There’s nothing quite like showbiz. I am not talking through my hat as I have seen things up-close, what with my dad being in the film industry. Though his ambition of being a film editor was nixed by granddad, destiny finally brought him to the industry in the role of a film distributor. I had seen him market a film in novel ways that we laugh and joke about even now. But the risks were as great then as they are now.
So when my cousin decided to become a film producer, we were all aghast. Why was he risking his hard earned money? He could invest it in some other business. But the lure of showbiz is hard to resist, especially for someone who had been enamoured of it once. I remember my cousin as a young man trying his hand at films, even learning Bharatanatyam, probably influenced by Kamal Haasan’s Sagara Sangamam, which had just been released.
My cousin is a daring, flamboyant character, always ready to help others, and I was at once was reminded of R K Narayan’s Mr Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi, in which the protagonist Sampath has some memorable experiences in the film world. Would my cousin have a similar experience, I wondered.
Some post production work got him to Chennai and he stopped by our place. So the film producer is gracing us with his august presence, I joked and he smiled in return.He confided that the director of his film, a good friend of his, was not at all acquainted with the language in which the film was being made and the scriptwriter’s claims, when put to the test, came to naught. Many of my relatives appeared in small roles in the film, I learnt later.
Over a hot meal, he shared in brief the film’s storyline. Probably a full stomach had encouraged him to share his woes—his production manager had decamped with a large sum that had to be provided for a day’s shooting, with the police eventually locating the person and recovering the money and asking for a cut in return.
My husband and I were both laughing and commiserating with him in turn. Finally, he could not resist showing us the opening scene in the film where whom do we see but my cousin going about his role with aplomb.
Being the film’s producer, how could I miss giving myself a role in the film, he chortled. My cousin, it would seem, had indeed realised his dream.
Email: sunitarag@gmail.com