lovely actually imagine that was your ass we're in the lodi colony this is
44:06india's first open-air art district here art isn't kept behind gates in a billionaire's mansion
44:12it's on show to the average person on the street or the average cow although strictly speaking cows
44:19aren't average they're holy oh hello you're right let's come to look at the art
44:29oh there's a lady on her smartphone but they're all on their smartphones right but they're all taking
44:34photos of nature are they though are they taking photos of themselves actually yeah because look the
44:39glare's on the face there and they're missing nature exactly right oh this is a lot more like
44:45gamer i don't like this well i do it's very striking so who decides what's good and what's bad art you
44:53decide people get really opinion i know rob does rob gets really opinionated on like what's good and
44:58bad didn't you yes they get snobby about it it's not snobby didn't say snobby you said snobby
45:03heard you say snobby oh you said snobby did not say snobby oh that's wonderful i know what this is
45:11this is the picture that's in the title sequence for desperate housewives that's right called american
45:17gothic for anyone who doesn't normally go to galleries like i never did yeah how lovely is this
45:23just to be able to like walk down the street you know see like a couple of cows running about
45:28and then just be greeted with these like installations it just feels very inclusive
45:34you know you could be the lowest cast but this is here for you right there's a place where you
45:39can come whoever you are this is true classless art yeah it's not locked away behind a posh house
45:45or in a gallery spot all right mom yeah i've just had a bar oh you're right well happy birthday you
45:58having a nice time do you know what i'm getting used to it like there's just cows walking about
46:02there's a cow up here thanks for my card i've just opened it oh yeah yeah look here's one just
46:09wondering about oh my god yeah it's just there we've got a birthday party tonight at someone's
46:18house like on the roof i won't fall off love you bye mom whenever i'm away actually that's the only
46:25thing i feel it's like oh i'm not around the corner from my mom just in case she needs me yeah got you
46:32now though no from one old cow to another what's the best party you've ever been to i mean jerry's
46:4050th was special jerry from the spice girls yeah so i'm on a table with jerry yeah hugh grant mel c
46:50shirley bassey directly opposite me and then i made shirley bassey sing jerry happy birthday she's like
46:58happy birthday darling it was amazing vicky was there emma was there it was lovely who's
47:05vicky and emma victoria beckham emma bunton like the spice girls darling that was an amazing party
47:10and i had this small reality check whilst i was there that oh my goodness i am sat in a room with
47:17all these people that growing up i idolized and look up to and i'm part of that and it was just a really
47:24lovely moment okay so i couldn't get the spice girls and i couldn't get his mom but i have arranged
47:30the sort of party i like after you why do you keep putting me in because if you fall then i know where
47:35not to stand one with proper conversation with clever local people anish our tour guide at her mind's
47:45two is hosting a soiree oh thank you this is amazing happy birthday thank you thank you
47:55he's invited some of his most interesting friends one of whom happens to be a rylan super fan
48:01guys alex why am i going first come come come come hello hello hi hi guys this is alex 40 fans thank
48:10you so much take that i will take that so when anish message saying rylan is going to be there i was
48:15like wait are my eyes like drinking me rylan anish is more than just a tour guide and convivial host
48:23he's also india's leading openly gay politician what's being gay like now for you we have a
48:32precarious yet firmly established understanding that you have to have the freedom to be who you
48:37want were your parents cool about it my parents were very cool about it very surprisingly i came out
48:42to my entire family oh god jeez i later was told that everyone thought i'd got a girl pregnant and i was
48:47like that's exactly what happened to me knowing yes certainly my mom thought i'd got a girl pregnant
48:53and was she so relieved after oh yeah i mean you couldn't be further from the truth exactly and i
48:58think that was the heave of relief and then my uncle went and said something that i'll never forget
49:04he said we're a family that'll stand up against the world to protect our own and then my father gave me
49:10how lovely is on my forehead which my father has never done after and it was the most beautiful thing
49:15that's lovely i mean we've been learning about the caste system yeah for me to even talk about this
49:21is difficult because i'm i'm from a privileged class so it's it's difficult for me to speak for someone
49:27i think it would be easier for a lot of people to bring home someone who's queer than it would be to
49:31bring home someone who's from another caste particularly yeah yeah problem with caste is not
49:36that it's going to prevent someone from being rich that's the least problematic part of it because there
49:40are a thousand other things preventing you from being rich but the bigger problem is it's preventing
49:44you from being the vibrant society that you've been when you keep people separate when you say
49:49that someone is more worthy of having an idea than someone who isn't you're killing art yeah you're
49:54killing innovation you're killing culture yeah we're deeply mind my language this is the bbc but
50:00up i gotta say for a birthday party things have got this is i know oh my god
50:05the tradition is that we do have to smash it on your face no if that happens then you'll get
50:18smashed in your head what we will do is a little bit oh okay okay on the side of your face there we go
50:27there we go there we go yeah that's you are now that's it anointed don't you dare happy birthday
50:39i can't talk it's so funny isn't it it's so funny don't be a prick you're such a dickhead
50:47happy birthday to me it's our last day in delhi and i've fallen in love with this city and its
50:56people as far as i can see rob's love of art and literature might have helped him find himself
51:02but where he's tended to find himself is in his bedroom with a book on his own
51:07there's moments in a sentence or in a phrase where it's like somehow someone can see into your soul
51:15or more importantly you know precisely at that moment you're not alone they're talking to you
51:20right you're not alone you're you it's like a metaphysical friend okay
51:27as em forster once said you have to let go of the life you planned if you want to live the life that's
51:33waiting for you i want to get rob away from the books and into the heart of a bustling community
51:39of people who live for their art hi guys hey guys this temporary camp on the outskirts of delhi
51:49is kaputli colony kaputli means puppets
51:55over 2 000 people live here handing their skills down through generations
52:00it's the world's largest community of street performers including acrobats snake charmers
52:07and puppeteers and the master puppeteer is puran thank you so much thank you for the lovely welcome
52:16beautiful welcome thank you this is your home yeah this is my room this is my house this is my workshop
52:23this is my everything we are traditional puppeteer my grandfather my whole family is a puppeteer
52:29house may i touch yes yes why not they are so beautiful yeah yeah this is crazy look at the
52:35pictures as well who are these people for me this is you yes oh he's got the head shot done
52:45so this is an artist colony yeah yes how come you guys live here this is a transit camp
52:51temporary temporary house how long have you been here yeah eight years eight years eight years eight years
52:57temporary in 2017 developers forced this community out of their homes so they could build luxury flats
53:06for delhi's elite and they moved them here next to a rubbish dump here they are in transit precariously
53:14but they continue to survive because at the heart of it is the art wow hello hello nice to meet you
53:22wow wow this is so cool oh robbie look that's really cute that's so cool it reconnects you with
53:39all of the things that i've lost and the hand it's on the mouth you know i spent all of my time being
53:46totally cynical but here they find that critical thing that you want from art that you want from
53:53human interaction connection surrounded by these kids yeah the accommodation is not great and i'm sure
54:01that these people are missing a lot of things that they would want around them but the sense of community
54:05here is so strong i just don't i don't feel that in my life like this hello
54:18hello that community spirit you forget how important that actually is
54:22remember it growing up so well my street you knew everyone everyone's door was open you'd be in and
54:27out of everyone's houses here it's exactly the same people are passing babies around because that's
54:33all right here everyone trusts each other here come and see the puppets would you like kids i'd love
54:38to have kids yeah 100 i'm good literally i nearly took one just now but yeah i'd love to have kids one
54:44day 100 percent why because i know i'd be a great dad and i've got a lot of love to give
54:52the puppeteers believe their art is nothing if it's not shared
54:56at the heart of the camp they're building a stage and tonight center stage will be us
55:07so the plan is we're going to get to grips with our people and then we're going to get married
55:13on stage in front of the whole community and then this one is gonna i spy a dancer and jilt me
55:20it's all right look at them they're delighted wobbly hold on hold up oh my back
55:30you ready ready ready it's good let's do it
55:48oh
56:00i've done a couple of weird performances in my time but that one was the most surreal but they loved
56:20it like look how much joy that has brought that's the thing about the arts yeah it might educate us
56:28fundamentally it's about inviting us to think about what's the purpose of being alive and if
56:33that is the answer joy that was one of the most transcendental experiences of my life it was
56:42absolutely beautiful i i'm full of love
56:48we both came to india hoping the amazing art and culture would teach us something quite profound about
56:54life i don't think anyone would have predicted it would have come via the medium of puppetry
57:01but then india is turning out to be full of surprises
57:04i know i can be a little bit of a princess at times maybe a lot at times and um when i first got to
57:18delhi you know getting on the tuk tuk and hating every second of it but actually i'm a little bit
57:24more resilient than i thought i was i feel like as the days have gone on i've just thrown myself into it
57:29and gone well this is where i am let's just live it and um i'm living it well the british have been
57:36coming to india for a very long time thinking perhaps they'll find enlightenment and it wasn't
57:42for me in front of the magnificent architecture it's right here there's nothing here but love
57:48and joy and positivity and optimism and above all else a thirst to create art to teach it to your
57:56children your children's children and to gift it to the world what they do matters it really matters
58:04and you have to come here to feel it that's all
58:10next time oh love look the game we enter the land of the kings hello your highness where artistic
58:20traditions run in the family oh that goat's having a nice time isn't it we face some of the biggest
58:26questions in life we could adopt and are forced to confront our true selves in your past life your
58:32life style was not very good oh my god i'm a slut
59:02so
59:07so
59:11you
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