What else could I do? I mean what else did I know? Apart from that one year at Lintas, I had no experience in anything else except the world of cinema. What would I do? Learn computer software? BASIC and COBOL? Just the mere thought was boring!
Mean while Balumahendra Sir called me for the movie ‘Raman Abdulla’. He asked for bulk dates. And I had to give those dates, which was quite impossible.
I couldn’t do anything as I was doing Vikraman’s ‘Pudiya mannargal’. It was only half the way, and the shooting was stopped.
Everyone told me that at some point you have to let go. Before it got too late. The time had come. I saw some point in everyone’s argument. They all had my well-being at heart after all.
I listened to them. And told them seriously to go take a hike!
That was when Mani Ratnam called. For the Bombay screen test. And I walked around smug. I met him thrice. It was worth the wait.
And suddenly the sniggers stopped.
The questions evaporated.
In Chennai you have ‘arrived’ if you as much as even tested form him. And here I was, on the verge of being signed by him as the hero.
It was my turn. I just knew it. How could I go wrong now? I would be acting in Ratnam’s first film in Hindi. Opposite the hot ‘n’ happening Manisha Koirala!
I was on cloud nine. I was not in a mood to have food or to sleep. After all how could I?
I was so happy. Didn’t have food or good sleep out of happiness.
I went to the photo shoot, me, and Manisha Koirala. Morning the photo shoot was for me and in the evening it was for Manisha. Till the date when it comes to photo shoot I get tensed. If it is video camera I don’t bother. In front of a mo
vie camera, when the director says ‘action’, I can barely hold myself back. I mean, I can cry, get mad and fell pain. At will. But in a photo shoot, where I have to ‘hold’ on to a feeling, I never can manage. Being fluid is easy. Being still has always been and still is so bloody hard.
I had beard back then. Mani Ratnam said that I should shave my beard. The beard was necessary for one of the films I was acting, it was shot only half way, and the shooting was stopped. If I shaved, then it would have affected the film.
What I heard from everyone was Mani Sir liked me a lot. I was told that he would call me any time now and tell me about the schedule and other details.
Till that time I was able to reach Mani Sir easily. Thereafter I could not reach him at all.
Whenever I called to talk to him they used to say, “Oh ! Just now he left.” I know how much I tried to contact him.
Slowly I felt like he (Mani Sir) left my hand.
The phone rings.
Sometimes I feel like I represent every cliché in the world.
Very promptly my heart thuds. I am so excited. Blood rushes to my ears. Or does it rush to my eyes? Who knows? My body feels light, like I am in space.
I am waiting for the call of a lifetime- a call that every actor in Chennai, every actor in India waits for. Some admit it openly. Others pretend it doesn’t matter. But it does. Trust me. Short to deifying him, he is the god from who every actor waits for a call. And I, Kenny, aka Vikram, am going to be the hero of his film-a film that will be made not just in Tamil but also get a nationwide release in Hindi. What more could I ask for?
This is going to be my ticket to stardom. I can just feel it.
I know it’s him! My Mani Sir! I am so happy. My dream of many years is finally coming true!
I walk towards the phone almost in slow motion and pick up the receiver.
‘Hello?’
‘Vikram, this is Mala.’
My best friend!
‘Did you know that Mani Ratnam has signed Arvind Swamy as the hero for Bombay? It’s in all the Tamil magazines. What happened? I thought you were doing the film.'
Click...........
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