Sapno Ka Shaher

58. Challenging the Norms

'THE END' flashed on the 70mm screen and the people in the theatre stood up and started leaving immediately. The noise downstairs told that the audience in the Reserve and Dress Circle section had started emptying the premises even before that. It was mostly filled with men and college boys, easily categorized as chhapri with their shirts open till fourth buttons and a handkerchief knotted across their necks. Their hooting and comments at some scenes in the movie hinted they had certainly enjoyed it.

The balcony still had some decent people given the holiday of Ambedkar Jayanti, however, two families had walked over in between itself. Naina and Sameer were still seated though, their heads supported by their hands as they rested their elbows on the armrest, and their mouths agape.

Sameer was the first one to regain his senses and notice that there were hardly a handful of people left now. He straightened in his seat, patting on Naina's forearm and bringing her out from her lost state.

"Kitni ghatiya picture thi, Sameer!!!!" Naina exclaimed as soon as they stepped out of the building, her face was contorted. "Mai maan hi nahi sakti ki kal se tum mujhe yeh picture dikhana chah rahe the."

Sameer sighed as he was already prepared for Naina's outburst. Resting his hands on hips, he wandered his gaze across the street which stopped on a small snacks corner. "Kuchh khaye, Naina?" he proposed.

They crossed the road hand in hand, dodging the medium traffic coming both ways. Sameer pulled a chair for Naina, choosing a table in the open. Naina admired the twilight with a bright smile, forgetting the bad experience of the movie and enjoying her time with Sameer.

While waiting for their favourite pav bhaji with extra butter and lemon, Naina's eyes finally landed on Sameer, who had a frown on his face as he played with the salt and pepper bottles.

"Kya hua? Kis soch mein doobe ho itne?" She asked. He was quiet all this while.

"Tum jaan'na nahi chahogi mai tumhe yeh film dikhane kyun lekar aaya?" Sameer asked, maintaining the frown on his face.

"Haan... matlab... kyun?" Naina shrugged, she was quite bewildered right from when the movie crossed thirty minutes. "Mai jaanti hun tumhari choice aisi nahi hai..."

"Naina..." Sameer said as he sighed, placing the bottles neatly in their places and taking his time, "yeh wahi film hai jiske audition ke liye Aryan ne mujhe apne ghar bulaya tha." Sameer grimaced, averting his gaze with the memory associated with the name.

It didn't take a second for Naina to recognize the name and the story behind it. Aryan. How can she forget that? She gasped audibly, "iss picture ke liye audition hua tha tumhara?" now grimacing harder than Sameer.

Sameer only nodded, looking at Naina and snorting at her disgusted expressions.

"Kause role ke liye?"

"Woh... Kishan ke role ke liye?" Sameer pointed at the poster of the movie 'Jiyo Shaan Se', which was visible from across the street.

When he was going through the advertisement page yesterday, this poster had caught his attention. He remembered how Aryan had mentioned Dharmendra, and recollected the faces from the audition like Ayub Khan and Vikas Bhalla, which he had completely forgotten about. Curiosity overpowered him as he wanted to see what was in his destiny if the Aryan incident hadn't happened and things had gone well. So he had to convince Naina at night when she debated they both didn't have time for a movie outing.

"Uss role ke liye?" Chhiiiii...." Naina shuddered again, contorting her face more and inducing a laughter from Sameer. She was almost about to say 'achchha hua tumne yeh picture nahi ki' but gulped her words after recalling the real reason behind Sameer not doing the film.