Another Time, Another Place

I saw her point when just a few days ago I met her on the sets of Rajmahal, at Essel Studio. As I walked into the huge Dharam Veer-like set, horses and swordsmen were milling to and fro in the heat and dust of the afternoon. I spotted Neetu dressed in a flaming orange costume with gold sequins shining in the sunlight. Playing a princess in the film, she was adorned with jewels and a fancy crown. Holding her flowing trail in one hand she was using the other to shake hands with everybody, from the cameraman to the director. It was her last day with the unit and there were murmurs of congratulations in the air. Someone was even distributing ladoos.

8216;8216;I reached the studio at the dot of eight in the morning,8217;8217; she gasped. 8216;8216;Can you believe this? In my entire career I have never reached my sets before 10.30 am, but it was worth missing those few winks. Do you know, between 9 am and 11 am, my director has taken 52 shots? I feel I8217;m just breathing work these days. In the coming three days I should be completing three more films. My deadline is January 16.8221;

8216;8216;I would have preferred to end my career on the last day with Rishi. Unfortunately, Dhan Daulat was the last of our films together. The last time we met was on the New Year. According to the Punjabi custom, the bride and the groom are not supposed to see each other for two weeks before the wedding. Today is only the fifth and I still have 17 days to go for the wedding. This morning while I was coming to Chembur for my shooting, he was leaving home for his shooting. As our cars crossed, at almost the same time both of us ducked, so that we wouldn8217;t see each other. My driver looked at his driver, they smiled, and we went our separate ways. Isn8217;t that hilarious?8217;8217;

At home, in Shailaja Apartments, the atmosphere is buzzing with excitement. Everybody is full of what they8217;ll do and what they8217;ll wear. At nights when the ladies of the house played dholkis, the mother and daughter had weeping sessions. Neetu said, 8216;8216;I8217;m very attached to Tanya her pet, and it would have been lovely if I could take her with me as a part of my trousseau, but mummy would never allow it.8217;8217;

8216;8216;N-e-v-e-r,8217;8217; added Mrs Singh emphatically. 8216;8216;Do I want to die? The house will be empty and lonely once my daughter is married. I need Tanya. For the past many years, since Do Kaliyan, it8217;s been a hectic life8212;shootings, dubbing, outdoors. Moreover, the wedding preparations have kept me so occupied that the contrast will be unbearable. Much as I wish the sun, moon and world for my daughter, I tremble at the mere thought of parting.8217;8217;

In the office downstairs, Rishi8217;s childhood friend described the RK cottage as a madhouse. 8216;8216;Anyone who enters the house is drowned with work. Everyone is screaming because nobody can cope with the tension. Papaji Raj Kapoor does not get very excited, but bhabhiji Krishna Kapoor is hyper and by the time the wedding is over, she8217;ll be a bundle of nerves. Her blood pressure shoots while organising a small dinner party8212;you can imagine how the tension must be these days. Rishi, of course, takes the cake. Unconcerned with all the preparations, he is busy with his shooting.8217;8217;

8216;8216;Exactly like me,8217;8217; chuckled Neetu. 8216;8216;I8217;ve not helped a wee bit in the preparation. Not even in my own shopping. Mummy has chosen my entire trousseau. These days I8217;m observing maieeya8212;it8217;s a custom where the to-be-bride is deliberately under-dressed before the wedding so that she looks ravishing on the big day. Unfortunately, I8217;ve had to wear make-up for my shootings but I believe that these traditions have a meaning. Thank god no tradition censors phone calls. If I don8217;t speak to him, I can8217;t live. I can8217;t concentrate. I can8217;t work.8217;8217;

Nor can Rishi, it seems. All these days he8217;d been sending Neetu a bouquet of roses every day through his chauffeur Tukaram.

8216;8216;For two years, until we have bought and decorated a home of our own, we8217;ll be living at Chembur with his parents. Even Dabboo and Babita did that. After seven years of romance, this would be refreshing for the relationship. Besides, bhabhi said that those two years were the best years of her life. My in-laws are great at fussing over you. This is my only opportunity to get to know them better.8217;8217; What about her honeymoon? 8216;8216;Hawaii and Singapore,8217;8217; she said blushing.

Excerpted from Take 25 by Bhawana Somaaya, Sambhav Publishers