(banner credits go to Appy) "Cut!!!!!!!" shouted Mohit Suri in his crisp voice, as the last scene of the much awaited movie Ek Villain' was being shot.
Siddharth and Shraddha groaned in unison. This was the 21st time they enacted this scene and it was still on its way to perfection.
"What now, Mohit? What was the mistake this time?" asked Sid, in his clearly annoyed voice, amusing the steady Shraddha very much.
Sid was usually a calm person, who was seldom known for losing his cool. In fact, it was very hard for the others to make him angry. But today, his patience had reached its limits.
"Siddharth! There was no mistake. It's just that, there was no intensity that is required in your expression." said Mohit for the 4th time.
"Intensity, my foot!" he thought, as he groaned in annoyance.
"Sid, let's just get over with it, once for all. Just try concentrating for now." said Shraddha, stepping forward to take the lead.
Sid smiled. He couldn't be angry with anyone for long. Shraddha was right after all. If he was not giving 100 percent, then it was his fault, not Mohit's. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Wait!" said Mohit, before Sid could get a word in.
"You guys better go get 2 hours rest. I think the scene will come out well, once you've had some rest." said Mohit.
Sid sighed with relief. Even Mohit was human after all. He too could understand that they were stressed out.
"Sid! Go get some good sleep. 2 ghante ke baad, main tujhe ek wake up call doongi." said Shraddha in her bubbly voice.
Sid smiled in agreement. Just what he needed. The word called break', which he thought for once he could never get after entering the sets of Ek Villain'. Tired, he gets into his vanity van and shuts the door with a thud'. He falls on his bed and closes his eyes, but sleep seemed far away from him right now.
His mind was revolving around what Mohit had said to him. The scene was just perfect, but there was no intensity between the couple. He was usually flawless in romantic scenes. However stressed he was, he never seemed to show it, especially not while shooting. But, this time, he was not professional at all. Some unknown factor was disturbing him, but what was it? He couldn't figure out.
He then thought of Hasee toh Phasee. How natural he had been with Parineeti? It was easy to be with her. All the romantic scenes seemed effortless with her. It was just... natural, real. Shraddha was a great co-star too, and he loved working with her. But, the spark he felt when he was working with Pari was missing here. He missed her bubbly attitude, her infectious laugh and... her silly habit of applying lip balm every 5 minutes, much to his annoyance. His lips automatically pulled into a smile when he remembered the first day of shoot for "Hasee toh Phasee".
-Flashback-
Sid was sitting in the sets casually, as the shooting hadn't began yet. Parineeti was due to arrive. Suddenly, he heard the sound of laughter from behind him. He looked back surprised, to see the cause of sudden laughter and that's when he saw her enter, along with Karan and Anurag. She was happily laughing away, cracking jokes, not the least bit nervous unlike him. As she entered the sets, she saw him sitting in a corner, looking at her uneasily. She gave him a beaming smile and waved at him as if she knew for years, even when they hadn't officially met yet. He smiled at her clumsily.
"Hi Sid!!!!!!" she said as she came and sat beside him.
"Hello Parineeti." he said formally. Her expression changed from cheerfulness to annoyance.
He couldn't make out the change in her expression. He was at a loss to understand.
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked her bewildered.
"I just hate it!" she said, with a disgusted expression on her face.
"Hate what?" asked Sid, thinking whether his co-star was mentally competent after all.
"I hate it when my friends call me Parineeti." she said seriously.
"So what can I do about it?" he thought, not wanting to say it out loud.
That was when it clicked...
"What?!!!!!! Did she just say that she hated her friends calling her Parineeti? Matlab, she means to say that I'm her friend already? Wow Sid! That was fast..." he said to himself, as he stared at Pari in astonishment.
"Kya hua? Aise kyun ghoorke dekh rahe ho?" asked Pari.
"Voh... kuch nahi! Kuch bhi nahi. It's just that..." he trailed off, not knowing what to say to this bizarre, bubbly co-star of his, who may or may not set with him.
"Yeah... I know. Karan ne kaha tha ki tum zyade baat nahi karte ho, voh bhi itna short time mein." she said, taking him by surprise again.
"How did she know that I was going to tell her that only? Can she read minds or what?" he thought to himself.
"No... it's just that I can guess what you are thinking." she told him, answering his unasked question.
"What the... tujhe kaise patha hai ki main kya soch raha hoon?" he asked her, bewildered by her again.
"I told you Sid. I just saw your expressions. You are a very easy person to read." she said, her lips pulling into a warm smile.
He didn't know what to say. He never spoke to anyone this much on the first day of any shoot. He had heard a lot about Parineeti... bubbly, talkative, versatile and bizarre. And that's what she was.
"Okay! Main jaake baaki logon ke saath baat karke aati hoon." she said before she walked away, leaving him alone.
Probably she got bored of silence and that's what you had to be when you were with Siddharth Malhotra. Sid was never a man of words. He would speak, but very little. He preferred silence and loneliness, unlike Pari, who preferred noise and companionship.
Days passed as the shoot began and much to Pari's amusement, it took Sid around 2 days to even talk to her properly. He was always nervous whenever she was around, but surprisingly comfortable. She always made him feel at ease and kept him engaged. Her bubbly attitude couldn't keep him away from her for long. And within 2 days, he found himself asking for her company. He would wait for her restlessly when she was late and would drive Karan crazy by asking him about how long will Pari take to come at least 5-10 times a day. There used to be a lot of violence on the sets when Sid by chance annoyed Pari. She would chase him with a fork until he screamed sorry atleast 10 times.
-Flashback Ends-
He smiled as he recalled those memories with her. His tiredness vanished in thin air and the former enthusiasm to get on with the shoot came back to him, it was all because of her... because of Pari. It had been almost 3 months since he even spoke to her over phone. They only used to text each other after "Hasee toh Phasee", and that too was rare, because he was busy with "Ek Villain" and she was busy shooting for "Kill Dil" with Ranveer Singh. Though he hated to admit it, he missed her. He missed her very much and he didn't know what to do about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great job Pari!" yelled Aditya Chopra and Shaad Ali together.
They had just begun the shooting the first scene of "Kill Dil", and the actors were feverously going through their scripts.
"Waah waah meri sherni! Great job yaar." said Ranveer, patting her back as they were wrapping up the first scene.
"Even you were awesome Ranveer. As usual." said Pari with a light smile.
Immediately, Ranveer knew that something was wrong with Pari. If it were the old Pari, she would have made a sarcastic comment and made people laugh, but today, it was something different. She was not her bubbly self anymore. She was quiet and self-contained, so not Pari.
"Pari, kuch hua hai kya?" asked Ranveer, his voice filled with concern.
"Nahi! Kuch nahi. Bhas tired hoon." said Pari, feeling guilty for deceiving Ranveer like this, because she knew that he was genuinely concerned for her.
"Tired?!!!! Seriously? Pari, baat tiredness ka nahi hai. Your mood is off Pari. Main notice kar raha hoon. What's wrong Pari?" asked Ranveer. He knew her too well to leave her just like that.
"I don't know Ranveer!!!!!!! I don't know what is wrong with me. Mujhe bhas itna patha hai ki something is not right. Please Ranveer. Main thodi dher ke liye akele rehna chahti hoon. Please." said Pari, bursting out.
"Okay! Take care and come back as you were." said Ranveer, giving her a hug before he left.
Exhausted, she went to her room and fell on her bed. She closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake her, but she was nowhere near to sleep. Having nothing else to do and not wanting to go back to the crowd, she started to fumble with her phone, not knowing what to do with it. She was in no mood for selfies now, which was her usual hobby when nothing was there to be done. Unthinking, she opened her photo booth and her glance fell on the first photo in it, the one with her and Sid pulling funny faces. As she looked further, she found more and more pleasant memories of Hasee Toh Phasee, or she could say, pleasant memories of him, hitting her back again. Smiling, she remembered the times when he started trusting her enough to talk properly.
-Flashback-
She was sitting on the love seat when the camera was getting arranged, irritated with the delay. But she was usually good humored and didn't like to complain. She knew that she had to be tolerant, but she felt bored without having anyone to talk to. She tried hard to get Sid to talk to her, but he didn't seem to speak more than 3-4 words at a time. She gave up, thinking that it wasn't worth trying. She was waiting since 1 hour for the shot to get ready, when...
"Hello Pari!" said someone, making her jump. She didn't have to turn back to see who it was. She knew the answer already. Surprised, she turned around quickly, facing him with a weirdly cute expression.
"What?!!!!" asked Sid, unable to read her expression.
"Tum mujhse baat kar rahe ho?" she asked him, feeling like an utter moron.
"Kyun? Nahi karna hai kya?" he asked her, bewildered by her question.
"I mean, tum actually mujhse baat kar rahe ho? Seriously?!!!!! I thought that the great Siddharth Malhotra never speaks." she said in an exaggerating tone.
"So did I..." he said, with a laugh that can melt any girl.
"So in plain terms, tum aaj se mere saath teekh se baat karoge?" she asked with a serious tone, making him laugh.
"No..." he said, taking her by surprise again.
"Lekin kyun?" she asked, hurt evident in her eyes.
"Aaj se nahi abhi se baat karunga." he said, flashing his million dollar smile again, giving her a gentle, friendly push.
-Flashback Ends-
"I miss you Sid. Just because tujhe ek naye dost mili, did you just forget me?" she thought, as she remembered the recent interview of Sid and Shraddha.
Seeing his level of comfort with Shraddha made her feel uneasy. He seemed very relaxed and happy with her. He didn't even bother to text her until she did. And all this troubled her. And she couldn't understand why.
According to both of them, they were "just good friends". But what was this Bizarre Sensation that kept haunting them? Was it just friendship or something more? They couldn't make out.
Bindi
Udne Ki Aasha
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
