Monday, March 2, 2009

Reel and the Real...Continues...

Read Reel and the Real first to enjoy the story completely... :)

Pawan reached the airport in his Audi. He was followed by an Innova. Pawan noticed an unusually large number of policemen in the airport, “Is some VVIP coming…or have they arranged such a tight security for me…” he drove towards the Parking area.

As he was about to enter the Parking lot, an Inspector stopped his car and another knocked at the window. As he brought down the window, “Sir…a small enquiry…warrant is also there…but an arrest now may make your fans violent…so please co-operate with us and come with us to the station…” said the Inspector.

Pawan lost his cool; he started sweating,

“Station-aah…are u kidding…” “and warrant…who…who gave you the warrant…you want to talk to the home minister…”

“Sir…don’t try to create a scene over here…we have orders from Centre…”

“ATS, CBI and many others…everyone has separate warrants …so please…” said the other inspector.

“…else…we won’t mind to use force also…”

By this time the Innova was surrounded by policemen. Pawan saw that in the rear-view mirror. He understood that there is no other go, but to obey them.

“Ok…you go…I’ll follow you…”

“No Sir…we’ll come with you…we’ll drive the car…”

“Hmm ok…your wish…” and Pawan moved away from the driver’s seat.

Pawan was taken for ‘enquiry’ surrounded by scores of Police vehicle and the whole lot of people there were dumbstruck by the proceedings. Some believed that it was a rehearsal for the shoot, while some were searching for hidden cameras thinking it was a part of the shoot. But one man in the mob showed no surprise or wonder, as he was the one who informed the police about Pawan.

Hot-news crazy news channels had a lot to feed upon that day. Every news channel had nothing other than the arrest of ‘Mr. Patriot’ to tell about.

“Super Star Pawan Kumar Arrested”

“Super Star Pawan Kumar, fondly called by his fans as ‘Mr. Patriot’ and ‘The terror of Terror’, was arrested this morning with two others at the city Airport, ironically for suspected terrorist activities…Reports suggest that Pawan has links with international terrorist Aslam Khan…”

”Our sources also report that Rs 10 crores was recovered from Pawan’s ECR bungalow this morning…However, the city police refused to comment on this...”

“Fans of Pawan became violent as they conducted demonstrations in front of the Commissioner Office and Police Headquarters in the city…Scores of policemen and public were injured during the protest…Shops, private and public vehicles were also damaged by the violent fans…More than 100 fans of Pawan were arrested later and sent to prison…”

“The film fraternity expressed its shock over the proceedings…The president of Film Actors’ Welfare Association told us that he believed Pawan was innocent and that would be meeting Pawan in the prison soon, he also extended him a whole-hearted support from the FAWA…”

Sometime in the afternoon the DGP of the state was at a press conference, briefing about the case.

“Last night…around 7…we received a call…he told us that…like…some terrorists are planning to attack our airport and actor Pawan is also involved in the conspiracy…”

“But Sir…? How can you believe an anonymous caller…that too when it was directed at a VVIP like Pawan Kumar…?”

“Yes…he told he had evidence…he was also ready to present it to us…then in less than 30 minutes he presented the evidence to us…”

“Based on that we contacted Pawan…in the disguise of collecting information about the next day’s airport shoot…many details he told us then matched with the evidence…one of them was the two terrorists who came with him this morning…”

“But Sir…who was the informer…what was the evidence…”

“Sorry…he chose to remain anonymous…Thank you…”

It was past 5 in the afternoon, Raghuram was playing chess with his 15 years old son, who is a fanatic of Pawan just like Raghu was. Even though Raghu was playing chess, his eyes were glued to the television. He was watching the news and the news sill had Pawan in the headlines. Seeing his dad concentrating more in the news than in the game, he played foul.

“Check!!!” he said

“Hmm…what…” Raghu was still not in the game.

“Check ppa…”

Raghu looked carefully at the board and found that his son, in whom he had immense belief, has cheated. This foul play flashed an incident that happened the earlier day, which was yet another instance when someone whom he believed had broken it. The incident is…
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It was past 6:30 in the evening, Raghu made a call from his phone to Pawan. The line got connected even without a single ring.

He was just about to say “Hello…”, but before that he heard something which made him speechless. In fact Pawan was speaking with someone else, and his call got connected as a cross-talk. The conversation between Pawan and the other person left Raghu almost breathless.

“…two of our guys tomorrow…you had to make a map for the Airport Operation na…tomorrow we are having…” these words coming out from Pawan’s mouth made Raghu feel weak and feeble.

But he came back to normalcy immediately, understanding the significance of this conversation and how he can avoid a major mishap. He started recording the conversation on his cell phone. The recorded conversation presented to the Police as evidence went on as…

“…them there as my Personal make-up man or Hair designer…that idiot director has got permission to shoot in any corner of the airport…that makes our job so easy, we can make a detailed map of the airport…”

“Waah…Waah…great news…Inshaah Allaah…everything will be fine…will send two guys tomorrow morning…” he replied with a calm husky voice.

“And one more thing Bhai…please don’t send those Pakistani guys…send someone who knows Tamil and looks like a local …and send only two guys…also Bhai, send along with them two ‘big’ suitcases each”

“Haa…haaa…haaa…I know that…don’t worry…and money…two cases will come tomorrow…rest…Inshaah Allaah…after the work is done…haa…haaa…ha…”

“Thanks Bhai…Salaam Bhai…”

Raghu was sweating as he was hearing the whole conversation without even batting his eyelids. He was still not able to believe that such an act is done by Pawan, whom he loved and respected so much.

Raghu then dialed 100 and informed who he was and told that he had a very confidential information and that he wanted to talk to the DGP directly regarding that. He then met the DGP and handed the recording to him. And as they say, Rest is History…
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“Pa…which world are you in…?”

“What are you thinking pa…??”

“Everything will be alright pa…Pawan is definitely going to come out safe…do you think he can ever do such a thing…Impossible pa…Impossible…” he stressed so much on the ‘impossible’ without knowing that it was his father who sent Pawan to jail.

“Let him come out…you will finish directing your first movie…sure pa…”

Raghu was not listening to what his son was saying. He was still lost. He got his first shock when he cross-heard Pawan talking to a terrorist last night when he called him to update about the costumes to be worn the next day, and today his son cheating him. Even though this was not a big offense, Raghu was feeling let-down. He was trying hard to keep his emotions in control and he was successful, last night and even now.

“Pa...Check ppa…” Raghu was pulled back to the present.

“Ya…ya…I’m playing…one second…”

Raghu looked at the board carefully. He noticed that, in the attempt to cheat and check the White King, he left his King open. Raghu made a move and said “Checkmate”. Raghu saw guilt in his son’s eyes and also tears filling it. Calmly Raghu started speaking.

“Come on…Look here da…mistakes happen…its ok…but never repeat it…keep that in mind…”

“…and…one more thing…never ever think you can win taking the wrong route…you may look like winning…but it will be temporary…just like the ‘Check’ you gave me…truth always wins…Always!!!”

Raghu felt relieved. He was not able to tell Pawan what he wanted to, but he was able to lead his son to the right path conveying the same message. This made him feel happy and satisfied.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Reel and the Real...

A quiet place in the outskirts of the city, it was almost evening, it was getting darker.

There was a gunshot, and a few more followed that. An ‘Encounter’ was taking place in that old, damaged factory building. Major Vikram, the chief of Commando force was the one-man army dealing with the terrorists who were hiding in that building. He was skillfully escaping from the bullets fired from the AK47s of the terrorists at the same time shooting back with his gun. The well built Major, who was in his early 40s, was fighting fiercely with the terrorists. The terrorists were not able to stand against his agility and speed. They either became a prey to his immaculate accuracy in shooting or his stunning command in the martial arts.

After a fierce battle for around 20 minutes, bodies of more than 10 militants lay lifeless all around that dark building. Major started walking calmly dusting away the dirt on his black uniform. The crane with the camera moved up to can the top-view of that shot.

“Cut it…” “Excellent shot sir…fantastic…chanceless performance…” exclaimed the debut director who was heavily impressed by the veteran actor’s performance in that scene.

Sitting on his chair with a smile ‘The Terror of Terror’ ‘Mr. Patriot’ Pawan Kumar said, “What big deal Sir…I’m blessed enough to show my real life passion in front of the camera too…I love my country and always love to fight for the good…that’s what I say and do on the screen too…”

“No Sir…you are being too modest…you do these characters so wonderfully that even the real Commandos will not match your body language…they will have to take lessons from you Sir…”

“No No sir…you are praising me too much…”

As the conversation was going on, Pawan turned towards his secretary, and he placed a Davidoff cigarette on his lips and lit it. Pawan started smoking it with deep passion.

“Pawan Sir…you get ready for the next scene…I will ask the associate to make arrangements for the scene…” said the director and he moved away.

Just as the director moved away, Pawan made a call from his cell phone. As he started talking, he stood up in respect dropped the cigarette down and also lowered his tone, also indicated his Secretary to move away. The phone conversation went on like this…

“Salaam Bhai…”

“………”

“Yaya…Im talking from our shooting spot only…”

“………”

“It’s going fine Bhai…Its all your blessing…It’s just my name as producer…Its all your money na Bhai…”

“………”

“Yes Bhai…It’s a military officer role in this one also…just now shot down some 10-12 guys…” and giggles.

“………”

“Ok Bhai…how are our guys doing…Is everything going fine…”

“Hello…Hello…is this Pawan Sir…Sir…Im you fan Sir…My name is…” someone interfered in their conversation.

“Shit!!! Seems like a cross-talk…God knows how these a******s get my number…And this cross-talk also…I should first shoot the bloody service-providers…”

“Ok Bhai…Will call u after the shooting…Salaam Bhai…”

“………”

At the same time, director discussing with his associate was all praises for his hero.

“Ohh…What a man…See his fitness and dedication even at this age…What dialogue delivery man…chance-less…and the the fire in his dialogs, he will give any hero a run for his money…and you know,people talk bad about this man also…I can’t imagine how they can talk ill about such a good man…he is doing so much for the country also…be it Kargil or tsunami, whatever the issue…he is donating so much man…”

He went on praising Pawan and his associate was nodding in affirmation.

Time was past six in the evening, “Packup…” said the director. He then moved to Pawan, who was about to leave home in his Audi SUV.

“Sir…we can finish the Airport fight scene tomorrow…I talked to the minister and got all the permissions for the shoot…”

“Wow!!! That’s great news… really great news…”

“Ya…but the bloody minister…he really made us beg for it…he also demanded more money this time…”

“Ohh…that’s okay…and what can we do…if everything has to go according to our plan, sometimes we have to shell out some extra money…but anyways, that Airport sequence will be one of our USPs…so never mind sir…” consoled Pawan.

“Yes sir…that’s also correct…we have permission to shoot in any corner of the Airport…We’ll just make full use of it…we’ll make this chase sequence a never-seen-before one…”

“Yaya…definitely…” said Pawan and moved off in his SUV.

“See man…what a professional…he is just concerned about the movie…not about the few extra millions shelled out for the purpose…he is the REAL HERO man…” said the hero-obsessed director to his associate.

Around the same time, Pawan, who was now driving to his farm house in the ECR, made a call to ‘Bhai’.

“Hello Bhai…some serious news for you…”

“………”

“Send two of our guys tomorrow…you had to make a map for the Airport Operation na…tomorrow we are having the shooting at Airport only…if u send them, I will take them there as my Personal make-up man or Hair designer…that idiot director has got permission to shoot in any corner of the airport…that makes our job so easy, we can make a detailed map of the airport…”

“………”

“And one more thing Bhai…please don’t send those Pakistani guys…send someone who knows Tamil and looks like a local…and send only two guys…also Bhai, send along with them two ‘big’ suitcases each”

“………”

“Thanks Bhai…Salaam Bhai…”

With a weird and cruel smile running across his lips, Pawan cut the call and lighted a Davidoff himself and started smoking. The smoke he let out went out of the open car window, and faded into oblivion, just like their conversation…

Or did it…?

To be continued…

Friday, January 23, 2009

First Love...Forever...

Anand was staring at his Laptop screen impatiently intermittently checking his watch. He tapped his watch as if it was not working properly and was wondering why time was moving so slowly that night. In fact he was wondering why it’s not 10:30 pm yet. In the midst of this frustration he slowly slipped into the past and started relishing his sweet memories.

He nostalgically travelled down the memory lane on how they met and how the relationship grew and flourished. In fact, they have never met. They are Orkut friends. He very well remembered the day, around seven months back, when he scrapped Sandhya. He scrapped her thinking it was his college friend’s profile. Sandhya promptly replied that she was a just a namesake and she didn’t know this Anand. It must have ended there, but Anand noted some common interests they shared like A. R. Rahman, Mohammed Rafi, etc and tried to be friends with her. She also agreed and accepted his Friend’s request.

Slowly their friendship grew stronger, they chatted more often, the topics of discussion widened from Rahman and music to anything under the sun, wrote testimonials for each other in Orkut. Once they developed a mutual trust, they exchanged phone numbers. Text messages were exchanged aplenty; also they started talking over phone and messenger whenever time permitted. He was enjoying these days especially the transition from friendship to love, a love that bloomed just through conversations, even without knowing how she looked. He was mad about his love, a very unique one according to him. He used to be proud of himself for his love.

He was pulled back to the present when the clock struck at 11. In their conversation that afternoon she had told him to be online by 10:30 pm and that she would be available by then. But now, the time was past 11 and she was still offline. He was getting restless and a bit worried and just then she came online and pinged him, “Sorry Dear…Im late…Im callin u…” was the message. Then they started their routine conversation, explaining each and every events of the day ranging from food to clothes, lectures to breaks, work to play, pulling each other’s legs, etc, etc.

Time kept flying and, it should have been just a couple of minutes past 12:00, he heard some blasts from her side. When he asked what it was, she replied

“Seems like it’s some guy’s Birthday…so they are bursting crackers in Boys Hostel…”
“Well…gimme a minute…lemme see whats happening…and I’ll be back…” she continued.

And she left her system without waiting for his reply.

She was back in a couple of minutes with a message “Hey…Im back…”

They had not even resumed their conversation and there was some noise in her room. He could not hear it clearly, but he heard some words like “Happy…Happy…Hmm...Enjoy…Hmm…Enjoy…Birthday…” and some loud laughter. Nonetheless he was able to understand that they were making fun of Sandhya.

“Hey…Whats happening…seems they are pulling your legs…whats the matter…?”
“Err…Nothing…Just like that…they are always like that…”

She was trying to play it down and sounded like she was blushing. She had always been straightforward and her blushing now made Anand more curious and he started asking more questions. Moreover he imagined that they were making fun of Sandhya and him as a pair. He wanted to hear that from her, so he insisted her to tell what her friends were telling. She tried her best to keep mum, but when he insisted her so much, she obliged

“Ok…ok…ok…I will tell…”

He became jubilant, and did a small rehearsal as to what she would be telling and what is to be said in reply.

“Well…they were teasing me with you…they think we are in love…”
“Ohh…is it…”
“Ya…nowadays we spend a lotta time on phone and messenger na…that’s why…”
“Well…whats wrong in it…they spoke our mind …that’s all na…”


This way, he wanted to do the proposal in a simple manner. Yes, even though they were very close to each other, they had never proposed or confessed their love. So Anand thought this was the ideal opportunity for them to break the ice.

She broke his rehearsal in between and continued,

“Well…I wanted to tell this for a long time…but…then…like…I was feeling a bit…”

He was getting overjoyed by this and confirmed that she was on the verge of proposing him. And he was getting ready to say, “Same here Sandy…”

She continued, “I told it’s a guys Birthday in Boys Hostel…right…”

All of a sudden Anand felt like “What the hell…who is he…” His puzzled state became even worse when she continued

“…Well...he is Gautam…hmm…well…he is my boy friend…”

Anand just heard that dreaded word ‘boy friend’ from her mouth and he felt like the world under his chair opened up and he slipped through a crevice. He just wondered if he could just wake up to find that all of this was just a nightmare. In fact he was not exactly wrong, as it was indeed a nightmare for him, but a real one.

“He treated me today itself…tomorrow he will be with his friends, and we wanted to spend time alone…so we went out today itself…and you know that’s why I was late tonight…”

She kept on talking, not even expecting a reply from Anand. But Anand was hardly listening to what she was talking; he was in a world of his own. He wanted to cry aloud; he was finding it very hard to control his emotions.

“Was my love just a mirage? Didn’t she really love me?? Was I foolish enough to confuse between friendship and love??? Or is she kidding me????”

A ton of such questions choked him.

“Hello…Hello…are you there da…” her loud enquiry made him partly conscious.
“Ya…ya…Im here…” A totally lost Anand answered, “And ya…Since when…” he continued.
“What since when…” and after a pause she continued “Ohh…that…It’s been more than 2 years now…I told just now right…What happened…?”
“No…err…ya…u told na…ya… ya…I asked just like that…” he tried to evade her question.

He found himself to be a loser imagining a non-existent love. The anguish of his love fading away even before it bloomed made him feel even worse. He consoled himself saying “She was someone else’s even before you knew her...” He even went a step forward thinking “Maybe if she had known me before she met him…”

In the midst of all these emotional turmoil his fingers were mechanically playing on his laptop keyboard.

He ‘un-joined’ the 5900 member strong ‘First Love’ community and requested to join the 29000 member strong ‘I cannot Forget my First Love’ community. His request was immediately accepted!! The community welcomed him with the words “…no matter how much pain it has caused, no matter how many tears have fallen, first love will never leave my soul...”

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The First Step...

Here I am. After repeated demands from my friends to write in English (not because Im a good writer in English, but because they cannot read my Tamil blog...:P), Im taking the first step in that direction.

Ever since the idea of writing sprung up in me, I was always reluctant to write in this language, the reason being my excellent command in the language (lol...jus kidding... :P). So I chose my mother tongue Tamil as the medium of my writing. But now, almost 6 months after posting my first Tamil blog, I understand that to reach out to the wider spectra of audience, English is the right language.

Thanks to my friends and this thought, Ive decided to put up my random thoughts in this blog. I request your support and encouragement (like u gave before I started writing in English...Pls dont ask me to stop writing in English after u read my posts...:P), send in your comments and correct my mistakes and help me improve my language.

Thanks All,

Vignesh