Been a few years since I last updated the blog, but last night/this morning I had another one of my Blockbuster dreams. The first in many months. Without much ado, am going to dive right into the thick of the action:
Four of my friends and I are near the boundaries of a field, on the outskirts of a city. We are in possession of some sort of an electrovoltic machine, and by accident a friend presses the trigger which leads to all the street lamps around us getting turned off by an electronic pulse. We realize we are in trouble and decide to scram from the place. We reach the corner of a road and try to flag down a cab to make our escape. After 5 minutes of not getting a taxi, we decide to walk up a flight of stairs that leads towards a picket fence akin to ones found in a coastal village.
Four of my friends and I are near the boundaries of a field, on the outskirts of a city. We are in possession of some sort of an electrovoltic machine, and by accident a friend presses the trigger which leads to all the street lamps around us getting turned off by an electronic pulse. We realize we are in trouble and decide to scram from the place. We reach the corner of a road and try to flag down a cab to make our escape. After 5 minutes of not getting a taxi, we decide to walk up a flight of stairs that leads towards a picket fence akin to ones found in a coastal village.
Big B, Haayin?!!
When we reach the top of the stairs, we could see a gap in the fence which has a stone setting and there seem to be some luxury cars stopping there to drop off people. We see Sridevi, a famous bollywood actress arrive and my friends run to meet her and click pictures. While they are at it, a bunch of actors turn up, and start posing for the paparazzi. I soon realize that this latest bunch are duplicate actors and start making fun of them and mimicking the actors they were impersonating.On spotting a duplicate of Amitabh Bachchan(Big B), the biggest star of bollywood with a career spanning nearly 45 years, I start mimicking in typical Big B style, with expressions like "hein" with one hand on my hand on my waist with a dropped shoulder and the other hand extend in an ask pose. However, unlike the others, this duplicate doesnt seem perturbed with my shenanigans, and the realization dawns on me that this is the REAL Amitabh Bachchan, the guy whom I have Idolized since the age of 3.
I am flushed with embarrassment, and yet on the other hand excited to be in his presence. I immediately ask him for his autograph and for us to take a picture together. He gestures me to join him as he is walking and we go downa short path toward the entrance of a building, where he requests the bouncer to open the door and let us in. We go up a flight of stairs and sit down besides a large table at the corner of the room. He beckons his make man and gives him instructions as to how he wants his makeup. Meanwhile, his granddaughter had come to our table and starts chatting up with me, asking me if I had been to any good clubs in Mumbai.
The Big B had opened his laptop and was making an entry on his very popular daily blog. He looks up towards me, interrupting our conversation and says he is now ready to give me his autograph. I scramble for a blank piece of paper in my wallet, and not finding one realize that I also have a diary on me. This was my personal dairy where I had written down my feelings. He takes the book from my hand and scans through it, eventually finding half a page where there was space for him to write his autograph. This section happened to be for a personal incident that I didn't want to share, leading to a conflict of emotions on whether I let him sign or not.
Stage 2: The Kapoors:
My starstruck self won and I let him write. He asked me for my name, and as I spell it out M-U-S-H-DOUBLE E-R, he says MUSHEEN and I try correcting him a couple of times. On seeing me struggle, his granddaughter offers to help me out and spells my name out to him. At this juncture, he excuses himself to go see off his granddaughter and am left alone in the room. As I am waiting, I start contemplating about how picture I intend to take with him should look and the tagline for the pic on social media. I consider calling it as "the Selfie with the Big B" and feel pleased to have this tagline!
At this very moment, Randhir Kapoor, another actor from the 70s who is also father of the current bollywood actress Kareena comes toward the table and asks me to move out of the way. The Kapoors were considered as bollywood royalty; a family of actors extending to 3 generations who also owned a famous production house.
I turn around to realize that there is a passage way leading to another building, which looked like a 5 star hotel, and I was indeed blocking it. Not one to miss an opportunity, I tell him that my mom is a big fan and I want his autograph. At this moment, his younger brother, Rishi Kapoor, a star of the 80s and 90s, turns up. Randhir looks exactly like he did in the 70s, except for some silver hair, while Rishi looked like his present self with a goatee. Rishi
agrees to give his autograph and lo! their uncle, Shashi Kapoor turns up, looking as did in the early 70s, however he refuses to give his autograph and walks away in his typical gait, swaying from side to side.
At the Docks
As the Kapoors finish giving their autograph, Big B returns and tells me its time for the photograph. I quickly grab my phone and follow him onto a street outside. He is wearing a classic 3 piece suit and asks me to first click photographs of him posing. Initially, he wanted me to take pictures of him in silhouette while he stood on a stool. After a couple of shots, he opens his pony tail and shakes his hair loose in a manner he had previously done in his iconic comeback movie, Hum where the name of his character is Tiger. Just like in the movie, he crouches and then jumps over wired fence appearing
behind a dock. Nearby the dock is an open area where kids were laughing and playing cricket. I decide to follow him and enter the docks through a gap in the fence. All this while the theme of the movie is playing at the back of my head.
The Big B calls me over and I rush to him. I look at my phone and realise that I my iPhone's battery is at only 16% and remember that while passing the kids, I had seen a charging outlet with a cable attached to it. I curse the phone and get to the Big B and switch on the camera in the phone. I find that he is now in a white suit with the shirt tucked out and top 2 buttons open. This time the Big B starts to walk up a flight of stairs and wants me to click away while he is doing so. My phone camera for some reason was in black and white mode and I am desperately trying to change the mode to a normal one before the batter dies out. I suddenly recollect that I have my power bank in my pocket and pull it out along with the phone cable. As I try to plug in the cable, I see that the USB point is chipped as is the charging pin. Again cursing my luck, I try to see if the pin fits and the phone charges, all this while I am running trying to click the Big B on the stairs.
I am relieved to see that the phone is now charging and also that the camera is working in the regular mode. However, i am unable to capture Big B in the frame as it is in the selfie mode and I can see my own self kneeling and trying to capture the photo while I have my eyebrow raised with a quizzical look on my face. The Big B looks a little irritated and asks me to hurry up and get my act straight. As I struggle to fix the camera again I woke up... And that is that!
