First Screening of 83 ft. Class of '83

Chapter 3

"Ballu..." Kapil walked into Ballu's room, smiling, holding a new pair of shoes.

Ballu considered getting up and going to tell Kaps that it was he himself who had suggested Kabir Khan to include the shoe part. He'd done it because he remembered Kapsie's tiny caring gestures with fondness and love, but he'd go and tell him 'I did it to make you look good in the film.'

The next scene dried up his desire to go and boast.

Seeing someone drying their long hair in Ballu's room, a horrified Kapil hastily put down the shoes on the bed and fled.

The scene switched to Jimmy's incredulous face.

"Ladki? Ballu de kamre?"

"Ha. Naha dho ke nikli thi shayad, baal gila tha..." said Kapil.

"Aur Ballu?" asked Maddi.

"Naha raha hoga," speculated Kapil.

"How jobless were you guys?" asked Ballu to Dilip and Roger, who were on either side of him.

"The joke's on you, sardar," said Dilip. "Why did you have waist length hair?"

"Dono saathme kyu nahi naha rahe?" asked Shastri, frowning, and stood up. "Mai dekhke aata hu."

"Arey ruko miya," said Kiri, pulling him down again. "Tum jaake pith me sabun malte kya?"

The hall exploded and almost missed Roger's subsequent defensive dialogue.

"No, it can't be Ballu."

"Ha yaar, Ballu nahi ho sakta...uski toh abhi sagai huyi hai Simran se..." said Jimmy.

"Yaar ek ladki thi usdin nets pe...shayad wo..." Dilip began in an investigatory tone.

As the girl turned out to be a flummoxed reel Ballu, the hall exploded again.

Real-life Balwinder, having coached all the actors in cricket throughout the shooting, had been privy to all the movie scenes, or so he'd thought till Ammy had said one day, "We have a surprise for you in the movie, Ballu sir."

"You do?"

"Yes. Something to do with our cultural background."

This, Ballu supposed, was his surprise.

Unsurprisingly Ammy leaned forward and asked, "Did you like it, sir?"

"No," said Ballu pointedly.

Ammy snorted with laughter and leaned back again. Saqib observed him, feeling horrified and a little sick at how Ammy should've been heartbroken at this point and was still laughing like nothing was the matter.

If Jimmy sir said he didn't like some bit of reel Jimmy Amarnath in the movie—Saqib felt his hands growing cold at the very thought.

"Why are you fidgeting so much?" Hardy asked impatiently as Saqib accidentally knocked his elbow into his side.

"This is too stressful," complained Saqib in a whisper.

"Which part?" asked Ranveer from his other side, honestly curious.

"Whether..." said Saqib in a softer whisper. "...they..." He indicated at the row in front of them. "...will like it or not..."

"Surely you know we did a good job," said Ranveer, incredulously.

"No, he doesn't," said Hardy. "Drop it," he advised Ranveer.

"Popcorn?" asked Jatin.

Saqib closed his eyes and opened them heavenwards.