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Kodambakkam Dreams [ blogprint]

Oct 26 2007 | Views 505 | Comments (34)

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Kodambakkam* Dreams [ blogprint]

“This looks like a cave. But, Sambandam Sir, something is missing. I don’t want that …that hotshot hero to say anything about our sets”.

The boy wonder director looked very worried and Sambandam decided to call his boss, the genius art director VSN.

“Sambandam, you are my best assistant. Think and come up with something! I am stuck at another shooting spot. Bigger money here, you know.” VSN said and cut the line.

VSN was a man of few words.

Sambandam sighed.

His phone rang and his wife wanted to know if they could buy, “ gold jewellery for Priya’s wedding today itself”.

“Last auspicious day in this month, " She warned before hanging up.

Sambandam’s head throbbed.

He put money worries in a distant corner of his mind and tried to concentrate on the job.

“It’s a hot song. Everything depends on this one song! This concept of a cave…means they can wear skins. Hahaha! Here, take the help of one or two of my assistants, Sambandam Sir, jazz it up!.” The director said.

VSN hadn’t paid for the previous two movies. He would, certainly, but would it come in time?

Twenty years in the glamour industry. Twenty years! He had worked on some independent projects, but many under a bigger man who was VSN.

He had passed out of the college of Arts just five years after VSN had. Fate had dealt him bad cards.

A modest house, an old car, two state awards but not one mega movie on his own and that national award seemed ….

“Sambandam Sir, do something!”

He shook himself out of the thoughts and looked around.

“Thee vaida thiruda

Thee vaida”.

The song blared.

The new heroine was giggling and an assistant director was translating the song, “Set fire, you thief”.

The arsonists are busy. You need thieves for such jobs now.

He smiled.

The song blared loudly now and some junior artistes were rehearsing.

Gold jewels worth nearly ninety thousand rupees. Before that day. Is there a way? What a miserable existence!

No, concentrate, concentrate!

Thee. Fire. Use motifs. To heck with logic. LANTERN!

As soon as that thought struck him, he called his contact in Parry’s corner and arranged for different types of lanterns.

An assistant director, one of an army of eight men was asked to collect them.

Assisting also meant running errands but the men didn’t mind it at all. They were living on hopes that someday they’d direct. Some day.

If only people knew that ,behind every successful person in this industry, there were 1000 others carrying thousands of crippled dreams in their bullet-ridden hearts!

The lanterns, in many sizes and colors arrived in thirty minutes and he helped arrange them in strategic locations.

He rushed around the set, adjusted the fake animal skins and checked the water level in the pond meant to dunk the heroine.

The job was finished by noon and the director said “Okkkay”, as that was the biggest compliment he gave anyone. VSN was called and he too seemed relieved.

Sambandam cleared his throat, “Sir, you know, my daughter’s wedding….I need…”

“Call me in the evening”. VSN said and the line went dead.

Sambandam took care of some last minute details and just as he was about to move towards lunch, his phone rang again.

It was from an irate man who was conducting his daughter’s wedding and who wanted to know whether, " the reception set would be ready before 4 pm.”

Sambandam shelved the idea of lunch, hopped in to his old ambassador and sped towards the wedding hall at Anna nagar.

That was a lavish wedding and they had wanted him to make a “piece of Connecticut " in the reception hall.

Thank God for people like them, he had more jobs at hand. But these people were different from movie folks.

He had just started designing wedding sets and the money was good compared to the time he spent there.

But…money, when you need it? Awards ? Ha! Those sets stayed in place for two days and…

He drove very fast and reached the hall in record time.

He ignored his growling stomach and weaved his way through silk -clad,amateurishly made up women and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw “Connecticut”. It seemed to be almost done.

Four orange topped trees were standing well, bless their thermocol souls, but a fifth one wasn’t and he got down to work immediately.

He helped his crewmen secure the “tree” to the floor and felt a little bothered about the pleasant smells from the dining hall.

Can’t afford a break now. It’s already I ‘o’ clock. What a dog’s life.

“Sir, coffee ? Cool drinks?”

A smiling young man asked and he wondered where he had seen the man before.

The young man’s large eyes and even teeth stood out against his shining dark skin.

His white caterer’s uniform suited him perfectly.

Sambandam thought the face was a pleasant study in contrast .

Better looking than that hero!

“Coffee.” He said.

It arrived in a flash and he felt much better.

Just when he thought he was finished with the set, someone pointed out that the third tree would be in the way of the bride.

Sambandam arranged to relocate it and with a start he realized it was 3 ‘o’ clock already.

“Cool drinks” arrived and he gulped it without even looking up from his work .

As he checked the trees again, and got the floor covered with orange and brown leaves , he was feeling tired again.

Some more coffee arrived and he was grateful to the young man who understood his stomach’s needs.

He was also surprised when the young man gave some workable suggestions and he incorporated those in the set , wondering at the knowledge the young man possessed about these matters .

The work was finished by three thirty and the bride’s father approved the set.

Finally, A piece of Connecticut, in Anna Nagar, Chennai.

The bride groom himself sauntered over and said “kewl” and Sambandham heaved a sigh of relief.

His stomach reminded him again about food and as though he had heard it the young man appeared there.

“Lunch or dinner sir?” he asked.

“Lunch , at this time? Dinner, yes, but is it ready now? “Sambandam asked.

“It’d be, if I say so “, the young man grinned.”I am the dosa** master here”.

Sambandam found himself in the almost empty dining hall and the dosa arrived.

As the second ghee dosa melted in his mouth it suddenly struck him that he indeed had met the young man...in a film set!

He was Ilango selvan , an assistant director to another director Sambandam had worked for.

He was the man who wrote the winning lines in the latest block buster!

The climax scene in that movie was not “working out” when they first shot it and Sambandam who was in the sets at that time had watched tempers flare.

Ilango had offered to rewrite the scene , was rebuffed at first by the director, but was finally challenged to do so.

He did and the “top” hero loved it but the director hadn’t looked very happy…

Ilango was comimg out with more goodies now and Sambandham got up from his chair and said, ”You...here?”

“Softly Sir, no one here knows what I was”.

Sambandam washed his hands and looked at the young man who waited with paper napkins.

“But…but…”

“Sir, he didn’t like it that that day. After the movie became a success he dumped me and I had to approach other directors for a job. They asked me to wait but my family couldn’t wait.Father had passed away and my brother was in college. Am not qualified for other things so…took …dishwashing up.”

“Dish washing?”

“But I was promoted to the kitchen as a vegetable cutter within a short time- was lucky I had a God brother here. One day, I doubled up as a dosa man and it came out well. So , here I am now, a dosa master”.

“Ilango, sorry I didn’t recognise you at first. But, a creative man like you...”

“Dosa making is a creative job too, Sir. I make people happy.”

Ilango smiled.

Sambandam was absolutely quiet for a while.

“My brother would finish his course in six months. After that, I’d be able to take some risks. If they go wrong, well, I still have the dosa job. I am wiser now sir. Who knows, I might direct my dream movie one day and get that award.”

Sambandam smiled now.

“Almost overnight, I became a dishwasher. Whatever was that force that pulled me out of dishwashing and made me a dosa master would help me direct films too…”

Sambandam was glad he was wearing glasses. They hid tears.

Ilango was called by someone from the kitchen and he left after taking Sambandam’s visiting card.

“No, I won’t take up every project that comes my way. As I said, I am wiser now. And, Sir, you are the art director for the movie I’d make some day!”

Ilango ran towards the kitchen and Sambandam walked on. He was stopped by the bride’s father who handed over his full payment in cash. Sambandam thanked him and counted the money.

Enough for half their need. For the rest, he would call VSN or barge in to wherever he was and fall at his feet. They would buy those jewels that day itself.

It was his daughter’s wedding after all and VSN was not a bad man.

Who knows, I would go to Delhi, I would accept that award from the president, but after my Priya’s wedding.

As he drove out of the wedding hall his head felt a lot lighter and he was humming, ”Thee vaida, thee vaida…”

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DISCLAIMER: All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

From this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodambakkam

* Kodambakkam is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India, and the term Kollywood is derived from the name of this area. Traditionally, the Kodambakkam locality is synonymous with the Tamil film industry and known for its movie production houses and the film stars residing in this locality.

** The dosai, dosa, dose, thosai, or dhosa is a South Indian crêpe. This food, high in carbohydrates and proteins, is a typical South Indian breakfast item. The dish is also quite popular in many countries outside India.

The information above is from the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa