Arnav-Khushi: Perfectly Imperfect - Last Part [12/04] Note-Page 50 :D

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CONCEPT

Khushi Kumari Gupta, a strong-willed, dreamy-eyed lass from Lucknow runs away from home because her melodramatic family wants to get her married to some stultifyingly boring guy, who is so clearly not the Mr Perfect she awaits.

Khushi finds herself in Mumbai, as a paying guest at the Kashyaps', and begins job-hunting.

But, by a curious turn of events (to be further expounded in the fanfic), she ends up going to the wrong audition by mistake.

The auditioner in question is Arnav Singh Raizada, the utterly unromantic, hopelessly pragmatic, rude, self-centred businessman who is auditioning girls to be his "contract fiance" so that his family can stop nagging him to get married.

All he wants is to expand his business, live his life to the fullest, and yes, maybe have a couple of affairs on the side... but nothing so serious as to permanently enslave him to the mundaneness of karwa chauths and changing baby diapers.

He is what Khushi would call a "typical guy." Alas, he knows not the poetry of flying dupattas, or any other poetry for that matter. He is not chivalrous in any sense. Nothing, nothing like her imaginary knight in shining armour who would save her from every problem, in whose intensely gazing eyes she would happily swoon, who would sway her in his arms and sweep her off her feet. He would never even think of brushing away a strand of hair next to a girl's eye, or making her wear her dropped payal. If she was falling off a ladder or something, he would probably just laugh at her clumsiness.

Like all other typical guys, he feels attracted to girls, but would never bother persevering hard/long enough so that the girl he likes becomes his (after all, there are so many other girls, aren't there?). Like all other typical guys, he has no idea what true love is, and has no intention of finding out. Like all other typical guys, he is extremely annoying!

Arnav finds Khushi ridiculous, walking around with a checklist to rate the guys she meets according to unrealistic, and frankly, very stupid criteria. Seriously, which right-minded guy would lose himself in the eyes of a girl for five minutes flat, or hold on to her dupatta to stop her from leaving, or do whatever other lame thing she fantasises about?! It's not like he has an aversion to love per se. He does like girls, especially hot girls. But he just can't bring himself to act retarded to impress them, nor can he risk losing his independence to something as idiotic as a romantic relationship.

Needless to say, neither Khushi nor Arnav want to have anything to do with each other.

But... as Khushi knows too well, we don't always get what we want. Sigh.

The fanfic's basically a light comedy/love story, about two people who want very different things, about how fate brings them together, and how they end up learning from each other... and falling for each other.

We don't always get what we want, but sometimes, we don't know what we truly want, and we don't see it when we see it, because we wear the blinkers of our dreams and ambitions.

INDEX

Part 1

Apparently, it was just another day in the big city. People rushing, huffing and puffing, to some place or the other, cars irritably honking their way through the stagnant smoke-filled roads, random bystanders standing by randomly.

It's funny, one could muse, how perspective changes everything. The way one looks at things changes the things one looks at.

For Khushi Kumari Gupta, it was far from being just another day. It was, in a manner of speaking, her first day in the big city, the day when she would finally begin to make a niche for herself in the hearts of one and all.

Her friend, Lavanya Kashyap, in whose house she was staying as a paying guest, had told her that Gul Khan was auditioning for the main lead of her next serial. Of course, Khushi wanted to be a Bollywood actress, but a Gul Khan serial was bound to be outstandingly popular. If she could just somehow get herself in there, Bollywood would logically be the next step. Hopefully.

Khushi had been so excited when she heard of the audition that she had begun to dance around the house and had spectacularly collided with Lavanya's father. There had been a brief awkward moment when he told her that her family would be very proud of her. But, being the brilliant actress that she was, Khushi had taken this in her stride and had nodded like the dutiful daughter that she wasn't.

Poor Mr Kashyap had no idea that Khushi had in fact run away from home when her crazy family had tried to marry her to some pathetic, mindnumbingly boring guy with absolutely no sense of humour, whose highest ambition was to eat rajma chawal and jalebis for the rest of his life, accompanied by a submissive wife and an army of brats.

Khushi actually shuddered when she thought back to the day he had come to see her with his overpopulated family. Her hyper-hyperactive family had been at its level best that day, laughing maniacally as they ostentatiously sang extravagant praises of Khushi and forced laddoo after laddoo in the suitor's mouth... Laddoos, that apparently Khushi had made with her own hands, as per the Guptas. Yeah right! Her whole family knew that Khushi could barely even boil water, so the women had busied themselves preparing everything, while Khushi gaped at the incredible fuss that was being made, and planned her getaway.

After the guy had left, Khushi had informed her family that she wanted to be a Bollywood actress, bracing herself for the imminent explosion of Gupta-ness. Sure enough, once they had come out of their overacted shocked states, everybody had sunk into their respective roles.

Her mother and Bua had begun "nahiiin"-ing at an alarmingly loud volume, and repeating all the usual lines of "pichle janam mein aise kya paap kiye the, jo aisi beti mil gayi," etc. Her father had taken the cue and begun to mumble weakly about "ghar ki izzat." His heart was not in it, Khushi knew, but such were the demands of his role. A part of her drew comfort in the fact that he perhaps did support her but could not show it.

Meanwhile, her elder sister, Payal, whom Khushi loved dearly, even though she happened to be the very embodiment of the perfect obedient daughter, had seized the opportunity to lecture her about the role of women or some such drivel clearly dating from the era when dinosaurs still walked the earth. Khushi did not miss the subtle look of pride on her face. She had recently gotten married to a "good boy from a good family" with a personality that was just as dull as his credentials, and was still basking in the glow of her amazing achievement.

That night, despite the supposedly strict vigil, Khushi had run away with the money she had saved up from her stints as tutor and internet cafe attendant. It had been her plan all along to run away, especially since Payal had gotten married which meant that Khushi could no longer be accused of spoiling her sister's marriage prospects. (This, in a small town, happened to be a crime of most unforgivable dimensions).

And a train journey later, there she was, in Mumbai, the city of dreams, on her way to becoming a superstar.

"Bhaiyya," Khushi said to the autowallah who had stopped for her, "iss address tak le jaayenge?"

"Mumbai mein aap nayee hain?" he asked, glancing at the note she had tended out.

"Jee."

The autowallah smiled to himself. You see, he really wasn't a bad guy, but, you have to understand, the life of an autowallah can get very dull at times. It's only natural that he should be grateful for any opportunity to play a prank on some new-in-town bakra. Or bakri, whichever the case may be. He took her on a long drive, and stopped her in front of the wrong building, grinning widely as he drove off.

Khushi took a deep breath, smoothed down the front of her kurta, and entered the studio, in her well-practised star attitude. This is it, Khushi Kumari Gupta, she told herself repeatedly, this is it.

A nerdy-looking guy, looking positively panic-stricken for some reason, came up to her, pointed her to her seat, and rushed off, mumbling something about "Nani." Khushi squinted at all the girls waiting for their turn neatly stacked in two rows of chairs. She promptly convinced herself that she was prettier and smarter, by far.

"These are the auditions for Gul Khan, right?" Khushi asked the girl sitting next to her, who kept re-doing her makeup, clearly intending to look scarier with every passing second.

"Gul Khan?" the girl asked, puzzled, "Is she also..? Um, I... I don't know about that. She might be helping with the auditions, I guess. All I know is, we are auditioning to be Arnav Singh Raizada's fiance."

"Oh really, that's the role? Thanks, yaar. I didn't know that. So, this... Arnav, he is the character? Like, the main lead?"

"What a character," the girl sighed like a lovelorn teenager, and she got back to plastering mascara on her eyelashes.

Khushi decided the girl was not a very helpful conversationalist and continued to give herself her customary pep talks. She had a very strong feeling that this day was going to change her life forever. She thanked Devi Maiyya in advance. (Always a good idea not to postpone things).

She was wondering if the auditions were going to start at all, since the queue had not moved in what felt like hours, when all of a sudden, a hush fell over the room. The girl clown next to her lowered her lip gloss, gasped, sighed and began to gaze dreamily at the door.

"He's here," the girl managed to utter weakly through her constricted breathing.

Glossary

pichle janam mein aise kya paap kiye the, jo aisi beti mil gayi - what sins did we commit in our past lives to have a daughter like her

ghar ki izzat - the family honour

iss address tak le jaayenge? - will you take me to this address

Mumbai mein aap nayee hain? - Are you new in Mumbai?

res.. :)

unres --

awesome first part. wanna be actress and ASR. wow!!

Looking forward..

love,
Devi.

Part 2

Khushi turned towards the door, where all the girls' dreamily blinking eyes were fixed, albeit in a rather floaty way.

The object of the sighing pandemic was the young man leaning lazily against the door frame, with a confident smirk on his handsome face. He was wearing a well-fitting maroon shirt, that clearly delineated and accentuated his well-chiseled biceps, and a dark brown waistcoat over it. He swaggered into the studio, allowing his sharp eyes to freely scan the girls from hairline to stilettos.

He stopped at Khushi, who was the only one without the customary groveling starry-eyed look. She distinctly stood out from the rest of the girls, by the way she was looking at him, curiously, with that unacceptable probing look, as though she was the one evaluating him. Also, she had manifestly missed the part in the advert that mentioned "sexy" as dress code. The nerve! No doubt she was very beautiful, but her mere presence in the room presented itself as a source of acute irritation to him. Actually, no, scratch that - she wasn't even beautiful. The long legs of that girl in the short flirty pink dress, on the other hand, now, they were another story altogether.

"What's your name?" he asked abruptly.

(A few mental girls mentally died, then and there, just hearing that husky voice).

"Khushi. Khushi Kumari Gupta," she said, not bothering to smile. She had quickly decided that she disliked him. Just another typical guy with the emotional range and intelligence quotient of a retarded baboon's.

"What's with the clothes, Gupta?"

Khushi quickly glanced at her kurta. But she hadn't spilled something over it. She looked back at him, puzzled.

He shook his head at her derisively, and winked at the next girl, who was so flustered that as she tried to get up, she nearly fell off her chair. All the other girls giggled girlishly, relieved that such a highly foreseeable misfortune had not befallen them. The man's mouth twitched as he just stood there, looking slightly sheepish, but just as smug.

Khushi stared at him, utterly disgusted by his glaring lack of chivalry, or any semblance thereof. Obviously, she had been right to dislike him from the start. She stood up to help the girl but the latter ran out of the studio, amidst hysterical peals of laughter. The man shrugged.

What on earth did he think of himself?

"What on earth do you think of yourself?" she asked. The question was begging to be asked really.

"Arnav Singh Raizada," the man said, by way of self-explanatory answer, holding out his hand to her.

It was him, Khushi realised, shocked. That was the name that girl had given, Arnav Singh Raizada. The main lead of the serial, whose fiance's role she was going to audition for. So Arnav whatever was the actor's name, not the character's.

Khushi did not respond to his handshake invitation. So what if he was the main lead? It did not mean they had to be friends. And surely, it was Gul Khan who would decide on who got assigned the role. This Raizada was just another actor. Completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Arnav was obviously taken aback but he quickly smoothened his frown to a sneer. He withdrew his hand, turned to the other stunned-looking girls, and pronounced graciously,

"These churidar-kurta-wearing, small-town people... we must forgive them their ignorance. Even eye contact is taboo where they come from. They haven't quite gotten to the stage of handshakes yet."

The other girls shrieked with laughter like it was the most hilarious thing they had ever heard. Khushi spared a second to gape at him, before shaking her head in pity at the other girls. How could they stoop so low?

Not that it was their fault, of course. What with the drastic decline of decent men over the past decades, there had been an overall drop in women's standards (and their sense of humour). They had all been forced to condition themselves to make do with the riff-raff that came their way.

Khushi Kumari Gupta was cut above the rest though. There was no way she would resort to fawning over men like these, irrespective of how irresistibly good-looking they were. Wait, what was she thinking? Irresistibly good-looking? Oh, puh-lease!

"Ignorance?" Khushi said wryly, when the laughter had finally subsided, "You wish. Actually, fact is, I have standards."

"Okay, you're rejected," Arnav said dismissively as he turned away, suppressing a yawn. Girls who thought they had to think, how annoying! They always had to be in control of everything and felt they were obliged to complicate the most perfectly uncomplicated of things. They even had standards when it came to handshakes now! And she had actually applied to be his fake fiance. Now suddenly, she remembered her standards. Confused or what?

"What?" Khushi protested, incensed, "But, but I haven't auditioned yet. And who are you to reject me anyway?"

"Exactly, Arnav," somebody said from Khushi's left.

It was a sweet-faced, bright-eyed girl, wearing a mini white dress with a ruffled neckline, and her hair in a high sleek ponytail.

"Hi," she said to all the girls, "I'm Parineeta, from the Game-Set-Match marriage bureau. You must have seen our ads? Rab banaayein jodiyaan, setting karaayein hum? I'm here to profile you girls to ascertain who is most compatible with ASR."

"Compatible?" Khushi asked, befuddled, "But why? It's just a role, right? We'll be acting. It's all fake."

"Yes, babes," Parineeta answered, "It is essentially all fake... but seeing that the girl who is finally finalised will spend so much time with ASR, we think compatibility is an essential prerequisite for -"

"Pari," Arnav interrupted, "you know that's stupid. Like I've told you before. This is only a job."

Parineeta knew her reason was lame, but she could not exactly tell everyone that she was a double agent now, could she? It was imperative that Arnav remained oblivious to the fact that while she was pretending to help him find the perfect actress to be his fake fiance, her actual aim was to find him the girl with whom he was most likely to fall in love.

"Not at all," Parineeta insisted stubbornly, "Finding a good actress is not enough. I assure you, ASR, the best of thespians would fail to be convincing, if not for natural interpersonal chemistry. And we just can't have people cast doubts on the veracity of your story. With this questionnaire and the other psychological tests I have in mind, we can mathematically compute the probability of potential chemistry between two people. It's all scientifically tested and proven, and has been widely implemented all over the world, with a success rate of not less than 87.3%. "

Khushi looked at Parineeta in awe. Was she serious? Wow, the things people would do for TRPs! No wonder Gul Khan's serials were so addictive.

"Okay," Arnav said moodily, "but isn't it obvious enough, there can be no compatibility between me and this thing?"

"Just let her audition," Parineeta replied, slightly exasperated.

One of the most important rules of the matchmaker's handbook, Parineeta reminded herself, was to never overlook the potential of irrationally strong initial dislike to bloom into love. Also, she liked this girl. Finally, someone who could stand up to Arnav Singh Raizada; someone he would grow to respect.

Parineeta could distinctly foresee it, a couple irrevocably in love, and a hefty cheque from her client.

...

Glossary

Rab banaaye jodiyaan, setting karaayein hum - God matches the couples, we set them up together.

second update in a row. Wow!
Loved the meet of arhi. ASR is so self centered, he rejected her just like that??? * glare at him *

I guess Pari's actual client is Nani. ;)

loving this.


ps: There is Maan mentioned in between. I guess that's a typo. Just to let you know. :)

^ Thanks so much for the comments, Devi! Appreciate it.

wow...superb...Typical guy😆😆...

Thank you lechuarshi, aazzz, sarunlicious.., v5a1s6, sangeethbala, kowsiRa, RSRC, niya55!

Khushi's heart was pounding as she memorised the dialogues. She was the last to audition (Arnav Singh Raizada 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.

Arnav 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.

Khushi 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 Akash (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 Gul Khan would probably be watching the video recording of all the auditions and so, she would have the final say. Who cared about what that obnoxious Raizada fellow thought?

"We haven't got all afternoon, Gupta," that obnoxious Raizada fellow said impatiently.

Khushi 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 Devi Maiyya that her would-be co-star be magically replaced. Anybody, Devi Maiyya, 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, Arnav, 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, Arnav. Kyunki main tumhaari thi, tumhaari houn, aur -"

Khushi was abruptly jolted out of the flow of the moment, when suddenly, without warning, Arnav 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 glared at her as he whispered urgently, "Just play along."

And then it dawned upon her: they were testing her improvisation skills! Khushi 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 Gul Khan would recognise, when watching this part of the recording, that Khushi Kumari Gupta deserved a far more competent co-star. Someone like... Barun Sobti! Sigh

Arnav 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. Khushi, 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. Well, at least that was one quality that Raizada possessed, Khushi conceded graciously.

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

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

Khushi was wondering if she should continue acting when she saw that Arnav 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, Khushi marvelled. Right from the arched eyebrows, to the teary eyes, to the fluctuating smile, to the trembling chin, she was flawless.

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

"Toh yeh hai humaari bahu!" the said Nani exlaimed, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"Yes, Nani," Arnav said, his mind working fast, "This is Khushi. The girl I told you about. Um, 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. I was planning to introduce her to you on Friday in fact. I didn't expect to see you here. What a wonderful surprise!"

"And who is this?" Nani asked, looking at Parineeta.

"I am Khushi ma'am's secretary," Parineeta replied quickly.

Khushi threw a puzzled glance at Parineeta. Why was she acting? Wasn't she the compatibility assessor? Something was amiss, most certainly so. But this was not the time to get distracted. If this was a test of improvisation, she had to prove herself, and proving that Raizada was worthless in comparison would be a much welcome bonus! She quickly dropped the frown and got back into character.

"Arnav," Nani said, "I am so happy for you! 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. Khushi, is it? Come here, bitiya."

Khushi walked towards the lady, trying to quell the questions that were continuing to pester her. Was the name of her character also Khushi? Or was it that they had not decided on the character's name yet, so they were using 'Khushi' in the meantime?

Stop thinking, Khushi scolded herself. This was not the time to rationalise.

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

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

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

He looked gloomily at the file with the contract that soon, Khushi Kumari Gupta would sign. It was fortunate that he had seen his Nani walking in the corridor through the one-way glass wall of the room, and he had run to hug that Gupta. If Nani 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, Arnav Singh Raizada! But now he was stuck with this Gupta as his fake fiance. Of all people! Dear Gods, how would he survive?

Glossary

Khushi's lines from her audition: How easily you said, Arnav, 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 have 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, Arnav, and you alone. Because I was yours, I am yours and -

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

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

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

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

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