Tu Dua Hai

Chapter 5

He reached the set and had a short photo shoot. After the shoot was over, he had assumed that shooting will start right away. But when even after his makeup touch-up, no one came to call him for about 30 mins, he started getting restless. The set was ready and the cameras were set. Why hadn't the shoot started? He called Naushad Khan asking him about the matter. Naushad Khan came to his vanity a few mins later.
"Why hasn't the shoot started yet?" Darshan asked him and he shook his head exasperatedly.
"The doctor who was supposed to come had to go into an urgent surgery. We have tried calling her, but she seems busy. We will wait for an hour, but even then if she doesn't come, we will have to wrap up the shoot and reschedule for some other day."
Darshan was extremely irritated by this. That Dr. Gauri Sharma worked in a very big hospital, how could she not get a substitute for her leave? Maybe she had even forgotten to take a leave. How irresponsible of her! She had no right to keep him and the rest of the crew waiting. Maybe she was not serious about her or anyone else's work, he thought. Most of the young generation was never serious about anything today. How old was she again? Darshan checked her personal data mentioned at the back of the script and saw that she was only a few months, in fact 7 and a half month, younger than him. She was born on 28th may, 1995. That meant she had recently turned 25 while he was soon turning 26 in about 2 months time. He imagined that she would be a hippie type of girl with no punctuality and no sense of responsibility. Then again, he was not in position to judge her. He was responsible for quite a few wraps of shoots because of his alcohol consumption. Darshan tried to search her pic to match his mental image of hers. But there was none so he decided to wait for some more time. He would be seeing her soon. As minutes passed, Darshan began to grow impatient and irritated. Finally about 40 mins later, a message popped up on his screen by Naushad Khan.
"The Dr. has arrived; we will start shooting in half hour. Be ready." He frowned at that. He was already ready for past one hour. It was her, who was late. But shaking off his rising anger, he asked for something to eat while he waited. The effect of medicine was wearing off and his head had started to pound slightly. He would need his stomach full or he would not be able to control his temper. But before he could order something, the spot boy came and told him that he was needed urgently on the set as the shooting was about to start. When he went to the set, Naushad Khan told him to film the intro while the doctor was getting ready. Darshan nodded, now fully annoyed because he had been made to wait and was even unable to eat something. Just as he finished filming the intro, there was commotion from the makeup room and he turned around to see what was going on. A girl arrived, flanked by the makeup artist and hair setter. As she drew closer, Darshan was able to get a good look at her and for a moment he stood there confused. This girl reminded him of someone. As she walked towards him, now alone and stood in front of him to shake his hand, he was stricken by her beauty. But the thing that surprised him most was that she reminded him of Ayesha. It was true that the girl didn't look anything like Ayesha, in fact, she was opposite of Ayesha. But somehow, something about her reminded him of Ayesha. There was no similarity between the two, but Darshan only saw Ayesha in her. And this thing alone was enough for him to hate her at sight. At the moment, his head pounding and his stomach empty, his tolerance level had crossed its limits and this was a reason enough for him to decide that he hated the girl standing in front of him.
Admittedly, she was pretty, even the most beautiful woman he had seen beside Ayesha, but he hated that woman. He hated Ayesha and now he hated this Dr. Gauri Sharma because she reminded him of Ayesha. Her sweet voice was like an ugly screeching sound to him as she said greeted him and introduced herself.

"Hello Mr. Raval, I am Gauri Sharma. I am sorry for being late; I was stuck in a surgery." When she got no response from Darshan, as she stood there with her hand outstretched, waiting for Darshan to shake it. When he made no move, she awkwardly took it back and stuttered her next words. "So... er... shall we... shall we start?" Even then Darshan stood motionless and Gauri squirmed under his gaze.
'Holy crap, why is he staring at me like he is going to eat me?' was her first thought and after that she just went into panic mode as he continued glaring at her. After a few awkward moment, Naushad Khan who had watched the interaction between the two, cleared his throat. "Darshan, Gauri, let's start. We are already behind our schedule. So let's get rolling. Sit down both of you." When Darshan didn't move and Gauri stood frozen at her place, he spoke a bit forcefully. "Darshan, Gauri sit down on your positions. The cameras are going to roll now."
Darshan glared at Gauri once more before sitting in the armchair that was placed for him. Gauri, now more nervous than ever due to hostility emerging from Darshan promptly sat down looking at the floor.
"Roll camera, lights, aaand ACTION!" The director shouted and Darshan took a deep breath. It was like a switch flipped inside him. He gave a big fake smile to Gauri and started his part. "So here we are once more. We have with us today an extremely talented and beautiful gynecologist Miss Gauri Sharma. She works at KEM hospital. Though a doctor, she is also passionate for music. So tell us Gauri, what is the significance of music in your life?" For a moment, Gauri sat there frozen. She could not believe the speed with which Darshan had changed his mood. One moment he was angry at her for no reason she could think of and as soon as camera started rolling, he turned into a cheerful guy who was happy to have her on the show. As she sat there in shock without saying anything, the director hissed at her, "It's your turn Gauri. Speak." Gauri came to her senses and started rattling off her answer. For about 20 mins, the shoot continued, while Gauri sat on the edge of her seat waiting for it to get over. Though there was a wide grin on Darshan's face, she knew it was all acting. He was a damn good actor. Though he cracked many jokes, they were all prewritten script lines. Gauri could still feel the waves of hostility and anger from Darshan. As soon as director yelled cut, Darshan abruptly stood up from his seat and bolted to his vanity. Gauri stood up shaking because before rushing from the set. Darshan had given her such a look of loathing that she had recoiled from his stare. Now, as he disappeared and the director asked her to wait for a few moments as they had to take a few solo shots, she rushed to washroom in a panic mode. She shut the door tightly and slid down against it, tears threatening to spill. 'Why was he so rude? What did I even do to him?' She asked herself and blinked rapidly. Today's day was such a disaster. First she could not save the life of an innocent baby and now this. However hard she tried, she could not forget the look on the poor mother's face when she realized that her child had died. She made a huge effort to not let tears spill from her eyes. She tried to desperately think of something that would help her remain strong for a few more hours. She remembered her father's stern but kind face.
"Nothing can affect you if you won't let it."
She immediately sobered up. She had tried her best to save the baby, but maybe it was her bad luck or something that the baby had died. But it didn't mean that she was at fault. Also, it was not her mistake that Darshan was being a pain in the ass. No, she wasn't going to cry for some stranger who was behaving like a brat. She was a strong girl who did not get affected by anyone's rude behavior. Why was she even crying?

"No, I will not let some rich spoilt celebrity's tantrum to affect me. I thought he was a nice guy. I was a fan of his songs, but if he such an idiot, I too, won't bother. He doesn't even deserve to be respected by me, let alone be liked. Arrogant bastard." She whispered to herself and immediately felt better. She smiled and cursed him with a few choice words. Feeling a lot better she got up and straightened her dress. She wanted to splash some cold water on her face but decided against it as it would ruin her make-up and she still had a few shots left. But she swore to herself that she would delete his songs from her playlist as soon as she went home. She would dislike all his videos and unsubscribe his YouTube channel. That made her feel even better. The director had decided to film a few bits where she had stuttered or not answered properly. She had been afraid of Darshan's reaction in a few places and it had shown in her expressions. She went out feeling a lot calmer and without Darshan to glower at her, she shot the parts properly and finally it was a wrap.