Part 75: Worshipped one moment. Peed on the next!

I had so many firsts with Gemini. Superduper blockbuster, the kind that only Rajinikant and Kamal Hassan had before. After Sethu and Dil, producers took ads in trade magazines, wishing me Gemini, I got seventeen ads--the highest ever for any actor in the state. I know. Cheap thrill! But hey! The craze that I people, women, men. The craze that my visit generated in Malaysia and Singapore.

Talking about Malaysia …I was there at a music store and guess what/ A lady came up to me and asked for my autograph. After the singing was over we discovered that she had dropped her cell phone. I picked it up and called her husband’s number from the directory and told him that my name is Vikram and that his wife had left her cell phone behind. The guy retorted right back, 'And I am the king ok England!' and hung up. I tried calling him twice after that and he threatened me with court action if I didn't quit harassing him! The next day, a sheepis-sounding man called and apologized. It was indeed the king of England. His queen had apparently verified and confirmed that she and indeed been to se me and had lost her phone in the crowd. He came by late to pick his wife's phone and almost cried with pleasure at having met me! Gemini did that, you know.

I was especially thrilled when a little paper delivery boy at the Mumbai airport grinned at me and shyly asked me,

`Isn't you the O Podu man?'

I also remember this other incident. I was going to Vadapalani and was stuck in traffic. All over I saw posters of Gemini on the walls. It was then I saw this guy. There was a temple to the side of the road he was on. The man quickly removed his shoes and folded his hands to goddness Muppathamman even as his head swiveled 180 degrees to take another quick look at the posters of Gemini on the wall opposite. The second he finished his cursory prayers to his goddess, the fan dashed out of there seemingly to finish some more pressing and urgent work. He quickly maneuvered himself through the traffic and across the crowded Doraiswamy subway to pay obeisance to his ‘other' god. His film hero. And in this case that hero happened to be me.

He stood on the pavement, smack in front of my poster on the dirty, paan-stained walls, and stared. A slow grin appeared on his face. He quietly nodded his head in approval.

After all, Gemini had just celebrated eighty days at the box office! The fan pondered for a while, and then hummed the mega hit song from the movie Gemini, Gemini under his breath. Next, amid the hustle and bustle of the crowds of Mambalam, the fan looked up and down and sideways to make sure no one was watching him and quickly made the O Padu sign to my picture on the wall.

He lingered on for some more time, quiet and thoughtful. Then, very matter-of-factly, he unzipped his fly and peed on my face!

That, my friend, is what cinema is all about!

Worshipped one moment. Peed on the next!

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