Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahi... (Agreed That We Are Not Lovers....)

Chapter 1

Shaheer...Sometimes, someone's name is just enough! His name was always enough! It was synonymous with one of the biggest and brightest stars of the Indian Television Industry. Shaheer had made this name for himself. Hailing from Bhaderwah, a small town in Jammu, this little boy had made it big in the city of dreams. And who did not know him? He was one of the most loved, most popular faces of the industry and his attractive persona was enough to drive everyone crazy and be in complete awe of him. This man was such a handsome Greek God! Girls around the globe were taken by his charm and charisma, their hearts sowing seeds of hope of at least meeting him once in real life. The entertainment world is perceived to be all about glamour and glitz, but was the life of Shaheer, the hottest hunk also the same? Was it all so perfect? Did he not have any demons that he was fighting? Was there no darkness behind the lights that flashed from the cameras surrounding him? NO

The truth was that a man who made millions of hearts beat was fighting innumerable battles in his own heart! We often fail to understand that those on our screens are also humans made of flesh and bones, so how can they not feel the same human emotions like us? Shaheer had his own share of trials and tribulations. What the world saw was a handsome, successful, rich actor who was desired by so many women out there, who could have the most perfect life, but, what his four walls saw was a man completely broken, a man whose heart was ripped apart, a man who would stay up all night sobbing in a dimly lit room, a man who was depressed, a man who would gather himself all over again every morning from the previous night's breakdown to face his reality, to hide his darkness so that the lights of the cameras do not catch any bit of it!

But what had caused him to be so surrounded with darkness? Why did the man who was loved by millions of people, hate himself? It was so ironic that this hate stemmed from 'love'! A love that had failed... A love that left him empty and broken... A love that had left him incapable of loving again... Love had ripped apart his heart in such a way that he could not even attempt to gather those pieces back again. Now all that was left for him was a lot of pretentious smiles in front of the lights of the camera and a lot of tears in the darkness of his room.

Amidst all this darkness, the little light of his room fell onto his reading table. He realised that it was the script of the new web show that was offered to him. He had to come out of his wrecked self to face the reality. Infact, at this point, Shaheer wanted any and every possible escape from his nightmares, from this darkness and from his own self. He picked up that script and grinned while reading the title of this show- 'Shades of Love!' A man who knew that love had only ONE shade- the shade of darkness- was offered a show on various shades of love! How ironic! He was reluctant to say yes to a show which, according to him, had such a deceitful name but he knew that there wasn't anything else to provide him with an escape. He wanted to get out of that mess which his own heart had made him and the only thing his brain told him to do was to sign up for this show. He called up his manager and told him to let the production house know about him signing their show.

A few days later...

Shaheer, being the perfect professional that he is, reached the production office on time. And today, he had all the more reason to be there on time. He was going to sit with the casting team and the producers to finalise on the female lead of the show. Mr. Yashashvi Purohit- the producer of the show- saw him as he entered and got up to greet him with a hug.

Yashashvi- Hey Shaheer, so good to see you buddy! How have you been?

Shaheer - I am perfectly well Sir.

(Shaheer knew how to mask his pain effortlessly. Nobody could ever peep through the chinks in his armour. )

Yashashvi- So Shaheer, now that you are here, let us start going through all the audition tapes. There have been some good ones which Mansi and I have shortlisted. Have a look at those first.