On a breezy normal Saturday, I get out of a multiplex along with a friend, after watching Vijay Sethupathi, Nayanthara, RJ Balaji, Parthiban and a couple of others who stick into your mind, because of the rolling-on-the-floor-and-laughing comedy that literally makes you spill all the butter popcorn. Of course I am talking about 'Naanum Rowdy Dhaan'. But this is not about the movie, but what happened after.
Just when I thought that 'this happy masala movie made my day', my friend had gone into a zone where me, the movie or the maddening people around in the multiplex-shopping-arena made no difference to her. I waved my hand in front of her face, I messed up her hair, (Oh! That is a big thing in a girls' world) and to top it off, I even stopped getting onto the elevator beside her. She just moved on as if all this didn't even happen or matter to her. She is an aspiring actress who has a few short films and advertisements to boast of. Oh my! Is she acting again? Just like the pranks she used to do at school? I wondered. But it was time to cut the crap. As I rushed and stopped her, I got her to realize what was going on. She then told me what was clearly the most annoying and unforgettable thing that could happen to anyone in their career.
When we sat down for a coffee, she started off by shocking the hell out of me by saying 'I was offered a Sanjay Leela Bhansali Film'.
"Oh My God!!! Who is the hero? Ranbir or Ranveer? Does it matter? They are both hot! Imagine the money! The costumes! Is it Sabyasachi or AnjuModi? Oh, I am so happy for you! Can I come for the shoot? Please!
Wait a minute, did you just say 'was offered'? Past tense? Noooooooo!!!"
As I hyperventilated in excitement and yelled out in the maximum pitch my voice could have ever reached and embarrassed everyone out there, I realized she should have been ten times as happy as me when she told it because after all it is her dream that is coming true.
She calmly exclaimed that she jumped up the same way like I did and went for the audition. I knew that with her ample talent and graceful acting, she would have conquered them in a single take. The assistant directors would have loved her, the hero couldn't have stopped raving about her looks, the director should have felt she was perfect for the role, the director’s wife would have even invited her to dinner, but my suspicious mind made me feel there was an 'if'/'but' attached to whatever she was going to say.
She then added that soon after the audition, while she was walking in the corridor, she saw a familiar-looking lady with a Gucci bag and RayBan shades get out of an Audi, greeting everyone on the way as if she had known them forever and was walking right past her as if she didn't even exist.
"Along with her was a clone of sorts, of the Gucci lady, only a younger version who looked like a store mannequin filled with branded clothes with tags you could probably only dream of buying. She walked in and out of the studio in minutes. But just in a flash, the whole team started showering her with the same praises they showered on me a minute ago. It was evident that my ticket was in her hands. She could have possibly not auditioned in such short time and even if she had, surely couldn't have cracked that scene. But she had that Gucci Godmother who made her life. She might probably be shooting for the movie now while we share my agony here", my friend Deepti said.
Deepti is 5.7, fair, slim, well-learned (MBA) just like all the goody-goody things that are always listed on a matrimony website, only this time, it’s all true. She is like beauty with brains and most of all is the kind of girl anybody would turn back to look at. How does a person like that, not get this role? Bad Luck? Or Industry Influence?
While I was still perplexed, she further clarifies, "The whole ‘apply, interview and qualify’ concept is so-not-true in this field. There is a lot of stigma attached to this job, especially because of the lack of a proper channel. You don’t just need to be pretty and talented, but you need a lot of industry contacts and influence. If you are a star’s daughter, it is a cake walk to enter the field but how you sustain is a whole new ballgame."
"But a bundle of talent will surely come in handy at some point of time, right?" I ask her in a mode to cheer her up, "But when?" she asks almost immediately, for a question I have no answer for.
Note - due to various reasons, the names are fictional, but the incident is true.
