La Tomatina Festival Reality vs Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: Know The Difference Between Film And Real Experience

Every year, hundreds of tourists from all around the world make their way to the small Spanish town of Buñol for the annual event of La Tomatina - the biggest food fight in the world. Featured in the popular Bollywood film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, this colourful festival is on everyone’s travel wish list. 

But where did the peculiar custom come from, how accurate was its movie depiction, and what is it really like to participate in such an event? The answers to your questions can be found below.

What Is La Tomatina Festival? History Of Spain’s Famous Tomato Fight

It is known as the largest food fight in the entire world; the festival takes place every year on the last Wednesday in August in the town of Buñol, which is situated close to Valencia in Spain. 

The history of the celebration started back in 1945 in the course of a parade where young people got into a fight and took tomatoes from a vegetable stall and started throwing them at one another. Even though it was banned in the 1950s by Franco's government, locals managed to revive the tradition and make it official.

Was The La Tomatina Scene In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Real?

Yes and no. This famous sequence was not filmed during the actual celebration of the day in August, but it was faithfully recreated in Buñol. 

In order to accurately capture the atmosphere of the tomato festival, the producers of the film reenacted the entire thing, transporting some 16 tons of overripe tomatoes from Portugal just for the filming of the movie.

La Tomatina Festival Reality: What Actually Happens In Spain?

In reality, the town of Buñol becomes a gigantic, blood-red ocean of tomatoes and their juice. Some 20,000 participants from all over the world pack the town’s narrow streets while huge trucks deliver more than 120 tons of very poor quality and overripe tomatoes to the town. 

For precisely one hour, total madness breaks out as tens of thousands of people throw tomatoes at each other.

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Movie vs Reality: Major Differences You Should Know

While Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara portrays a glamorous, broad, and romantic festival, life proves to be a hard version of it. Life has congestion, a slippery floor, and a very strong acidic smell of tomatoes.

Moreover, since 2013 onwards, there has been no free admission in movies anymore, as it has been limited, with just 20,000 people being allowed each year.

How Is La Tomatina Festival Celebrated In Real Life?

The tomato throwing is just the final part of an entire week-long festivity that includes parades, firework displays, and paella cooking competitions. On the main day, at about 11:00 a.m., the celebration starts with the famous Palo Jabón—a contest where people try to climb a greased pole in order to reach a ham at the top of it. 

When the ham falls, or water cannons start shooting, the official one-hour tomato throwing starts. After it, fire engines spray the streets, and the participants clean themselves in rivers nearby or with improvised hoses from locals.

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Conclusion 

However, La Tomatina is not all about flinging tomatoes, but a unique historical tradition, which represents pure happiness and is enjoyed by people from all over the world.

Image credits: Instagram

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