Start reading this short series here:
For Part I, click here
For Part II, click here
For Part III, click here
"When will you reveal the true secret?" Ila asked eagerly.
Shekhar grinned sheepishly. "In good time."
"You said there is a murder in the film too? Who is going to die?" she probed.
"You," he said. Her startled look made him smile. "Don't worry, you are not just a corpse... You are also the one who is going to be romancing - not one but two men."
"Don't make it sound like an incentive!"
"And you kill me just as I am having a good time! Why? Because the husband catches me cheating on him?"
"Shall we finish shooting this song?" he asked as if he had not heard her.
A haunting melody, the shy romance of a young girl tinged with apprehension and fear of an uncertain future was well expressed in the lyrics as well as the tune. It seemed to reflect Shekhar's own uncertainty about how this movie was going to turn out.
A thousand promises your eyes make
And yet in fear I stay awake
I long to sleep in your protective arms
My reddened parted hair binds my hands
He jumped up and gave directions for the scene to be shot, not wanting to linger on the secret. It had been hard convincing the actors to work without knowing the full story. But the only way he could make the movie was by not talking about it.
He had signed up Hardik to play the role of the inspector investigating the mysterious death of servants working for a rich family in the village. The family itself did not seem to be directly involved, and in fact, had filed a police complaint to investigate the crime. The family members were truly concerned about their servants and treated them well. In the village, the victims are remembered as people with some deadly secret, who have had petty quarrels with their families and friends, who had ample opportunity to kill them. Was there one killer or were there many?
Ila was assaying the role of a young bride, who seemed well loved by her husband and his family. And yet, she went about with a long, sad face, drawing at Hardik's heartstrings.
The husband - played a new actor called Prateek - had a physique Hardik envied openly, was leader material without doubt, but tender at heart. And yet, Ila - as Aahna - turned to Hardik for love and intimacy.
And then she is found dead. The husband and the in-laws are the first suspects, and Hardik assumes he knows why - plain old jealousy. But no... And this twist was what Shekhar had to manage. He was constantly looking over his shoulder, trying to sense the presence, sometimes relieved it was not there but always fearful that just uttering the real reason for her death would bring bad luck.
"You don't have to reveal it," Ila said, startling him with her words.
"What!?"
"But how can I act appropriately unless I know why she keeps a distance from her evidently doting husband?"
"Just retain that puzzled look. It is not about not loving him, but about not being able to make out..."
And so the shooting went on. What was the secret Shekhar was about to build in to his plot? When was he going to reveal it? On hearing that even those working on the movie did not know about it created much interest among the media and repeatedly stars were shown shrugging and seeing, "It's a secret even we don't know anything about..."
And then came the day when the reason had to be revealed. The film industry was used to superstitions, penance and atonements, but Shekhar - viewed as one of the more reasonable and rationale members of the film fraternity, seemed to have bitten dust. Purohits came over to conduct pujas to keep harmful spirits away.
Ila was decked as the bride on her first night. She sits on the bed covered with fragrant petals, the garlands hanging all around creating a curtain of privacy for the newly wed couple. The door opens and shuts, and Ila lowers her head shyly.
"Beti," her mother-in-law's voice startles her and she looks up in surprise. The mother-in-law - a mild woman, a far cry from the strong matriarch that Shekhar had first imagined - takes the bride's hand. Ila recoils, becoming aware of a third woman in the background. The older woman takes a deep breath, "Beti... my son is really a man, you must never doubt that." Then she turns to the third woman and beckons her forward. "I am sure only you can change him with your love and..." Embarrassed to say anything more, she rushes out of the room in tears.
Ila stares at the woman left behind to face her. Prateek in women's clothing, smiling at her sadly. "I am sorry," he says.
Ila sits in stunned silence.
The crew stared in disbelief as the handsome man stood elegantly like a woman in a sari that vied with the bride's.
Suddenly, he spoke in a feminine voice. "Never, never reveal this to anyone... I told you, I warned you!"
Ila too sounded different as she looked up defiantly and said, "I could be silent no more!"
Shekhar woke out of his trance and shouted, "Cut! Cut!"
But Prateek and Ila seemed oblivious as they glared at each other. Before anyone could realise, the lamp near the bed toppled and the flame jumped to the bedsheet, leaping up gleefully even as Ila remained glued and unaffected by the heat. Prateek walked out with a heartless laugh. Ila shot up, even now unconcerned about the fire, and ran after Prateek, her flaring bridal wear catching fire, and fell on Prateek.
The crew felt trapped and rushed to the door but the two flaming bodies struggling in an embrance blocked their way.
**
"No one talks about it, sir," said a young boy to the stranger who claimed he was a journalist and was exmining the ruined haveli a few months later. "Did the movie get released, sir?" the boy asked curiously.
"No, but that song... 'A thousand promises your eyes make'... became a superhit."
"My father was the one who told him the story, sir... Shekhar sir had come here and got curious..." the boy said. "But he died soon after."
"Hmmm... Everybody who mattered was on the sets when the set burned down. Only charred bodies remained... What survived of the movie was not coherent. Do you know what the story is?" The man turned to the boy.
A partly broken door swung gently in the breeze. The boy felt himself shivering though the sun was blazing. "I don't know, sir..."
The man looked at the boy. "I want to write the true story behind the movie and the accident..." He took out a bundle of notes and looked the boy in the eye.
The boy looked at it eagerly, but some fear kept him back. "I don't know anything about this, sir. My mother sags that nobody who has talked about it has lived..."
The man laughed contemptuously. The boy hung his head, wondering if he was overreacting. He regretfully heard the car door shut and the man drive away. He looked at the receding car wistfully and was shocked to see it swerve and crash into a tree, killing the man instantly.
Concluded
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