He asked Pandu to take a rickshaw and go home while he drove Trisha back home. All the way Trisha held his arm like a baby.
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Chika was angry, he thought ‘Our system teaches Indian men to disrespect women; one day it will change, but who knows how many women will need to be raped and killed for the change to happen!’
He looked at Trisha’s scared innocent face and smiled reassuringly, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger my dear,” he whispered.
Of course, Trisha couldn’t hear him. She was fast asleep. Her hand holding his arm firmly and her head on his shoulders.
Chika smiled again and leaned his shoulder a little more towards her so that she could rest her head comfortably and drove.
Rashmi was waiting for them when they reached home.
“Ohh Sweety … are you all right?” She asked as she hugged her tightly.
“It was horrible. I was so scared in the bathroom. Then Chika Uncle saved us and taught those hooligans a lesson!”
Rashmi smiled and looked endearingly at Chika.
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“I better get going,” said an embarrassed Chika, getting up.
“No way are you leaving without tea and breakfast” scolded Rashmi and quickly rustled up some tea and some homemade cookies.
At breakfast, the three decided not to tell Shekhar about the escapade.
For the next few days, Trisha seemed to be hung up on Chika. She would call him every day and find every pretext to be with him.
Chika liked the young, intelligent, pretty girl a lot and did not mind her company though he found it a little strange.
Trisha had lost her appetite and was losing weight rapidly. She would continuously run a slight temperature and have frequent headaches. She was afraid to sleep alone and Rashmi who gave her company, often found her waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat.
“Poor thing,” she confided in Chika, “it must be the trauma that she went through with the hooligans.”
“Yeah,” responded Chika, “Maybe you should take her to meet a counsellor. Rita will know a few good ones.”
Rita referred them to Dr Chitra Mukherjee. After
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a couple of meetings with Trisha, Dr Mukherjee asked Rashmi to meet her in private to discuss something very important.
A tense Rashmi met Dr Mukherjee the same evening.
Dr Mukherjee had a concerned look on her face. “Trisha has been through a traumatic experience,” she explained, “but I do not think that her symptoms are psychological. I think you should have her checked. Something somewhere is not right.”
“You should ask your family doctor to initiate a full body check-up.” she continued.
At that very moment, Trisha was sitting in Chika’s cabin with him.
“I love you,” she blurted out, the moment the administrative assistant who had come into the cabin to have some cheques signed, left.
“I beg your pardon?” Chika was flattered and
amused.
“It is not like I want to jump into bed with you. I know you are 14 years older than me. I even know you are doing my step mom. In fact, I
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haven’t seen her so happy in years. I still love you and I don’t care if you are sleeping with my step mom or anyone else!”
Chika couldn’t help but admire her guts.
He looked tenderly at her and held her hand.
“Sweets, I love you too,” he said softly, “but not like that. And you very well know it can never happen between us.”
“I don’t care. Just promise me you will be on my side till I die.”
“That, I promise. Now Sweets, you better get home, Rashmi will be worried.”
“You are more worried about her than me,” she retorted, “but still, I don’t care!” She smiled and got up to leave. Her smile instantly lighting up the room.
“Should I ask Pandu to drop you?” he asked.
“No I will take a rickshaw,” she replied on her way out.
Roy who had just reached the office after a hectic meeting with the Film Exhibitors Association, smiled at Chika’s predicament.
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“Woman trouble, eh?”
“Ahh … is there any other kind?!” replied Chika rhetorically, shaking his head.
“Tell me what happened at the meeting. I want to get my head out of this fucking muddle!”
“Well, it is sorted out. They were opposing our ticket price hike, but in the end they came around.”
“Great work. And how is my little poppet, I can’t believe she will be 8 next month. I haven’t seen her in a week now.”
“Yeah, Zaa was complaining that Chika Uncle doesn’t love her anymore!”
Chika laughed, “That means, I will need to get Swiss chocolates this time.”
Roy smiled back, “That should do the trick.”
Just then, Chika’s phone rang. It was Rashmi. She filled him in about the conversation with Dr Mukherjee. Roy could see concern on his best friend’s face.
“I will take an appointment with Dr Pant, the general physician at St. Mary’s.”
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Dr Pant was a jovial old man who would put patients at ease instantly. He joked and chatted with Trisha as he examined her. He prescribed her some tonics and asked for blood tests to be conducted.
“She is a bit pale, looks like her body is fighting an infection,” he concluded, “the blood tests will reveal more. Let us wait for the reports.”
Three days later, they were sitting opposite Dr Pant again, with the blood reports.
“Hmmmm…” he reacted after going through the reports cursorily, “the WBC count is high, that means the body is fighting an infection.”
“Infection? Where??” asked Chika.
“Can’t say that from the blood report,” continued the doctor cheerfully, “But I will put her under broad spectrum antibiotics for 10 days, that should take care of the infection.”
“Is there anything to worry about?” there was concern in Rashmi’s voice.
“Yes...” replied the jovial old fellow, “My fees! I just hiked it last month.”
They all laughed aloud. Rashmi couldn’t help but notice that Trisha was holding on to Chika’s elbow throughout the meeting with the doctor. She felt a momentary pang of jealousy, but she dismissed the thought immediately.
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They hadn’t told Shekhar about Trisha’s illness. He had health issues of his own and no time to spare with the release of Vikram being around the corner.
Meanwhile, Roy and Ballu were looking at new technologies to save cost. One of the biggest expenses was to make multiple prints of the film and the logistics of rushing the films ‘just in time’ to the cinema houses.
A relatively unknown company had come out with a solution. The entire film could be transmitted digitally and directly onto the projection system through a dedicated satellite with perfect ‘to the second’ scheduling.
It was an idea whose time had come because in the last few years, malls and multiplexes had begun mushrooming in the Metros. All these multiplexes were equipped with high tech digital projection systems.
“This is the future,” remarked Ballu to Roy after the presentation, “within 10 to 15 years multiplexes will come up in every town and village in India. The days of the film print are over!”
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Roy and Ballu decided to experiment with the new technology in the urban multiplexes and go with the traditional print route in the mini metros, towns and villages.
These decisions fell in their ambit and Chika had little to do with it. Chika was looking after the finances and his primary goal was to make good the 50 crores owed to Raja.
The distribution rights were sold for Rs 20 crores. The merchandising of the comic book characters and subsequent royalties had fetched Rs 5 crores. The music rights a
nd sales had fetched another 5 crores. So they had 30 crores in the bank plus an earlier balance of 3 crores.
Chika decided to transfer Rs 25 crores to Raja’s off shore account and keep the rest for marketing the film.
“50% of the loan cleared,” he told Roy, “looks like we will be out of the woods and my dad won’t have to part with his resort in Lonavla.”
“Cheers to that! Let’s get together and celebrate at my place tonight,” Roy was ecstatic.
“Yeah, it’s been a while and I am missing Zaa
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too. I’ll get Trisha too, Zaa will be happy to meet her and it will be a change for Trisha.”
Though Trisha was excited to go, she was down with high fever and was in no condition to join them.
“I am worried,” Rashmi told Chika, “even after the course of antibiotics, she is only getting worse and weaker.”
Though they had a nice time at Roy’s place with Rita playing the perfect host and Zasha keeping everybody on their toes, Roy could sense that Chika was not himself.
When they called it a night, Roy walked Chika to his car, put his arm around him.
He asked, “What’s wrong buddy?”
“Just a little worried about Trisha, but it is probably nothing,” Chika replied.
That night when she was asleep, Trisha felt something wet and sticky on her pillow. When she switched on the light, she screamed. Her pillow was drenched with blood from an uncontrollable nosebleed.
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The same day, they were back at Dr Pant’s consulting room. This time the jovial doctor was sombre.
“We better get a bone marrow biopsy done,” he said.
“What is the test for?” enquired Rashmi.
“Just a test, to rule out something,” replied the doctor and scribbled furiously on his prescription pad.
“Go here and meet Dr Desai,” he said, “he will do the needful.”
When they were leaving, he called Chika and spoke to him privately for a few minutes.
“What was he saying?” enquired Rashmi.
“Just asking about my dad’s health,” replied Chika, deliberately avoiding her gaze.
It was the last Christmas of the millennium, but more importantly Vikram was all set to be the first film to be released in the new millennium.
ZMI took the opportunity to plan two big celebrations. The Xmas party, officially hosted by Roy at the Chaitanya Banquet Hall had the entire crew, cast and suppliers as invitees. It was a “We did it” party with liquor, food and a DJ blasting the remixed versions of the hit songs of the film.
The stars, the core crew, the junior artists, technicians, dress men, light boys, spot boys, assistants and even assistants of assistants put their hair down and rubbed shoulders with each other on the makeshift dance floor proudly.
It was a display of camaraderie seldom seen in an industry which was known for infighting, backbiting and general bitching.
The second celebration was on the new millennium eve along with the grand premiere of
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Vikram. The Red Carpet, a brand new multiplex with an open landscaped terrace that could accommodate 800 to 1000 guests was booked.
The premiere was from 6:00 to 8:30 pm followed by the New Millennium Party at the roof top.
The who’s who of the Indian film industry and some Hollywood celebrities who happened to be shooting in India were invited. The entire media fraternity was called, along with politicians, bureaucrats, top cops, industrialists and other Page 3 glitterati.
Looking at the guest list, Ballu remarked, “This year the New Year’s Eve Party has shifted from Goa to Mumbai!”
On his part, Ballu had arranged for Russian and East European dancers to dance along live performances and later to serve as escorts to rich, drunk old men who liked fair skin and blond hair.
Invitations were designed with the help of Alyque Balsara in the form of an ornate, red silk scroll with calligraphic lettering to give them the royal Vikram feel. It was definitely the “Bash of the millennium” as the media had begun calling it.
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While the hectic preparations and rehearsals for the live performances were on, Trisha underwent a bone marrow test at a premium suburban lab under the watchful eyes of Dr Desai.
Test results were expected in a week’s time. Chika and Rashmi contemplated telling Shekhar about the test, then decided to wait for the results.
On New Year’s Eve, there was a huge crowd outside The Red Carpet to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars. There was major clamouring and hustling for the Premiere and bash passes. But ZMI had ensured that all passes were personalized and non-transferable.
The film was beamed directly via satellite and the industry folk were amazed at the HD quality and resonance of the digital sound.
The hall was chock-a-block and the audience was in a gregarious, party mood. The action scenes, dialogues and Special FX were cheered loudly. The lead actors Vikram Pandey and Payal had given stellar performances. Ali Azmi’s directorial style, camera angles, narration style and slick editing made sure there was not a dull moment throughout the film.
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It was a period film presented with new millennium technology and style. Vikram and ZMI along with the Director and Stars had finally arrived!
The mood carried over to the rooftop and imported liquor and designer ensembles merged to show their true colours and the party carried on.
The live performances rocked and after the performances the foreign dancers merged with the guests, looking for lonely and horny, rich, old men.
As expected there were a few drunken celebrity brawls but ZMI had anticipated that and had hired an army of bouncers to specifically nip such incidents in the bud diplomatically.
When the specially imported designer fireworks decorated the sky at the stroke of midnight, all of Mumbai could see Vikram light up the sky.
The next day, the newspapers and entertainment channels were abuzz with Vikram. Most critics gave the film 4 stars and above.
The fact that all the scribes were given a goody bag which contained, among other things, a bottle of Chivas Regal with special Vikram packaging that
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said “Men are not born equal, some are Regal” with Vikram branding and a regal photograph of the King with his Queen, had worked.
The next day, the first day of the new millennium, there were celebrations galore in ZMI. Vikram was expected to rake in 50 crores in the 3 weeks itself.
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