‘Cut’, yelled the choreographer, she winced at what she knew was about to come…. an avalanche of abuse and admonition from the choreographer… once upon a time, she was the most dependable of the ‘extra artists’, the one who would not take a step wrong…. she knew she still was getting it right, but things were different after she had strongly resisted the choreographer’s advances..
he hadpromised her a prominent role in the movie he was about to make… but like she told him, if she had wanted that route to stardom, she would have done it long ago, instead of slogging out as an extra…a long time ago, she had come to this city of dreams to make it big in bollywood, along with her friend…
but somewhere, she had missed the bus to stardom, so had her friend..and though she had become an extra, her friend had stated that she would go to a studio only as a star… and to make ends meet, she was now dancing at one of the big dance bars..
these days, she felt envious of her friend… her friend danced in front of a crowd, who were extremely appreciative of her performances,maybe bordering on being lewd, but unlike choreographers and producers, kept their hands to themselves.. and literally showered money on her..
she wondered who was better off -she or her friend.. while her friend danced in skimpy clothes in front of a crowd, that was at most a few dozens of people, she danced in skimpy clothes (albeit in the background)in screens that were viewed by millions of people..
she decided that she would talk to her friend today, about getting work for her also in the place she worked in.. she didnt think it would be a problem, the dance bars always needed more girls..and so, she gave it right back to the choreographer, abused him, and spilled out his antics to everyone in hearing distance… when she was sure that he had lost tremendous face in front of everyone, she slapped him, a parting gift, she told him…
back in the room, she waited for her friend to return, it would be morning, but she decided to wait up… as soon as her friend walked in, she told her friend that she needed a job…
“so do i”, said her friend…
“what do you mean?”, she asked, with a sick feeling..
“haven’t you read the papers? they are planning to close all the dance bars. i was hoping you could speak to your choreographer..”
until next time, sometimes getting the steps right aint enough..
As usual, another great piece. Giving these situations a REAL perspective.
A suggestion – Increase the font size of the title of the post, it’s almost invisible! 🙂
ya really nice piece . you connect the recent issues so well with ur characters & their stories or is it the other way round. but good hai 😀
This is a very touching piece.
And then they started a dance school for children of out of work bar girls and…
Kraz.
gratisgab: are u seeing it on mozilla.. coz i thought it oooked fine in explorer..
sanguine: hmmm, nice question… i think i create characters for current situations.. 🙂
pearl: thank you 🙂
kraz: dai, no money for food and they will send children to dance schools, huh.. grrr!!
good one without doubt……have seen many such scenarios myself 🙂
will there be a follow on story? with a hint of something positive, light at the end of the tunnel types? pls? pls pls?
austere
story typically manu class, yes!
stone: how come??
austere: actually love pathos… the light wd be a train.. but lets try anyways, sometime… 🙂
clap clap clap..
and yeah.. u need to do something about the font dude..
… tied up well with the recent issue.
And we have a new pic – a new cartoon. When is urs gonna be up?
sqrl/nt: just the title or the entire post??
nupur: u mean my pic??
hey…its already been said, but you really connect your characters with the issues very well…. 🙂
Hey that anon comment was me Angel 🙂
i kinda feel bad for the bar girls 🙁 and now the extras too….touching piece indeed
thought u would have reacted to the flood scam before this one- oh well, shattered dreams and shattered livelihoods not to forget that some homes were shattered too not long ago in mumbai…
hmm interesting.. it appears as though u prefer the dance bar profession to the extra..
Such irony! 🙂 Lovely one!
Nice post! U shud campaign for the cause… and prolly send the story to a newspaper! 🙂
Yes you do need to increase font size… Using explorer, n its still painful on eyes! 🙁
do they find a way out? Does sth nice happen?
Why does fate always seem to win between fate and free will? 🙁
Arrey Yaar Manu – where’s your great imagination buddy – they start a dance school, and the women power NGOs give them funding, and they churn out amazing talents, and NDTV covers them and then they do a show for the president and… whew I am exhausted.
Kraz