Part 25
While all this was happening I suppose that the band and the other dancers were working through the general shots and close-ups. I expected that Damini would be dancing around at the dholaks to make it look like she was producing the sound we had created. For nearly an hour Anudeep and I worked with the dancers before the choreographer was happy.
Then we went for a shower and then got into our costume. If an Indian Princess is over the top, a Rajah and Ranee are several levels over that. I had enough silk and satin to dress three girls, as well as oversized jewellery and my hair was piled high on my head. I started out the scene in a silk chunni but was supposed to lower it to my shoulders during the dancing to denote my acceptance of my groom.
We then spent a half an hour with me learning to get off an elephant. Getting on was easy as I was lifted to it on a pallet and a forklift. Anudeep didn’t need any practise as he had done this hundreds of times. Finally we were led to the side door of the main sound stage and the director called for a new take. The music started and, after a minute or so, we made our entrance with our dancers swirling around us. I could see the look of absolute shock on the band members faces as we came onto the set. The elephants were stopped on their mark and the two of us dismounted and joined the dancers. We cavorted in separate groups and then came together just seconds before the end of the raga. He kissed me for real and I had my arms around his neck when the music stopped. We held it for a couple of seconds and broke apart with him saying “I think you got it.”
The director called for a lunch break and the elephants were led away, leaving it to the cleaners to rectify what they had left behind. Tavleen came up and gave me a hug, saying “I kept asking where you were and was told just to wait until you arrived. That was one hell of an entrance.” Anudeep and I were led away again and relieved of our heavy costume and given robes so we could enjoy our lunch. I saw Aganee sitting quietly and went over and pulled up another chair, saying “Well, Grandmother mine, what do you think of it now?” She laughed and told me that today had outshone all of the days before and that our entrance was an absolute hoot. “If only the folks back home could see you now.”
Anudeep came over to us and pulled up two chairs, sitting on one. The director joined us as well and said “Geet, that scene you just did would normally take three days and the lead actress would have tripped over at least fifteen times trying to dance. I have to tell you that I just looked at the entire take and cannot fault it. Anudeep has told you what we are plotting and I can tell you that if it comes out, all we would need to do is get you back for close-ups and it would be a wrap. Tonight we will look at the three videos and I will ask if anyone has any criticisms. I think there will be silence after that question. If that is the case we can let you go home as soon as we can get you on a flight. No! Make that the rest of the band can go home. I will ask Lajpal a favour to see if we can keep you back to record an overdub to your Dhawanee love song in Hindi, I have a friend transcribing it at the moment. Would you do that for me, please?" I smiled and said “nishchit roop sey.” (Certainly)
Anudeep slapped his knee and cracked up while the director looked amazed. Aganee laughed and said “I suppose living in a block with three hundred Indians some of the culture would rub off.” The director asked how much Hindi I had and I had to admit that it wasn’t much but I had absorbed the lilt and cadence of speaking the language to try and understand it when in a crowd speaking it. I told him it helped when I was busking as some Indians would tell me to shut up and fudge off in Hindi, expecting me to just smile. I told him that I learned a few choice words I could use in reply. Aganee said that she still could speak it and would help me if we had the lyrics transcribed. I knew that the song would have to be sung a little differently in order to say the same thing in the same time.
The director got the three of us to follow him to the post-production room where we sat in front of the screen and he showed us what they had put together. I could see his reasoning as the raga progressed with general views and close-ups of the band and then there was a fast pan to our entrance and we came in on cue and joined the dancing. At that point he said “I would normally add close-ups of the two of you looking at each other while you danced. That would be what will be needed if we progress to full production.” The scene reached its climax as we came together and the camera zoomed into our heads as the music stopped as we kissed. There was a few seconds silence and then the screen went black while we still had our lips locked. “That ending was a classic bit of Bollywood, Anudeep, well done.” Anudeep said “I couldn’t have pulled it off alone, you know.”
Aganee looked at Anudeep and asked “What about the rest of the band? If Geet comes back they need to be written in as sub-plots to make it believable.” Anudeep nodded and replied that it was something the original screenplay lacked and he would get to the screen-writers to see what they could come up with. “It will not go into production until after our tour in the UK and what will be my farewell tour here.”
Anudeep and I went to get back into our morning clothes and joined the others on the bus back to the hotel. I saw Lajpal with a look of shock on his face when we walked in, being far too early to have done the scene. I went to the lounge with Aganee and we got a drink while the rest of the band changed into their casual clothes. Janet joined us and sat sipping her drink for a while and then said “These few days have been like something in a dream. I keep expecting to wake up in my own bed but every time I do wake up it is to something crazier that the day before. I nearly shat my pantees when you guys came in on the elephants. It was like something out of a movie and then I realised it really was something out of a movie.”
I told her that it got crazier still from here on in. I related the scenario that Anudeep had laid out with me coming back to be the Ranee in the full movie. Then I told her that they wanted me to do an overdub in Hindi and that Aganee would stay behind with me when the rest of the band went home. “As long as I can get home for my wedding, it shouldn’t take more than a few days.” When I looked up I saw Guptar and Birgitta come into the lounge. They saw us and came over to join us. Birgitta said “Did we miss anything important?” and the rest of us nearly fell off our chairs laughing.
It took a half an hour and another drink to bring her up to speed. They sat there with dazed expressions as we got to the crux of the matter, that I may have to come back to make a movie. I said that it probably would not happen as I was sure to flunk a true screen test. That made Aganee snort into her gin and tonic and she said “That’ll be the day!” Lajpal came over and told us that tonight would be a smaller group than the previous dinners as the dancers have all been allowed to go home. However, he added that there would be a few extra dignitaries from the studio and the record company who would be shown the videos tonight to gauge their thoughts. They did, it seemed, hold the purse strings.
As it was getting closer to dinner time we needed to go and get changed. Tonight my dressers presented me a little black dress that was adorned with a zig-zag pattern in what looked like small pearls on the bodice. With the right hose and heels and my hair up I had a three strand pearl necklace and pearl drop added to my ears. I looked a bit like a movie star from the older days, looking into Tiffanys’ window. I was kept back to wait for Anudeep again, who was spiffing in his dinner suit. We entered the dining room to more applause and I wanted to tell them to stop. I think Anudeep felt my wants and said “Just lap it up, my lady; it can, and sometimes does, stop in an instant and all you have then are memories.”
So tonight I allowed them to treat me like a star and made sure the rest of the band were part of it. We had our meal and then Lajpal stood up and introduced one of the new guys as the head of the studio. This chap said that he hoped to see something tonight that would allow him to release funds into the new projects that had been proposed. He got a round of applause when he sat down and then the director stood up and said that tonight we would see the result of just four days very hard work from the stars and all of the supporting dancers. He said that the first video would be the one filmed the morning before and was a track off the Dhawanee album. He sat down and the video played. I watched Guptar and Birgitta as it played. As the applause followed it she looked at me with her jaw agape. I put my finger under my own and pushed up until she got her face back into the normal position.
The director then asked what the dignitaries thought and no-one had anything negative to say. The second video, he told them, was a track off the next Anudeep album and was a duet between him and Geet that would be part of the advertising for the album as well as for the upcoming tour. He said it was recorded on our first full day here. When the second video finished I looked at Birgitta again and she had a huge grin on her face this time. The dignitaries were again in favour of it being used and a couple commented on how good it looked and sounded, saying that it would go down well on the movie screen.
With movies in mind, it was time for the last video.
Marianne G 2021
