Film City is a movie-studio complex with a ranch where trained horses and their handlers support film sequences. Its hills provide a rough-terrain riding ground for Lin and Nazeer, while its film-industry connections also draw it into Lin’s work arranging black-market transactions. The location brings these strands together when a riding lesson ends in Lin’s reunion with Vikram Patel.

Studio and Ranch

Film productions at Film City used horses for sequences involving riders. Squads of men lived across the ranch’s extensive hilly land, caring for the animals and remaining available for stunt and action scenes. The horses were described as superbly trained, making the ranch both a film-work facility and a place where riders could practice outside a studio scene.

Film-World Connections

Film City sits within the network Lin entered through Chandra Mehta. After Mehta asked Lin to handle a transaction involving ten thousand American dollars, Lin met other people in the film world seeking gold, dollars, and documents. His visits to studios became more frequent, and the resulting business steadily increased Khaderbhai’s profits. The association also carried reciprocal glamour: film-industry people enjoyed proximity to the notorious crime boss, while Khaderbhai was drawn to the movie world’s prestige.

Riding Lessons and Vikram’s Return

Nazeer wanted Lin to gain experience riding over rough terrain, so Lin arranged through Mehta to visit the ranch with him. They mounted brown mares, but Lin was thrown into a stack of clay pots barely two minutes later. Five stunt riders accompanying them laughed at the fall, and two helped Lin back up. After two further falls, Lin was climbing into the saddle again when he recognized a group of riders approaching, led by Vikram Patel. Vikram greeted him warmly; their companions rode away with Nazeer and the stunt riders, leaving the two men together. When Lin asked what he was doing there, Vikram said that he owned the place, then qualified the claim: Lettie had bought a share as a partner with Lisa. The ranch thus turns a humiliating lesson into the setting for an unexpected encounter and reunion.