Long For

Roy

'We loved what you wrote, we are thinking of making it into a movie,'the letter said. I was shocked. I thought it was some kind of joke which was done by some of my school friend or from my office, I checked it back again and then gave it to my Dad and he pointed out a important thing and that was the stamp of Roy films, the common seal of the official company told us that it was officially sent us by Roy films. It was the pioneer of Bengali cinema, they made films which were celebrated by the whole of Bengal and also was viewed by some of the other parts of the country . It was a big thing for me now. My short story is now going to become a full flesh movie, which was the least expected of me. What I expected was that people would buy the books and send me reviews via letters but here I was with the letter of Roy films. They had given me the place to meet me up, at what time their office is open and who I would have to meet. The remaining sweets which were kept for my family were also distributed now as it was another big milestone. I informed my office members and they were also happy for me. Mrs. Mira Dutta said "Just get the work done along with the movie you will be making," she was behind the work more than congratulating me for the thing I had achieved. But Mr. Chatterjee was nice to me. He went on to say "I will be the first one to buy the ticket, Palash babu," with all those I went to the Roy film office.

First person I met was Mr. Biplash Roy, the owner of the production house and also a great director and writer who had made a lot of films on social topics before, my Dad once took me to watch one of his movies based on communal riots going on. I loved how he integrated the fictional and the actual real things together. He was sitting on his chair,his legs were over the desk and he had a cigar in his mouth, he was reading some script I guessed as I saw some papers in his hand.

“Come in, Mr. Cakroberty,” he said and put his legs down and greeted me.

“Palash would sound good, sir,” I said and sat in front of him.

“Okay, I have written a short screenplay on your story and also we are going to extend the story a bit, not the climax, it has a beautiful end, whereas if it was me I would have shown the reality and it would be a tragic end but it is all upon the author, I am a reader at the end,”

“You can change it if you want, you will make it a masterpiece for sure,” I said.

“Listen, Palash, I know you are new to writing, you need to remember that you are the sailor of the boat, not anyone else, you have to be confident on whatever you write, if you are under confident then you have already lost the audience,” he said. I didn’t have any reply, I smiled and he moved on to say “So, are you ready to make this into a movie?” Then he crushed his cigar on the table itself.

“I would love to, it will reach more audience,”

“Then get on it, pal, you need to sign the document and we are set to go, the next big movie from our production house will be none other than ‘Dowry’ it will be a great experience, do you know how to direct a movie?”

“No, I learnt writing fiction through this story,”

“So would you like me to direct it?”

“What more good news I could hear today,” I said. Mr. Roy was going to direct a movie written by me.

“You will stay with me during the shoot, you have a talent, don’t get it wasted by doing some job, money comes and goes, this talent won’t come back if you suppress it, I want you to write more and direct it, I will be the one to produce it,” he said and stood up.

“Thank you, sir,” I said and stood up.

“From the very next week, you are going to come up with us on everyday shoot,”