Day 109(b) - Bollywood in Budgee Springs - Chapter 6 (2288 words)

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Bollywood in Budgee Springs

Chapter 6

The townsfolk are laugh now while Ash is pointing at double doors where Ella has led in the prize-winning cow. Attached to the red ribbon and bow are several prize wining blue ribbons around its neck. Seeing the cow the audience stand and applaud and the Mayor leads the confused Director down from the small stage and takes him outside, manoeuvring around the cow whom Ella is trying to walk backwards to the street.

The townspeople are gathering round the cow in the street, getting into prearranged positions to have a photo taken of them all with the cow, under the banner and presenting the holy animal to the film crew.

Charlie looks unhappy for two reasons, firstly he felt manoeuvred himself into giving away a prized animal, and at his age it was no longer about a living or the farming, it was personal. He was a good farmer, he had the best stock, the best holdings, and the reputation and experience built from years of being the best. The other is the reference to musicals, his pet hate is only temporarily put aside at the appearance of his cow but has not forgotten about the mention of 'Singing AND Dancing'.

Max takes the lead from Ella, now front and centre in front of the beaming crowd, and uses the leash to present the cow to Ash. “Well here we are then. In recognition of your decision to choose the town of Budgee Springs for your wonderful film, since you have been so good in showing your appreciation of what we have here to offer in Budgee Springs, we have a gift to present to you to show our appreciation right back at you!.”

“It’s a cow?” Ash is stunned and unsure that he is not dreaming. Behind him Hardeep has ditched his customary haughty look, the one meant to remind people just how good he is, for the widest smile that Kiran, standing next to him, had ever seen him display.

“Yes! That’s right, we know you hold the cow as sacred and since we have the cow that we believes shows just how important the animal is to us as well, something both our cultures share!”

Mike hands the reins to Ash and starts clapping. The audience joins in clapping enthusiastically; flashes go off from various cameras and stun Ash who is holding the reins open-mouthed. In the street behind him the entire crew of the film who had been in the process of taking the trucks and equipment out and assembling the beginnings of their work in the town stop to stare and smile at the out of kilter director, open mouthed and holding the leash of a very contended cow, chewing lazily on it's cud and looking cow-eyed at the people around it, well used to the attention being lavished on it.

Kiran and Hardeep are applauding along with the town, the crew put down the work they are doing and press into the townsfolk, clapping and cheering various slogans in their own languages, adding to the isolating sense of being on the spot, in the middle of a foreign country, unaware what to do with a cow on a leash.

“I can truly say that I don’t know what to say!” Ash finally says before adding in a more question tone “Thank you? I guess Holy Cow was the appropriate response then?”

More applause and laughter from every one and the ice is well and truly broken. The crew drift back to their jobs, the line between them and the townspeople has been redrawn by the need to get on with things, they all know that they are on a tight deadline and that the budgeting cannot afford the schedule to slip for even an hour.

“Well, this is certainly the only time that this has happened to me. You are the most generous and gracious town I have visited. And my crew and I cannot thank you enough for this... um 'grand gesture' of yours.”

There is another smattering of applause, but the self congratulation tone is wearing down and people are also drifting away and back to their own lives, leaving the Director, the Mayor and one or two curious onlookers around the banner and the cow.

Ash takes the reins of the cow and hands them to Kiran, who is now on the spot and freezes. Hardeep takes the reins from her confidently and he calmly leads the cow away from the main street towards the truck where his gear is being unloaded. He walks confidently, imperiously and professionally with an ease that completely contradicts what Ash and Kiran think they know about Hardeep.

A few minutes later Ash has disentangled himself from his conversation with the townsfolk and come to see his crew and talk to his assistant director and the closest thing he has to a friend, Kiran. She is talking with Hardeep, the usually superior and aloof choreographer is still smiling and looks at home brushing the cow's neck absent mindedly. He is taken back to his years before he grew up and moved to Mumbai to become a dancer, an entertainer and eventually a master of staging for dance scenes on stage and on film. He has come so far since the more simple childhood days and at first he had not wanted to travel so far to such different place and be away from the comfort and routine of being worshipped at home.

“It seems you have made an impression” Hardeep had been unforgiving of Ash up until this point, he had been forced to come here by a contractual obligation, and he had made it known that while he would always be a professional when it came to the dancing, the staging and the final product, he had little respect or loyalty to Ash for making him come here in the first place.

“It’s a cow!”

“Yes, there’s that famous directors eye again, you have real talent for spotting things.” Though dripping with sarcasm, this was still a softening of the relationship between them.

Ash is still staring at the animal that Hardeep has found some affinity with “It’s a COW!”

“No, no. It is not A cow, It is YOUR cow!? Are there no young people at all in this town? I’ll be lucky if we get through the first day without a broken hip or crippled senior citizen on my conscience. I do not under stand why we had to come here, here of all places.” Hardeep's tone is rising, but a look into the deep brown eyes of his newest friend calms him like magic. “Hey seem like nice people, I'll work something out. Some light moves, perhaps a number with some walking frames? I'll talk to the props department, and the writers.”

He unties the cow and walks away, towards a group of men standing around a trestle table, pouring over a map and placing little props of people and buildings on to it and making notes on carious copies of scripts, all of different sizes and thickness. Hardeep and the cow walk over and he starts talking to them, and pointing at the map and then around the town. Their reaction at first is amused by the presence of the pet he has attached to himself, Hardeep though is used to being obeyed, respected and not questioned and within seconds the cow may as well been invisible.

Kiran put her hand on Ash's arm, while he gazed along the road to the choreographer with the cow on a leash. “It’s a cow?” He said for the fourth time, and likely not the last.

“Are you sure it's a cow?” Kiran teases him trying to break him out of the shock.

“Oh, yes we have firmly established that this animal has unimpeachable Bovine credentials. It is such a good example of a cow, that it won prizes for being... A cow.”

Ash leans back against the side of Hardeeps truck, the high flat walls that contained one section of the wardrobe department providing a stable wall for him to drop his weight against with all this insanity pressing in on him. “What am I going to do with a cow?”

“Well you can do whatever you like with it, best not to eat it though.”

“If you are trying to be funny, please do not.”

“Well you have to laugh Ash, you know why we are here and you know what's at stake. Forget the cow. The cow won't be a problem, in fact it looks like it may have improved 'Deeps' mood for some bizarre reason, so take that as a win, it's good to have him talking to you civilly again. We can't take the cow back to India, you can't take it back to England, if you go back there?” Kiran looks at him then, an unspoken conversation in that fleeting moment, but Ash is too distracted to notice what she is not saying. “I’ll ask the Mayor to give it back to the owner at the end of the shoot or sooner if 'Deep' tires of his new friend. If not then he can care for it until we leave, and then perhaps we can remind them of the customs and the immigration and the whole border bio-security thing. Until then, if it makes everyone else feel good, then it's a win for us. Right?

“I guess so, yes, yes. That is good.” Ash bounces back and gives his assistant and friend a big hug “What would I do without you dear friend?” Ash is smiling but still a little pale and stressed looking, and rambles on not noticing the lingering clutch he is in with his second unit director. “It is

a bloody cow for goodness sake! It’s not like I don’t have enough problems already, but a cow? What would our investors say to that? How would they make that all my fault? I wonder.”

“Ash, don’t let it get to you. This is not a bad thing, this is the movie business. Everything will work according to plan, just like it always does, eventually.” Kiran sounded more enthused than she felt and they broke apart at that point, though not before it had been noted by a few of the crew members and passers by.

“We be cannot afford another failure! I cannot afford another failure, not with the people I have borrowed from to make this movie. This is my last chance, Kiran! My last chance. My parents have no faith in me. These films have to do well, not just 'ok', but really successful at the box office, and even then you know my father will be never satisfied. It was all I could do to get the backing to recommend me to actors. If it wasn’t for the money from my ‘investors’ then there’s no way I would have gotten Aamir and Manisha on board! This industry is so cut throat and I have so many peoples jobs on the line, I can't disappoint them I just can't.” He looked at his shoes as Kiran folded her arms, wanting to hug him harder than before but resisting the urges.

“You are a good man Ash and you will be a good director; you just need to listen to your heart more and don't listen to that little voice telling you how bad things will be. Don’t give up even before you have started, we are committed, we have the deal, we have the money and we are so far away from the people that want to ruin everything, that don;t want us to succeed and so far away from your family, you can forget about all those people and all their problems for now. Just be here. Please?”

Ash looks at Kiran seeing things in her he wished were in himself, hope and faith for starters. Looking at her in the here and now put thoughts in his head, he had left his life, his teaching position and his unhappiness behind with his families expectations in London where he had been living for over two decades now. He was as far removed from the life of India as the people of Budgee Springs were. He had dreamed of this chance, and finally he had taken it and brought a load of people with similar dreams, or people who had to be a part of the deal like Hardeep, or could be bought like the Actors. It was a huge gamble and he was betting on lives and livelihood.

“You should have more faith in yourself, don’t worry about what the others think. And you know your parents love you, no matter what they say how they express it to you, but that … that’s what parents do! This crew? The people you have scraped together and bound into this team? They’ve been through thick and thin before, they’re pulling together to get this done, they need it as much as you and you. YOU Ash are the way for them to realise those dreams. Just be here now, and do what you need to do.”

Kiran looked at him again saying little of her true feelings but letting them seep into the gaps between her actual words “Like I do. Like we all do.”

They look at each other seemingly about to say something important when a loud mooing noise echoes up the street from where Hardeep is walking the cow to his next destination, and then the moment is lost.