YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL (Completed)

part-7

# You_Are_Beautiful
★
★
Part-7
★
★
Nandini stands stricken, watching Manik and Aliya kissing in front of the reporters, thinking, “I don’twant to see this, I should turn around, but my body won’t obey. What do I do?”
Dhrov comes up to Nandini and casts an angry look Manik’s way, knowing how this makes her feel.
Only… turns out it wasn’t even a real kiss!Manik moves in for the kiss but ends up holding Aliya’s head still, keeping their faces inches apart. From this angle, all can see that instead of being a grandiose, romantic moment, both super stars are grumbling at each other through clenched teeth. Aliya struggles, but he tells her to stay still for the photo op, adding, “Don’t worry, I won’t ever do it for real.”Afterward, Aliya complains peevishly. He reminds her that she was the one to suggest they date for real; he has agreed to “act like it’s real.” She fumes at his proposition. He asks sarcastically, “You can’t have wanted it for real?”
She laughs that off (a little too loudly), then warns, “You may have started it, but I’ll end it by dumping you. So until I say it’s over, you can’t end it. And you’d better not tell anyone that we’re faking. If you do, my pride will be so hurt that I’ll tell everyone the truth about Nandini Taylor.”Therefore, she demands that he see her home. “On such a crazy day, a boyfriend should take his girlfriend home. Act like a gentlemanly boyfriend.” He returns, “On such a tiring day, a girlfriend should tell her boyfriend to go on home. Act like a thoughtful girlfriend.”
Touché.After Manik leaves, Aliya pouts to herself: “I wasn’t suggesting we pretend. I meant it.”Dhrov tries to make nandini (and himself) feel better by saying that it’s natural that she was surprised. All their fans are probably heartbroken. That’s because Manik is a star, so feeling sad isn’t surprising or even unusual. He assures her that what she’s feeling is “nothing special.”True enough, the fans camped outside the A.N.JELL office are all in tears. Soha a big fan of manik sobs, “Don’t cry, guys. We’re manik’s true fans, we should congratulate him!”She starts a tearful chant, “Congratulations!''
★★★
Therefore, nandini decides that in order to make her disappointment “nothing special,” she should congratulate manik too, like a fan. When he comes home that night, his housemates surprise him with a congratulatory party. Their chant dies, however, when he glares them into silence and leaves the room.nandini' Aunt speculates that Manik’s attitude mustbe from embarrassment, while Cabir figures it must be because he’s sorry to have hidden it from them.On the contrary, Manik grumbles (regarding Nandini ): “How can you jump in to congratulate me?Who was I doing that for in the first place?” He concedes, “You’re congratulating me because you don’t know that.”The rest of the house continues their celebration, with nandu's Aunt pressing another drink on nandini . Nandu turns it down because she’s already drunk. Immediately, Cabir feels concerned and steps in to take the drink instead, and Nandu stumbles away tipsily.
Cabir has noticed that nandini is acting odd, and finds her outside. He wonders, “Is the reason you’re looking upset because of Aliya?”
Oh, Cabir', you are SO CLOSE to being clever, and yet so far! , “Are you feeling disappointed because of your feelings? Do you like [that person]?”He means Aliya, but she thinks he means Manik and makes the excuse, “I’m just a fan. It’s nothing special.” Sympathetically, he says, “It’s not a crime to like someone.” He gives her a book written by his favorite drama writer: “That writer wrote, ‘Everyone who doesn’t love is guilty.’ That means that anyone who loves, no matter who they love, is guiltless.”
Nandini : “Does that really mean I’m guiltless?”
Cabir: “Yeah. What’s so bad about liking someone?”
She thanks him for his comforting words. As she leaves, Cabir says with a pained expression, “Nande, I see you really liked Aliya. I also… you…” But he can’t finish that thought.what the hell was he thinking. To a man!!
★★★★
Manik comes out looking for nandini, but the party is over and everyone has scattered. Looking around the house, he finally finds her curled under the piano, clutching Cabir’s book. When he calls to her, she shushes him: “I am searching for my answer.”
Huh? He doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but she continues, “Am I guilty, or not guilty?”
That’s enough for him to guess, “You caused another accident, didn’t you?” She says yes. When he tries to draw her out, she refuses to budge. He deduces, “You must have caused a really big accident.”He grabs her leg. She grabs the piano leg and resists. To force her to go, he goes to the piano and starts banging on it loudly, but she remains stubborn.Manik reminds nandu of the song she is to sing and asks if she’s even listened to it. She retorts sarcastically, “As it is a song you wrote, of course it must be good.” (Ooh, the nun (apprentice) gets snippy!) Then she remembers,''big bro ,
(,as dhrov and cabir called him also ) ! I am your fan!”He scoffs at that, because he doesn’t need a fan like her. That takes the wind out of her sails: “But I have to be a fan. If I’m a fan, it’s okay for my heart to hurt, and I can congratulate you. Big bro! Please let me be your fan!” Manik replies, “You’re not a fan. You’re a special person who will sing the song I wrote. So get it together and listen to it.” manik sits to play an instrumental version of his song (“Without Words”), and Nandini listens from under the piano. She thinks, “This is the song that brought me this far.”When he finishes, he finds that Nandini has fallen asleep. He notes that his life is constantly being mixed up and tangled up by her: “I shouldn’t have found out she was a girl from the start.''
Next day-
Nandini gets to work recording the song, but is stopped almost as soon as she begins. The producer thinks she’s not grasping the feel of the song — her notes are fine, but she lacks emotion. Director explains that she has to let her feelings just pour right out of her, and asks if she’s never dated before.Abvi understands why she wouldn’t be familiar with the necessary emotions — the song is about thelove between a man and a woman, and how the singer misses the other person so badly that the emotions have to burst out of her. Thinking of ways to help her, Abvi mentions her upcoming visit to her father’s grave to observe his memorial, and suggests that she try to think about her longing for her father instead. Perhaps that will work.
★★★
The A.N.JELL guys arrive at the VIP screening for Aliyas movie, where reporters hound her and manik about their romance. When asked if he feels jealous about Aliya’s kiss scene, he looks straight at Aliya and answers flatly, “No.”
In private, Aliya complains that he should have said he was jealous. It’s hilarious how he says in his monotone, “I was acting the part of an open-minded boyfriend.”Aliya also wants him to attend the after party. He doesn’t want to; he has done everything she asked so far, even participating in interviews. He came to the screening, and that should be enough. Of course,she wants to call the shots and insists he oblige her.He isn’t happy to hear that not only does he have to stay behind with his “girlfriend,” but his bandmates are leaving early.
Nandu is heading down to her father’s hometown fore his memorial, and says her goodbye to Shin-woo, who asks her to take him with her the next time.
Somehow, manik is driving nandini instead. Ha! Abhi has switched places with Manik, so when Aliya gets into mainik's sports car, she’s startled — and peeved — to find that the manager Abvi is driving.
★★
★
As they drive, Manik ignores the constant calls from Aliya, and informs Nandini, “Today and tomorrow, you and I are going to be very busy.” He clarifies, “The reason I’m following you is solely to train you with the song.”
He even feigns annoyance at the need to spend so much time with her, since he’s so busy.They make a brief stop near their destination, and Nandini buys a soda for Manik. Knowing how busy he is, she runs to the car, which causes the soda to burst open. It sprays all over Manik.
He can’t abide wearing sticky clothing, so Nandini provides a change of clothing for him to change into. Manik puts them on, assured that they’re brand-new, although they are too short to fit his taller frame.
And also sweats — SO not his style! In what will be a recurring joke this episode, Aunt Sannu has been bragging to the entire neighborhood that her famous singer nephew is coming. She gets everyone excited, and they are therefore unimpressed when Nandini arrives in a small compact car (Aliya’s) — definitely not the luxury vehicle they were expecting.
Furthermore, these are older country folk, and they don’t recognize Nandini as a famous face. Aunt Sannu is relieved to hear that Manik has accompanied her, since he’s more famous — but he steps out of the car wearing Nandini’s sweats and looks thoroughly normal. The neighborhood folks don’t recognize him either, and hearing that he never appeared on a particular program (probably because it’s a dinky provincial show), they decide that he must not be very popular. they wouldn’t recognize anyone who was famous in the past decade — which means they probably would have recognized Neonika, if only they knew she was also in the neighborhood.
Neonika is here to pay her respects to Songwriter , and speeds past Manik and Nandini’s car on her way to the gravesite. She doesn’t stop by the village on her way, which means that she arrives first. Placing flowers by the grave, she conveys some good news — she’s going to re-release the song he wrote for her — and tells him to be happy.
When Nandini and Manik arrive at the mountainside, the other car is parked, albeit empty. Manik stays in their car while Aunt Sannu and Nandini head up.Nandini passes by Neonika on her way, but doesn’t recognize her as the singer. She pauses for a moment, but doesn’t make a big deal of the encounter until she reaches the grave and finds, surprisingly, that it has just been visited.
Aunt Sannu had explained that Nandini’s father left his hometown at a young age to pursue music, which is why she doesn’t know anything about his friends or the twins’ mother. Sannu supposes there are people out there who knew him better, but she doesn’t know who they are. Therefore, Nandini connects the graveside visit with the stranger they just passed, and immediately races back down the mountain to catch up to her.
This woman knew her father, and she’s desperate to talk to her.She tries to call Manik to ask him to prevent the woman from leaving, but gets no answer. The car pulls away, and Nandini loses her chance.And what is Manik doing?
He is off frolicking in the fields, enjoying some music, of course! He thinks to himself loftily, “It’s been a long while since I’ve felt so peaceful. Was this how comfortable it felt to not have to be conscious of other people’s looks?” Looking off into the distance, he glimpses a man waving at him. As he moves gracefully to his music, he thinks ever-so-generously, “Is it because this is the country? Even strangers make greetings.”
He raises his hand to wave back, like a beauty queen to an admirer.Manik’s attitude is so pretentiously grandiose that OMFG IT IS HYSTERICAL. Of course, the grandpa is actually yelling at him, “It’s a pig! Run away!”
Back in the village, Nandini and Aunt Sannu have heard the story of the pig. But while the pig has been returned to its home, they find no trace of Manik. Aunt Sannu takes advantage of the opportunity to call Aliya, saying she’d better check on her boyfriend, who’s in trouble. (Really, she just wants another star to come so she can make good on the bragging she’d done.)
Nandini worries, recalling Manik’s bad sense of direction. Plus, when it gets dark, he’ll have a hard time seeing. Her overactive imagination spins a scenario of what might happen if he doesn’t come back by sundown — Aliya would be bedridden in grief. The A.N.JELL boys would be stricken. Fans would be heartbroken. Soha would swear off eating pork.
No — she can’t let that happen. She must find him! She heads back to the mountain, trying to guess which direction he would have chosen. Remembering his dislike of the dark, she picks the brighter path. He hates trash, so he would have avoided the littered road. A footprint in dung is definitely his, but he would have sought out water to wash in. To the stream it is .It’s a cute way of showing how well she knows him, and it works, because she finds him by the water .
Manik had come here to wash up, sweaty from the chase, and is now waiting for his shoes to dry. Declaring himself ready, he suggests they return, since he’s thirsty.
Lucky for him, Nandini has anticipated that and brought along drinking water.He’s surprised at her foresight, particularly as she explains the things she had packed for him: Clean clothes since he might be cold. A towel. First aid kit in case he was hurt. Food in case he was hungry.
He asked how she found him. She answers, “I just thought of you, and found you.” He’s a little impressed at her thoughtfulness, although he expresses it in his usual understated way.
As they walk back in the dark, Manik tells her to go slowly since he can’t see very well. To preserve his dignity, he insists he hadn’t run from the pig out of fear — he was just avoiding it! — but he freaks out when something rustles in the woods.
He asks, “Are there rabbits in these mountains? I really hate rabbits.”
She thinks rabbits are cute, but he’d approached one thinking it was cute and got bitten hard: “Rabbits are dangerous.” That makes him think that she’s like a rabbit — she looks innocent, but she’s dangerous too.
Hilariously, Nandini starts singing the child’s song “baby song,” .
Manik tells her nervously to quit it, but she continues, “Mountain rabbit, where are you going? Hopping, hopping, running off. Where are you going?” she’s developing a sense of humor.
The flashlight goes out and they stop to rest. Looking up at the sky, Nandini marvels at the stars. Manik gripes, “I can barely see you. Do you think I can see the stars?” But he can see the moon.Nandini muses, “The only star you can see is the moon.” He corrects her: the moon isn’t a star.
It only reflects light, but it doesn’t have its own light like the sun. She answers, “Even so, the moon has its uses. Rather than pointlessly brightening up an already bright day, it gives light on a dark night. Isn’t that useful?” He corrects her again: “ Nandini. The reason the day is bright is because of that pointlessly bright sun.” She thinks some more, maybe a teeny bit downcast now: “Then I’m like the moon that’s just clinging to you, who’s like the sun.”
In his unsentimental way, Manik says, “But the moon isn’t useless. No matter how many other stars there are at night, all I can see is the moon.”
Nandini says, “Bronim, right now I only see one special star.” But he doesn’t pick up on her real meaning; he just answers that there are a lot of stars in the sky. As tears pool in her eyes, Nandini continues, “There are a great many of them,but this one star sparkles so brightly that I keep only seeing that star.”
Now he’s the dense one: “There’s a star like that?”
Nandini: “Yes.
It’s a star that many people like. If I join the great number of people who like that star, it wouldn’t be a crime, would it?”
Manik is still looking up at the sky, unaware that she’s growing more emotional: “Do you need permission to like those things? Ask the star. It should be able to see you right now.” As a tear falls, Nandini looks at him to say, “Yes. I’m looking at that star right now. Is it okay to like it?”
A car horn sounds, interrupting the moment. It causes Manik to look over, and he spots the tears on Nandini’s face. By the look on his face, it seems like he’s just becoming aware that something else is going on here…
But this is when Aliya arrives, jealous and in a bad mood. How dare he ignore her phone calls and make the excuse that he’s busy? And then she trips and falls onto some dung. To resume the recurring joke, none of the neighborhood grandmas recognizes Aliya, either. (When she answers that she hasn’t been on that show, they tsk-tsk that she must not be popular.)
Aliya takes a moment with Nandini to ask about the conversation she’d been having with Manik.
She’s relieved that the answer is “only about the stars,” because she worried that Nandini may have upset Manik.
Aliya says in her fake-sweet way, “Please don’t think badly of me saying this .Manik and I are both busy that we have to find time to see each other. But if you take all his time, it makes me feel bad. Please let us have time just for the two of us.”
Nandini promises to do that, so when Manik comes out to suggest that the three of them get going, Aliya gives her the eye. Nandini understands, and feigns tiredness, making the excuse to stay behind with her aunt. Manik tells her to come up the next day, then .After they leave, Nandini looks up at the stars sadly: “There are too many stars.”,.
.
At home, the guys can tells something is off and the atmosphere in rehearsal is strained. It’s been three days and Nandini is still not back. Cabir worries that Manik got into a fight with Nandini, while Dhrov tells him to give her a call.Manik says tersely, “He’ll come when it’s time.”Nandini is still back in her father’s hometown, thinking despondently, “I miss him.” But she shakes her head and vows, “No, I can’t see him until my feelings go away.”
That conviction isn’t strong enough to stop her from perking up when Aunt Sannu announces that she has a visitor from Mumbai who is here to take her back. Nandini decides, “I want to see him!” and runs off, excitedly anticipating the reunion.Only, she stops short when she realizes it’s Dhrov.He’s no dummy, and he picks up on her response: “Did you think it was Manik?” Still, “Even if you weren’t waiting for me, it’s okay. I came to take you back.”
At her hesitant reaction, Dhrov asks gently, “Do you want to stay here? You can leave behind those troubles and stay, and I can stop being your nice bro. Want to do that?”Nandini apologizes: “I only thought of myself. It must have put you, Cabir, and President in a difficult spot, but I didn’t think of that.” Dhrov guesses, “Is that how difficult things are for you?”Despite that, Nandini decides to go back with him, saying, “I can endure. I have to endure it.” Dhrov would like to help her through it, and asks what he can do. She answers, “Please just be a good bro to me.”
Understanding that he’ll have to back off, he answers, “Since what you want from me is to be a good bro, I won’t add to your difficulties. Just rest comfortably by my side.”
So it’s with excitement that Cabir announces to Manik that Nandini has returned, and is currently in the studio recording the song.Manik tells himself, “In one more day, I would have gone to get her myself.”
Nandini takes the microphone and sings, but her first attempt is too weak. She’s stopped by the producer and preps for a second take, just as Cabir and Manik enter the studio. Looking straight at Manik, she recalls Aliya’s advice on what the song means — longing between a man and a woman — and sings.
Song that Nandini sing:-
“I shouldn’t have done that
,I should have pretended not to know like I didn’t see it,
like I couldn’t see it I shouldn’t have looked at you in the first place I should have run away,
I should have pretended I wasn’t listening like I didn’t hear it,
like I couldn’t hear it I shouldn’t have heard your love in the first place
Without a word you made me know love
Without a word you gave me love
Because you took just a breath and ran away like this Without a word love leaves me
Without a word love abandons me
Wondering what to say next, my lips were surprised
Because it came without a word.”
.
Everyone is thrilled — this is it! This is what they were looking for.
But after the first verse, she’s overcome with emotion and runs out crying. Dhrov follows her out to check on her, but Nandini keeps her back turned and bursts out, “Don’t look at me! Nobody should see me. It’s too hard to endure. I think I will be found out.”Manik arrives behind them, and Dhrov sees him standing there. He tells Nandini, “I’ll cover you, so you’re not found out.”With that, he turns her around so she can cry into his shoulder, as Manik watches, conflicted.

[end of part 7]