"Camera ? Set ! At your position everybody ? Okay then, let's begin shall we ?" the interviewer spat at the team. The posters of the new upcoming movie covered the room as the actors were about to be welcomed. The room is filled with cameras and lights with pens scribbling across mini notebooks. The faces filled with apprehension as the lead had chosen to tie knot in an intimate ceremony breaking thousands of hearts across globes. Among the bobbling heads, some wanted to comment on the couple's fits, the lighting, the ceremonies, etc, while some sat at the edge of their seats, hands folded, questioning the actor’s ignorance to allow the media into their reception. Somehow the front line of an actor's career begins with building up good relations with the press media and ends with a chaotic and intimidated PR who cannot seem to stop their invasion into their personal lives. Yet somehow amidst the gushing buzz, the crowd was in a fix whether to question the tragedy that had mounted up recently. There's a loud cheer and the director Abhimanyu Kashyap enters the hall waving at the audience. Richa ( the host of the show ) hands out the microphone to him as she greets a small welcome and hello to the creator of the recent romantic hit "Bas Aur Ek Kahani'. Abhimanyu begins to thank the crowd and explains how the movie has impacted the youngsters all around India. “The agenda of our movie was not defining a new kind of love for the audience. It was more of a recruitment and rediscovery of old forms of love that has lost its way through the dampness of old letters and smiles” said Abhimanyu. A story after another went on when Abhimanyu announced “And with all the love in my heart and admiration for them, I welcome the two most beautiful curators of my story and vision - Nainika Shetty ( Lead Actress ) and Anav Rati (Lead Actor)”.
The cameras panned towards the entrance as shades of pink started flowing across the stage. The click of the blacks rhythmed with the heartbeats of fan boys who basically wanted to jump on the lady standing before them (typical Indian men). Nainika stepped onto the stage and was greeted by a warm welcome. What followed was the scream of women, yeah literally as the guy in black kurta stepped out of the back stage with a face that had stolen hearts years ago and somehow still was in more than perfect condition to turn a theft into a magic show. Anav”s presence against Nainika spoke volumes as everybody knew that she was a debutant or more than the movie, the entire discussion of this show might turn into something devastating. The three of them settled down on the couch nearby when a gush of questions started piling up. “The idea of the movie feels like a revisit to the world forgotten, what made you sign this as your debut?” asked Richa to Nainika. She unclasped her hands of nervosity and idealised her perceptions about the movie. “What about your characters, the chemistry, the compatibility, new generation dating ideas…blah blah blah,” the interrogation into the movie making felt like a bottomless pit. Clearly these questions were more important to our new debutant than the lead actor. Anav kept wiping up his sweat on the forehead and sipping on small coffees to at least pass through the another hour of the show before he can make up an excuse to escape from the event. This wasn't the first time that he has cooked up words to leave from an event because his views about promotions were quite satirical. Makhan marna as he called it. He was always in a rush in between these movies as he had projects lined up against his bedside. The last sip of his coffee demanded attention from an apprehending journalist who had just raised an eyebrow to whirl a set of questionnaires around his neck. “Sure, go ahead” he said. “The movie sets back into reality and yet away from it. Sources tell me that few parts of the movie have been inspired from your real life. Is it true?’ asked Kangna. Her voice had shooshed the mass behind her. “Nothing as such” came a grave reply. “You ended the shoot a month ago when your wife passed suddenly, did that affect your work in any way?”. Abhimanyu shot glares at the journalist. He wanted this session to flow as smoothly as it could have. Because he knew the pain that must be eating Anav up and yet being a close friend he showed enough mercy of his presence to complete the film and go to promotions as he had promised in the beginning. “Yeah it was difficult at the beginning but the work put me into the track” said Anav. The answer was indelible. The world had seen the actor fall in love with the girl he met years ago and now that she is gone not only has he maintained his demeanor but also carried himself really well. The simplicity of the answer was a gateway to the mob’s creativity. They demanded headings and he was willing to answer all of them like a child obedient to his homework. A soft young voice purred through the audience, “But sir how did you meet her?”. He gave a gentle nod and smiled with eyes small as that of a kitten who remembered its owner picking it up from a rainy street thinking that it was meant to finish the last piece of chicken in the owner's family. Its destiny the cat purred in the background.
Epilogue :
The last drop of condensation trickled down the hazy glass as she jotted down a heartbreak in her diary. It seemed casual with a soft drink on the side but the words that lingered on the pages didn't seem as light as the atmosphere around. The rain had seemed to surge its way through the clouds as it was already the end of June. This time as she wrote "cheers to new beginnings" she found herself smearing the gel ink through water blotted pages. Beginnings that felt like it had no end to the string she was trying to cut and yet now stumbling upon all these teenage memories which seemed to carry heavy but bittersweet moments could be traced down as words in her new journal. The new journal was a new kind of escape for her to disconnect from the world that she lives in. It takes her places that she doesn't know about. And like a child fixated over the balloon in the air she calls it ‘magic’. Her little sense of star dust mixed with her tears has somehow introduced her to a new friend. She calls him Kanha. So obviously the new set of story in her brown page would begin like,
“Dear Kanha, I promise to make through these new beginnings and leave the old ones. I promise to make it up to you for all the sins and mistakes I have left behind. And besides this I have nothing else to say Maadhav, for all I am yours and you're mine. And one day when the world strikes the right minute, I will meet you. You are all I want and I need.”
And that's how it started the never ending sleepless nights with nightmares and longest of long days with its daydreams.
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