Ever since I came across the concept of ship names.....just some imagination put into words...
“Roshni! Time to shoot!” Our cameraman called out to me.
“I’ll be back in a while.” I informed Faisal.
“I’ll come along.” he offered.
“Okay, as you wish.”
After a short drive, the car halted to a more deserted area. Faisal did not accompany me as we did not have much space in the car. There was a small ashram built in the middle. The scorching sun blessed my face with its golden rays the minute I stepped out of the car.
“Okay, Roshni, you are supposed to run down from a rocky slope with a bowl in your hand. We will do the hard parts first, then we can cover up the easy ones.” Our director instructed.
I nodded in approval and we began to climb the slope. The ashram was built on top of that. Once we reached, the set crew handed me a bowl of what looked like sand yellow liquid paste. This was the ‘aushadi’ or the Ayurvedic paste to cure Kunwar Pratap’s injury. I was told to remove all my accessories apart from my bindi. My attire consisted of an orange top, a light yellow net lehenga with orange embroidered borders and a dupatta of the same color.
“Roll, Camera, Action!” The cameraman cued me. I started running down the complicated slope. With the bowl in one hand, it was very difficult to not step over my lehenga. Although some of the aushadi fell on the ground, I managed to satisfy the crew in one take.
…
“Ouch!” I whispered when the medicine touched my foot. During the process of today’s shoot, I got a few minor injuries that had to be attended to. Ultimately, I had a few Band-Aids plastered on my feet as well as on my fingers.
I entered the gathering hall as the commotion grew around me. Yash and Vishal waved and me and caught my attention. Jannat was there too, laughing at Vishal’s jokes.
“Hey!” I smiled at everyone.
“Hey Roshni!” Vishal replied. “How was your shoot today? I heard you had to run down from some mountain or something?”
“Seriously?! Who told you that?” I questioned.
“Well that’s what I heard from Jannat and Yash.” Vishal defended.
“Yash! I guess your extravagant ‘marriage’ has developed a new quality in you; exaggeration!” I laughed as he joined me. “I did not climb a mountain, I just climbed a small slope.” I clarified amidst laughs.
“Yeah right, just a little prank!” Yash chuckled.
“Roshni! What happened to your hand?” Jannat exclaimed making everyone stare at my hand.
“Oh nothing! Just a few minor injuries.
“Are you okay?” Faisal sounded concerned. This was the first time he spoke since I came here.
“Yeah, I am perfectly fine!” I assured him.
“Roshni!” I turned around to see Aashka di.
“Hi Ashu di! How are you?”
“I am good, the Ranis of Chittor are enjoying a long relaxing vacation from shoot.” She smiled.
“No words for your acting skills Roshni! You were amazing today!” she praised.
“Thank you di! But, all the credits go to the team who put in efforts everyday and bear with us.” I commented with a smile.
“Still Roshni, what you did today was not possible for us too, at least not in one take.” Rajshree di joined.
“The last time someone shot a difficult scene as such in one take was Faisal!” We all turned to him as he tried to hide a smile.
“Thank you Rajshree di! As for Faisal, I had no doubts in him doing scenes and sequences in one take.” I smiled at him.
“Silence!” The director shouted to which everyone obeyed.
“I am sorry to interrupt your discussions, but I have a request for you all.”
“It is only 6:00 in the evening right now, and I know it’s a bit late, but can we shoot one last scene. It will be shot inside the palace and will not take long, I promise.” He requested.
Everyone nodded their heads in approval. This was the team of BKVPMP!
“Thank you everyone for your loyalty towards the show. I will announce the list of actors required for the scene. The assistants will be here to help you in every way possible” he smiled. “We need the following people from our cast: Pratap, Ajabde, Rao Mamrakh, Hansabai, and Vaidji. I request you all to gather in Pratap’s room. Thank you.” He finished.
“It’s our call....” I turned to all my friends.
“Yeah… we’ll catch you up later!” Faisal joined.
“Bye!” Vishal waved.
“Seems like the day hasn’t ended yet.” I told Faisal.
“Hmm, not yet.” He smiled at me. There was something going on in his mind, he wasn’t the normal cheerful self he usually is.
“Faisal, is something wrong?” I asked my co-star.
“No, I’m probably just a bit tired.” He replied to which I wasn’t fully convinced. Maybe it was something he wanted to keep it to himself.
…
“Pack-up!” our cameraman screamed delightedly. He genuinely felt content and exhausted, after finally bringing an end to a 12 hour long work day. I made my way towards my vanity room and checked my phone simultaneously, checking for any notifications.
“Hey Roshni! Wait for me!” a familiar voice called out to me.
“Faisal! I’m getting really late and I need to go!” I avoided him. Mostly because I was exhausted. Little because he did not consider me his friend. Or so it seemed.
“Hey!” he blocked my path as I dodged his glances.
“Roshni? You alright?”
“Yeah! I am perfectly fine!” I quietly growled at him, stressing on the word ‘perfectly’.
“You are so short-tempered; anger sits on your nose!” Faisal complained pointing at my nose. I snorted at him.
“Actually you are quite impatient too!” he went on.
“Yeah, you are absolutely correct! I am a bad natured person.” I snapped at him to which he gave a sly grin.
“You can’t stay still without knowing everything, right?” he gazed into my eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.” I avoided his stare. “What I do know, is that I am getting late and I need to go.” I glared at him with anger and hurt blazing through my eyes.
I turned to leave but immediately felt a hand wrap around my wrist and pull me back. I shot my eyes to discover that it was Faisal. Shock was covered with joy. I soon realized that I liked his touch.
“I am sorry!” he apologized but remained firm on my wrist.
“For?” I questioned.
“For behaving weirdly with you…”he said sheepishly. I did not say anything, instead, I waited for him to explain.
“Actually, I was still feeling guilty for what I did with you today.” With that, he looked down.
“Faisal..” I whispered. “You don’t have to be guilty, it wasn’t totally your fault.” I admitted.
“I just jumped on conclusions… so it was my mistake too.” I paused waiting for his reaction. He looked up at me, waiting for me to go on.
“I think we should forget it.” I tried to make our conversation a bit cheerful.
“Yeah… I think so too.” He replied seriously, staring at my eyes.
“Hey, Praja!” Sharon di called out to us. I gave a frown at the word ‘Praja.’ According to my knowledge on Ancient Hindi, the term ‘praja’ meant the public. Since when and why did she start calling that. I looked at Faisal and saw that his face mimicked my expression.
“Hi Sharon di!” I responded as she approached near us.
“Sharon di, why did you suddenly start calling us ‘praja’? Have you made us an outsider so soon?” Faisal asked, amused.
“You guys!” she couldn’t control her laughter. “Okay, I’ll give you one hint.” She decided. “The name I have given you both is not in its literal meaning, but it consists of you two.” She gestured as if preaching philosophy.
After a couple of frowns and a few wrinkles on our foreheads, I gave up. “Sharon di! I frankly have no idea on where you are leading this to.”
“Same here” Faisal agreed.
“Okay! So have you ever heard of ship names?” she received clueless faces to which she continued “Okay, so this is where my social media knowledge comes into play. Ship names are when you combine the names of two people together, generally used with a boy and a girl.” She inhaled.
“So… I have combined your reel names together. ‘Pr’ as in Pratap and ‘Aja’ as in Ajabde. And that makes..”
“PrAja” Faisal and I whispered in unison.
“Wow Sharon di! What a creative mind!” I complimented.
“I have another surprise for you!” she announced. “Actually two.” She added. I waited eagerly. With a few claps, everyone from set gathered around us. I grew anxious of what she was about to announce.
“Firstly, from now on, whenever the director/cameraman wants to call you for a scene, they will always call you ‘PrAja’ instead of ‘Pratap and Ajabde’”. I gasped in surprise, she made it official!. “And, if someone wants to call you both by your real names… then I have a ship name ready for you.
“Sharon di!” I interrupted before she continued. “Can Faisal and I guess this time?”
“Sure!”
In a few seconds, Faisal and I screamed in glee, “RoSal?!”
“ sadh-pratishat uchit kaha aapne” Sharon di congratulated, flaunting her accent. That one correct guess made me feel so proud of myself; as if I had figured out some complicated IIT equation. Sharon di had unknowingly bonded us together, into something which made my heart flutter.
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