Chapter 1
The movie was hanging like a Damocle’s sword over his head. He felt betwixt the devil and the sea. He had to complete it. He didn’t have the money to do that. As the producer of the movie he felt himself futile, unable to accentuate cost cutting measures to complete the movie and gain the distributor rights, something which would leave him with a nuance, a slight profit on his investment. Srivastav had always wanted to do a big budget movie. The cast comprising of the reigning star in the industry Amal kapoor, the queen bee, Natasha alias, unprecedented in her beauty and her skills to mesmerize the audience, and Sharath sexena, the only encumbrance in Amal Kapoor’s lunge to the top position in the industry. A love triangle between the three with the twists and turns, impossible to predict for the ordinary cine goers, songs, exotic locations all that tailors for a big budget movie .A dream that Srivastav had nourished ever since he had donned the tag as producer. But, the lacuna between the dream and reality was huge, too huge for him to bear.
After signing all the stars on board, with the script being revised an umpteenth time to suit to their tastes and travesty, the shooting (film) began and so did the penance on srivastav. The disobliging chemistry between the artists with their alter ego gave the first blow to him. Their refusal to share the screen space, an animus, they preach, owing it to their die -hard fans, compounded his misery. The Lead heroine’s overbooking and tight schedules also did profound damage to his treasury. But the biggest blow came from a mere junior artiste, his discountenance in the film due to the pressure from the lead star in the film Sharath .Due to his features resembling the junior artist, Sharath gave a notice to all producers to drop him from their movies and any hesitance he challenged would be met with serious repercussions in the industry, Saxena, sharetah’s father, being a man with powerful connections in the industry was quite capable to keep his son’s word. But A.K (Amal kapoor in short and addressed by his Die- hard fans) found it amusing to call him up in all his movies, explicitly for the action oriented ones. The junior artist would then be his subject of quarry by taking his blows much to the his amusement. Even in his wildest dreams, Srivastav couldn’t have imagined that an ordinary junior artist would be an indeliberate bone of contention in his ambition to complete a big budget movie.
After a series of discussions, with Srivastav running between the camps of A.K and Sharath, it was agreed to drop the junior artist from the movie. Pawan was immediately given a notice to leave the camp. As he was censured, Srivastav noticed the tears in his eyes that probably would have been born out of his frustration in being barred from the industry by one, and simultaneously getting beaten up by the other just to regale latter’s ego. But Srivastav never expected Pawan leaving the location by inflicting a big blow on his wobbling financial state.
A paramount part of the movie was to be made in a specially designed film set resembling a European locality. This was done to mitigate the cost that would surmount had, three major stars moved to Europe. The three actors would not make just 3 persons but a locality in its miniature version comprising of their secretaries, make-up artists, dining supervisor, chef (!!!!) and Srivastav virtually would had to turn upside down his exchequer to meet this cost. But much to the dismay of Srivastav, the cost of the set turned out to be a nuance away from the original cost had they moved to Europe. In a fit of rage, the very night he was shown the exit, Pawan lit fire on the set, an overheating leading to short circuit, and made his egress out of the location. Srivastav considered it as the last nail on the coffin.
The loss inflicted was severe for Srivastav. There was not substantial evidence to prove Pawan’s involvement in the disaster; had there been, it would have been his last day on earth. Sharmili thought. In their twenty years of married life, she had never see her husband, Srivastav as tensed as he was for the past 3 months, right from the first day the shooting began.
“Relax dear, why we can’t try for some financial help from other producers. Not every people would be unwilling to help” Sharmili tried to console.
Srivastav remained quiescent. He was in no mood take any console from anyone other than any prodigious offer to meet his losses and complete his film.
“Tomorrow, I am going to Mumbai. I will meet some financers and try to sort things out. “ Srivastav kept his head low to avoid his wife’s dubious look. “If anybody from the executive production team is here, tell them I would call them back in a week’s time.” Sharmili felt sad. Six months back, when her husband had unveiled the plan for a big budget film, her mind had said that her husband was only ready for the small fishes and a big fish was no-where in his plenary. But she did not deter her husband’s enthusiasm and his chance to make his dream a reality. For she believed hat dreams are the first doors shown by god to success although one had to put in the best shot for the door to open. Taking a deep breath inside and easing her mind of the tension surmounting them, she wished all luck to her husband in his endeavor; at least this is what she could do in this situation.
Srivastav had switched off his mobile intentionally. Apart from the irritating calls by the film correspondents, the secretaries of the various artists also kept disturbing him to rehash their roles and inquire about his stalled production. He didn’t take his driver to Mumbai. He was already feeling tired and bereft of ideas after all his appointments had failed to suffice. After three days wandering in Mumbai for the first time, on his way back home in the bus, he was searching his mind for answers how to confront his wife’s inquiries , and now that his children would be there too. He felt a pain in his chest and a discomfort with the pain being tenacious and moving from the center to the left. Sitting near the window seat of the bus, he closed his eyes and for a moment he saw his disfigured set coming back to normal with all the small European style huts of the set lighting up. He could see his lead artists sing and dance along the makeshift stream that was flowing in front of the huts. He couldn’t breathe for a moment as he desperately tried to call out his wife’s name to a passenger in front of him but in vain.
Chapter 4
Sharmili had tried the hundredth time to get her husband on phone. It was almost three days he had gone and she wanted to pass him this information that would make him the happiest man on earth. She didn’t know how her husband even did not mention about this to her during the past four months, since the shooting had begun. It seems that her husband had a good fore-vision and knowledge about the activities that a producer had to be reminiscent of before partaking in such big projects. She always believed that it was dreams that lead a man’s destiny and now she added one more to her adage. If dreams are the stepping stones for a man to reach his destiny, one will have to come out of the dreams to hold to the destiny. Sharmili tried one more time to reach him but met with no success. With that she took a black briefcase that was right under her watchful eyes all these days, and kept it inside the cupboard, took her keys tied to her belly and locked it.
Chapter 5
“Hello, Mr Amal Kapoor. It is me Srivastav. I am sorry I couldn’t talk with you all these days. This is my new Mobile number. We will resume the shooting. I have received some amount of money and would like to complete the shooting. The set will be ready in two week’s time. All your additional days lost will be compensated. We need to discuss some scenes. So kindly come to my guest house located in the south west of Bandra. Please. Ohk I will wait” The phone went off.
“Hello Mr Sharath Saxenajii. It is me Srivastav. I am sorry I couldn’t talk with you all these days. This is my new mobile number. We will resume the shooting. The set will be ready in two week’s time I will alter the climax to fit you the replete hero tag. All your additional days lost will be compensated. So please come to my guest house located in the south west of Bandra. Ohk I will wait” The phone went off.
Time and punctuality are no words for a star thought Amal kapoor. In his ten years of showbiz industry, being the most successful actor in the industry, he knew how to make the people wait for him. Not just his fans waiting to have a glimpse of him during the premiere, but big producers ready to spend days for an appointment with him. But he wanted Srivatav’s movie to resume and release in the theatres although at some time of shooting he wanted it stalled. Nothing miraculous in the script but at the end it is he who walks away with the heroine leaving Sharath effusive. Sharath might walk away with the film fare award but definitely, the cheers of the audience shall be with him. As his driver moved into the front yard of the guest house, he found Saxena’s car parked before him that really irked him for he expected a one-on-one conversation with the maker.
Sharath did hear the sound of the car approaching. He expected it to be Srivastav for he had just phoned him a few moments back and told him to be comfortable in the guest house. He was so happy to hear that climax shall be changed suiting to his interest. He had signed this movie not because of the magnanimity in the script but the encounter scene with A.K was designed with his masculinity out powering latter’s. But A.K walking away with the heroine, and already questions on who shall be Natasha’s choice did really made him go for a second thought into the script. However, this was compromised when A.K agreed to remove his look alike from the film. But, seeing A.K there in the guest house was an indication that the situation was still the same.
“ I saw the reviews of your movie Aag. It didn’t reach the 200 crore club like my previous films” A.K said.“ Crowd appeal does not merely come from big muscles”.
Sharath smiled. “People are also fed up with love stories. Two heroines, one hero, villain heroine’s dad blah blah.. The same old wine in new bottle. The crowd would gag you one day if you start portraying such pusillanimous characters who have no other ambitions in life other than love”.
Ever since their last confrontation together in a Media sponsored debate on remuneration of super stars, A.K never had a chance to subdue his imperium in the industry over Sharath. Absence of media and the unexpected presence of Sharath precipitated his contentious skills that he did not notice an old cringed figure all of a sudden, from inside, whisk away to the entrance door to lock it, unobtrusively. The squabbling between the stars continued when all the lights had gone, impairing their visibility. Oblivion in his face and frustration due to the debate, Sharath decided to walk out of the room. As he tried to push the knob down, he understood it was locked. A.K seemed weltered and it was his turn to make a try, but in vain. Both of them looked each other. It was clear from their brazen look; they were inconspicuous of the fact that they were deceived with the false pretension of script modification and compensation to be locked up in a room.
“Do'nt try to open it. It is of no use” A precocious sound diverted their attention.
The voice came from around the corner of the room.
“Who is this “ A.K inquired when from the corner appeared an old man with a shaggy beard, with a bend on his back. He was carrying a candle. For a moment, both the stars stood terror stricken at the figure that resembled a ghost.
For a moment, A.K and Sharath relinquished their rivalry by coming closer to each other, although out of fright, while the subject o f their fear moved the candle to his face .It was coherent, that the person standing in front of them was not Srivastav neither a dead soul.
“What do you want. You don’t know who we are, our power, social status” Sharath started in a timorous tone.
“ I want my son. Give him to me?” the old man replied monotonously.
“ What son..Let’s not waste our time here. I will call the police” A.K took out his mobile to dial when a raucous sound of gunshot ran through his ears.
“If you try to call anyone, I will shoot you down. Don’t test my skills Amal Kapoor. This is not your flimsy film” Pointing a gun at both, the old figure flashed a curt smile.
“ What is our connection with your son” Sharath was getting impatient.
“ You don’t know him. How could you not know my son” the old man started weeping. “ He came to this city with dreams and aspiration on becoming a successful actor. But he didn’t know what was in store for him” tears rolled down with occasional whimpers as the old man had stopped his narration. All of a sudden he laughed, with the sheepish grin of a sporty undergraduate who has ‘lost' his term paper yet again.
“ Tell me now. You don’t know him. Both of you, purportedly, removed him out of your movie”
For a moment, the entire events were countermanded in the minds of Sharath and A.K. It was clear the subject of their conversation was the very junior artist, who had to bear the brunt of being Sharath’s replica in the industry. The old man nudged his gun and pointed at sharath.
“ The last time he called me was to narrate his horrendous experience working in this film and erstwhile like his previous endeavors, a bleak future lay ahead in his hopes for being a successful actor. I haven’t spoken to him after that. Now, you have to tell me where my son is”
“ How should we know where your son is” stammered A.K
“Because one of you destroyed the set, to halt the movie and on witnessing it killed my son”
A tainted expression of disbelief was visible on their faces for the old man noticed the dissimilarity in its intensities.
“ What are you talking about. One of us destroyed the set?” Exclaimed Sharath.
“ Yes. I want to know what happened the night my son went missing” the rejoinder being two gun shots that seemed to miss them by a hairsbreadth distance. Behind their back they could feel the bullets hit on the wall with a smack.
“Yes speak it out or else both of you will face the consequences” the old man rumbled as he pulled up the gun closer
AK decided to message his driver from his mobile for help but much to his consternation, he found out that there was no signal range. Fully aware that the man infront of him was prepared, Sharath decided to move stealthily to the window across the room, banking on the old man’s age to get through. On attempting, he heard a strange sound of some machine, and with that he was pulled up entangled in a net from the ground. The net lifted him similar to a tiger being ensnared by the hunters and the strange sound came to halt. It took some time for both to reckon the situation for the net had come from oblivion, and for the first time Sharath felt a little creepy in the old man’s approach. A.k could not understand what was happening around him and he started trembling. He did not move and to him it seemed a situation in one of his army oriented movies when the director had told him that he had to move cautiously to make the audience feel the presence of mines in the area. He felt the old man has gone completely crazy and he would not be surprised to hear the building had been equipped with explosives.
“Speak up or else” saying this the old man lifted his flame up for a few minutes when suddenly a gush of water had hit A.K from the side, from the front , which blinded him for a minute. The water was directed towards sharath too. But suddenly, the water gushing stopped and sharath who was trapped in the net was immediately brought down with a bang. After an ensuing silence, the water gushing started and sharath was drawn up again. Then the old man blew up the candle. Suddenly there was a sound of growling seemingly that of the dogs. Alleviating their concerns, it was the dogs barking and the sound got louder.
“ I will feed you to my dogs now” the old man , who was not visible for A.K. Now the water gushing stopped, the barking sound increased when A.K tripped over a piece of furniture while moving in the darkness. As he tried to pull together from the fall, he saw a dog coming over to him with its mouth wide open. Immediately he jumped up and shouted out loud
“It was I who burnt the set”. A.K cried out loud. It seemed to him the impending danger was too much for him to bear. But as soon as A.K had finished saying that, the sounds had ceased. “But I didn’t kill your son”.
“You dog. Why did you do that” It was sharath from the top. “You did that on purpose to spoil my prospects of this year’s film fare award” sharath howled from the top.
“ You made me do it.” A.K turned his attention from Sharath to the darkness around him unable to trace the old man. But he held back his tongue as though he spoke out something that might expose himself.
“ You are lying” Sharath could not believe what he just heard for he was the reason why A.K had burnt the set. “ How could I be. You are the one who always delayed the shooting”
“A.K if you don’t speak up, my dogs will do the rest” the old man’s voice seemed shimmering.
“He was daily sleeping with Natasha. I didn’t want this to continue . The only idea that came to my mind was to terminate the shooting of the film. I asked my men to bring the set down” A.k was shivering while the words came out of his mouth.
“You were jealous” Sharath interrupted from the top. “You tried to woo her in your previous films too. But couldn’t. What useless are you A.K. Call yourself the romantic hero but a mere good for nothing piece of shit. Can’t even get woo your very own co-actress?”
“ Shut up” it seemed that Sharath had hit his ego. “She used you to feed her pleasures. You are nothing more than a b-rated porn actor which I think in the entire industry you are the most capable of”.
“ What about you. Check your own history. Havent you made an actress pregnant. Once when you knew that your career was at stake, you made her do an abortion. After that slowly you destroyed her career by forcefully using the producers to put her away from their movies.” Sharath was choking with rage when he finished his words.
Suddenly, the lights had come. The old man was clapping his hands. A.K noticed a dobberman tied to a pole. The old man then took a movie camera from a fixed stand in the corner, switched it off. He then slowly removed his wig. With widespread amazement on his faces, the total disbelief at seeing something inconceivable, there in front of A.K stood the very junior artist, who was presumed to be dead a few minutes ago.
“Thanks. Thanks for all”. Pawan was laughing out loud
Chapter 8
It almost takes 2 hours more to reach pune by bus than a taxi. With all the money he had, he could have called a taxi to reach Pune; but Pawan did not want to. He liked bus journeys a lot ever since his engineering hey days. After coming out from the college earning a bachelor’s degree from a reputed engineering university, he decided to turn to acting as profession. He had always dreamt of making it big in the film industry with fans and admiration hovering him. But a degree is worthless in the film industry, what it matters was lineage and luck with talents being slipped to the last position. Many a friends had told him he resembled one of the bankable stars in the industry Sharath and just because of that he had a few die hard girl friends in his college. But he never knew that his resemblance would turn out to be an encumbrance in his ambition. Sharath, an actor whom he admired, ensured that he did not receive any call sheet from his list of producers, while A.K used him in his movies to nourish his ego. When he received a call to act in a Sharath movie, he did agree for this film just to have a meeting with the star himself and clear out the wrong perceptions about him. But it didn’t turn out to be as he expected. When he was asked to leave the set, he had gone that night to meet Sharath. But he had seen sharath go into the room of Natasha and when was about to leave, saw A.K walk out from the quarters frustrated. Then he had come to know that the set was destroyed and the shooting had been stalled. He also came to know from his friends that the whole crew had believed that it was he who destroyed the set. Hearing about Srivastav’s dreary situation, he decided to help him out; but at the same time he wanted to prove his acting skills in front of the two reigning stars, who had left him paraplegic and pushed him to the brink of extinction in the industry.
With his engineering skills he decided to fabricate a set in a house, situated remotely, that seemed best to fit the circumstance. He set up woofers to produce the sound of dogs. He held with him an infra red activated radio system, whereby he could modulate the volume of the woofer to make feel that the dogs are approaching ephemerally. He brought a mobile phone jammer to to prevent cellular phones from receiving signals. He then rent on some motors and sensors and decided to use his engineering knowledge to work the situation out. He ensured that if one of them makes an attempt to escape, a proximity sensor was activated, which would in turn initiate a motor. The motor would the pull two ropes he had tied to its crank with a pulley. The ropes will lift a net which he attached to a carpet lying on the floor. He used another sensor to start a motor to jet water from the two corners of the room onto them by drawing water from the well with pipes. This sensor he attached to the roof in such a manner that when he raised the candle, the smoke from the candle would activate the sensor which would make the motor run with the help of a switch contact. He brought a fake gun with striking resemblance to the original, and he set a micro controller on it and when he presses the button, a laser light would be generated from the controller along with the sound of the gun shot. The laser light shall be acknowledged by a receiver chip placed in the micro controller, kept on opposite side of the room, which would a generate short circuit current that is able to break the fuse. This was how he managed to create a gunshot effect in front of them and behind their back and thus was successful in scaring them to an extent.
Pawan was however scared of one thing. A power cut would make all his attempts futile, hence he took the necessary precaution to get to the electricity office nearby and bribed the concerned with the false notion of a film shooting in the house, and hence an un-interruption of power to the house. But when for a short while, the power had gone, he felt that it was the end of his plan. Sharath entangled in the net had come down, the water gushing son A.K stopped but in a few minutes much to the delight of Pawan, the electricity was resumed and so all the activities.
He rented a night vision camera that could capture the actions in the night. He practiced his part with utmost perfection since any misdemeanor on his character would end up all his plans fruitless. All his actions were intended to make the actors reveal the truth on what happened that fateful night. The word of mouth of shooting in their locality ensured him the gathering he needed so that he could black mail the money them or else deliver the captured video to the people, waiting outside to catch a glimpse of the stars. He needed to repay the producer for the loss and moreover, truncating a small amount on the expenses incurred for renting all the items including the house and the loan he had taken from his friend, he proselytized the total amount the artists had to pay him for this truth to remain insular from the outside world.
An impish smile occupied his face not at the money he had amassed in this game neither that he would be returning the money to Srivastav to avoid any untoward incidents, but at his own acting ingenuity, posing as the old man in search of his son. He was sufficed at the expressions of the actors when he had removed his wig and make up from his face. He knew that his ambition had come to a dead end and that he would never make it to the cinema again for he did hand over the camera to them, in front of the crowd just to be on the safe side, and made his way out leaving them frustrated and odious. But Pawan was contented at this profanity. For the money he had gained was the price for his prowess. But he did feel uncanny; the way both the stars were looking at him after coming out of the guest house together. The exchange of money was done inside when both the two stars had given errands to their drivers to fetch the money from their secretaries. Amassing it in a briefcase, they handed it over to him with a daunting look that did raise jingles in his heart. Pawan kept the briefcase close to his heart as the winds from the ghats welcomed him to its territory.
Chapter 9
Sharmili was tensed as she kept trying the mobile to reach her husband. Earlier too when her husband had gone for some urgency, he never mentioned to her the improprieties of his journey; But on his return would be with her and dictate the ordeal he had gone through to make something possible. When there was a knock on the door, she had believed it to be her husband, which made her rush towards the door. On opening the door, with her empty eyes widening, she was surprised to see a young man, who resembled a film actor, standing in front of her with a black briefcase.
“Madam, I am from the insurance company” the man declared with a piquant smile. “There was an insurance claim from your husband Srivastav for his film set which got destroyed in the fire. After proper investigation, we had come to know that the set was burned by an electric failure unintentionally. So Mr. Srivastav had won his claim. Please take this money and sign on this paper”. With this the man advanced the briefcase to her and with a paper completely written by hand.
Sharmili couldn’t control her ecstasy and she felt similar to the prisoner, who being falsely incarcerated, was suddenly being freed from the jail. She knew her husband was in dire need of money and determinedly her inner sense had taken the decision not to the sent this person away for another day when her husband was available. Unhesitatingly she grabbed the briefcase from the man, who smiled back at her exultation. In the midst of the enchantment, she didn’t bother to ask which company did the man represent and whether the actual person’s presence is required to acquire the insurance amount. All she thought at that moment was that god had heard her prayers. She signed the papers swiftly, as she watched the young man spot a charming smile, bid farewell and leave the house. She took the brief case and placed it near the phone. She tried again to get her husband but his phone remained switched off. Dreams are definitely the gateway for success, a door that is to be pushed hard but once wide ajar would remain open throughout a life time. Sharmili thought with a glee.
Tearing the paper signed by Sharmili and throwing it into a trash can, Pawan was bustling with excitement. Happy to see Mrs. Srivastav’s smile while collecting the briefcase from him, Pawan learned one good thing from this although berated but worthwhile experience. Dreams are to be tamed. One should dream of only what one shall be capable to reach. Examples of all successful dreamers are truly lessons of life but countless dreamers who have failed have been in the dunk yard of history. Try to see dreams that can only be pursued and pursue it with full might. Pawan was smiling at this lesson of life because by the time he reaches home, there will be his appointment letter for recently concluded interview in his mail box. He was quite sure that he will do it one day.
END
