MG ~The Heart has its Reasons~ Note - pg44 - Page 10

Originally posted by: lody

Plzz plzzz update soon am daying for the next part and thanks for pm to dear

waiting for the truth abt auditions to be revealed..

Geet's heart was in full-on bhangra mood as she memorised the dialogues. She was the last to audition (Maan Singh Khurana had made sure of that), but the long wait had been worth it. She was there, finally. At her first audition!

She remembered, poignantly, all those times when it had seemed an impossible dream, how part of her (the annoyingly self-righteous, and wrong part) had tried so hard to dissuade her. How humbled those moments of uncertainty felt now, now that she held her first script in her quivering hands.

Maan glowered at her from across the room. He had already made up his mind that she would not be selected. In fact he would not even have let her audition, had he not been so keen for Parineeta's tedious speech to end.

Geet caught the look and panicked for a second. But then, she mused, how odd, that a mere actor should have so much power! Surely, those other people, Parineeta and Adi (the nerdy-looking guy who had directed her to her seat earlier), would also play a part in the decision. If she could impress them, that would be two thirds of the jury on her side. Besides, there was a camera running, which meant that Arti Sen would probably be watching the video recording of all the auditions and so, she would have the final say. Who cared about what that Khurana guy thought?

"We haven't got all afternoon, Handa," that Khurana guy said impatiently.

Geet threw him a sardonic smirk, and sighed heavily, wondering how she would stand being with him if she got selected for the role. She took a second to pray to Babaji that her would-be co-star be magically replaced. Anybody, Babaji, anybody but him, she insisted.

Then, she cleared her thoughts, immersed herself into her character, and said, as tears began to glisten in her eyes,

"Kitni aasani se keh diya, Maan, ki tum meri zindagi se door chale jaaoge. Ek baar bhi yeh nahin socha, ki tumhaare saath, yeh zindagi bhi mera saath chhor degi. Kitne aansoun bahaaye inn aankhon ne, lekin tum inmein phir bhi basse rahe, kabhi khwaab banke, toh kabhi yaad... kabhi ehsaas banke, toh kabhi intezaar. Humaara safar shaayad yahin tak ka tha, lekin marte dum tak... main tumse, aur sirf tumse, pyaar karoungi, Maan. Kyunki main tumhaari thi, tumhaari houn, aur -"

Geet was abruptly jolted out of the flow of the moment, when suddenly, without warning, Maan leapt towards her. He threw her script away with a flourish, and hugged her tightly, as pages flew over them in frenzied celebration.

Understandably appalled by this utterly unacceptable gesture, she tried to push him away, but he was too strong for her. She began to protest, but he quickly placed his hand over her mouth and whispered urgently, "Chup, bilkul chup. Just play along."

And then it dawned upon her: they were testing her improvisation skills! Geet gave a tiny nod to show she had understood. He loosened his grip, lowered his hand and looked into her eyes.

She could instantly gauge that he was a pathetic actor. His eyes bore no love; they were prosaic, pragmatic. She gazed back at him dreamily, to show him how it's done. She hoped that Arti Sen would recognise, when watching this part of the recording, that Geet Handa deserved a far more competent co-star. Someone like... Gurmeet Choudhary! Sigh 😍

Maan placed his left hand on the side of her head and gently (but somewhat mechanically) brought it to rest against his chest. He closed his eyes and patted the top of her head. Geet, who was squinting at him, to further critique his acting skills (or rather, the lack thereof), realised that she should probably close her eyes too. He smelt nice. But, of course, she promptly corrected herself, it was just his aftershave. Any idiot can wear nice aftershave and smell nice.

"Maan, aap toh bade chhupe rustum nikle," somebody pronounced, and Maan let go of Geet, assuming a slightly overacted expression of surprise.

There was an elegant old lady at the door, smiling.

Geet was wondering if she should continue acting when she saw that Maan still had his right arm meaningfully clasped around her waist, and realised that this lady was also part of the serial. Now that was an actress, Geet marvelled. Right from the arched eyebrows, to the teary eyes, to the fluctuating smile, to the trembling chin, she was flawless.

"Dadi? Aap? Yahaan?" Maan said breathlessly. Geet almost rolled her eyes. Ek toh ghissa pitta dialogue... aur upar se, koi emotion bhi nahin! What an amateur!

"Toh yeh hai humaari bahu!" Dadi exlaimed, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Yes, Dadi," Maan said, his mind working fast, "This is Geet. She's an actress, which is why she was here, at the studio. And I thought I'd surprise her by coming to meet her at her shoot. Adi who is also here, uh, came along... for security reasons. And this is Parineeta, Geet's secretary. Geet and I are... together, actually. Yes, just like you said, this is your bahu. I was planning to introduce her to you on Friday in fact. I didn't expect to see you here. What a wonderful surprise!"

"Maan," Dadi said, "Chill, beta! Aapko itni safaayi dene ki zaroorat nahin. Actually I was driving past and I saw your car outside, so thought I'd drop in. And I understood everything when I saw you two hug. Geet? Come here, beta."

Geet walked towards the lady, now slightly confused. Was the name of her character also Geet? Or was it that they had not decided on the character's name yet, so they were using 'Geet' in the meantime? There was something amiss.

Stop thinking, Geet scolded herself. This was not the time to rationalise. She had to be her character and emote the part with utmost conviction. Her career depended on it.

She bent down to touch Dadi's feet with the dutiful look she had perfected over the years. It had been her survival mechanism as a long-standing member of the crazy Handa family. She reminded herself to mention the Handas in her best actress award acceptance speech.

"Oh, Maan," Dadi said, excitedly, after kissing the top of Geet's forehead, "she's perfect! Susheel aur sanskaari. I would never have thought that you would have such a good choice."

"Yeah, Dadi," Maan echoed, with a fake smile, "she's perfect."

He looked gloomily at the file with the contract that soon, Geet Handa would sign. It was fortunate that he had seen his Dadi walking in the corridor through the one-way glass wall of the room, and he had run to hug that Handa. If Dadi had even had an inkling of the fact that he was holding auditions to find a fake fiance, there was no saying how much emotional blackmail he would have had to put up with. Tricky situation well managed, Maan Singh Khurana! But now he was stuck with this Handa as his fake fiance. Dear Gods, how would he survive?

.....

The author's two-cents

*runs for cover* lol.

But I don't think it would have made sense to have that in this part. It was imperative that Geet be selected as the fake fiance first.

Now that they're both stuck with each other, the author believes it's okay to let Geet know what she's gotten herself into. Hehe.

Sorry for dragging the story a bit. But I think it was important to ensure that the story rested on a logical premise. Now that the foundation has been firmly set, things will go much quicker.

I decided to post this part two days earlier than I had planned, to make up for having disappointed some of you. Hope it helps 😳

Part 4: Geet's shocking realisation... and other stuff ;)

See next post for the glossary.

Bhangra: Punjabi dance

Geet's lines from her audition:

How easily you said, Maan, that you would go away from my life? Not even once did you think, that with you, this life too would leave my side. My eyes spilled so many tears, and yet you continued to reside in them, as a dream, a memory, a feeling, a waiting. Our journey together was perhaps meant to end here, but till the end of my life, I will continue to love you, Maan, and you alone. Because I was yours, I am yours and -

Chup, bilkul chup (Maan): Be quiet, completely quiet

Aap toh bade chhupe rustum nikle (Dadi): You turned out to be very secretive

Aap? Yahaan? (Maan): You? Here?

Ek to ghissa pita dialogue, upar se koi emotion bhi nahin (Geet): Not only is it a stereotypical dialogue, on top of it, he says it with no emotion.

Toh yeh hai humaari bahu (Dadi): So this is my daughter-in-law

Aapko itni safaayi dene ki zaroorat nahin (Dadi): You don't have to give so many justifications

Susheel aur sanskaari (Dadi): Well-behaved, and with good values (I think..something along those lines)