In the summer of 1999, like every year, my school closed for 2.5 months and we went to my favorite destination on the map – Bangalore. What made this summer different though was that for the first time, we extended out trip to Singapore and Malaysia.
As much as I would love to, I am not going to nag about how smitten I was by the beauty of Singapore, or conversely how repelled I was by the dirty roads of Kuala Lumpur (KL). Sooo……cutting all the unnecessary details, on arriving in KL, we took a cab to the hotel. As we approached our hotel, we saw a huge gathering outside the hotel with posters of all sorts of people and an assortment of bouquets.
Pushing ourselves through this horde, we made it to the reception. On enquiring the staff about the hullabaloo, we found out that a troop of Tamil actors and actresses had arrived that day for a show that was to be held in KL.
My parents got the keys to our room and went to freshen up, and I, in the grumpiest of moods, went to the café to get a cup of coffee. To my luck, all the waiters in the café were Tamil film fanatics, and were waiting agape for just one view of the Tamil heroes and heroines.
After calling him numerous times, a waiter came up to my table to take my order. As I started to ask for a cup of coffee, we heard roars from the gathering outside. “Rajni saar! Kamal saar! Welcome, vaango vaango!” On hearing this, the waiter darted out to join the cheering crowd.
After the first troop of actors passed through the crowd, waving to their fans, my waiter returned with a head-in-the-clouds look. He said “madam ye varalle? Theriyama, inge rajni sar, kamal hassan, revathi, jyothika, khusboo, madhavan yellaramu vandirkango?”
“What? Madhavan aa? Inge aa? Do you think I can meet him sometime?”
“Sure madam. I will be on duty tomorrow morning serving them breakfast,” to which he got an “oooooo, lucccckkkyyy” from me.
“Na kootitu pore. Tomorrow morning, at 10 ok? Ready irango”
Forgetting all about the coffee, and in an ecstatic mood, I ran to my room to tell my unenthusiastic parents about meeting Mads the next day.
Appa said “Ee Madhavan yen ninna chikkappanna maga na? Addike ishtu khushi na? Stop being a baby!” (Is this Madhavan your uncle’s son? Is that why you are so happy?)
Amma said “Sari. Ready aagu. Aache hogabeku eega.” (Ok. Get Ready. We have to go out now).
Of course, their subdued response did not dwindle my excitement at getting to meet a film ishtar! I was in a state of reverie that entire evening. I was singing songs, envisioning what I would say to him, what I would wear, how my friends would react on hearing about my meeting with him, and so on and so forth. I hardly slept that night, and if I did, I surely dreamt of meeting Mads the next day.
I was the first to wake up the next morning. I jumped into the shower, dismantled my suitcase to try out all the clothes I had until I was satisfied with my appearance. As punctual as ever, I was down at the café at ten, waiting to meet the waiter who had promised to take me to meet the “star.” Yaayyyyy!!!!!!!!
But when I looked around he was nowhere in sight. I found out that he had not reported to duty that day. Seeing the agonized and heartrending look on my face, my mom requested another waiter, despite my egoistical reluctance at asking others for a favor, and finally I went to see Mads with my mom. Thanks ammaaa!!!
I walked into the hall and he was seated on the very first table, consuming what looked like a chicken leg to me. I do not know how I managed my conduct then, but I fought every impulse to scream and run towards him and said:
“Hi! I am ..…I came from Oman.”
“Oh Hello. I am Madhavan and I came from India.”
To this, another actor (whose name I do not know – but he was the host of the Tamil version of kaun banega crorepathi) said “Haha. Yennada apdi solare. As if she does not know who you are. Vango ma. What are you doing in Oman?”
To which I gave a curt response “studying.”
I looked back at Madhavan and said,
“I am a huge fan. I loved you in Alaiypayuthe. And the serial saaya. Your acting is so good. I can’t wait to see more movies.” (FYI – I had not seen him on screen even once, except for his Pepsi ad with Amrish Puri).
“Oh Thank you. Look out for my forthcoming movie…”
“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it for anything in this world! Can I get a picture with you?”
“Yea sure! I have to leave for my rehearsal too!”
So I gave what I thought was my best smile then, and then shook hands with him and thanked him. I stumbled out of the hall thanking him, and bidding adieu to the other actor as well.
That was the highlight of my trip. I wanted the rest of the trip to end, so I could return to Oman and show off my photo with Mads. I wanted to go to Bangalore, which we did for the last five days of my vacation. From the airport we went directly to a Kodak studio to get out photos developed (I finally get to say this “uss zamane mein,” we did not have a digital camera).
The next day we got the pictures, and I made it a point to carry around the picture wherever I went. Three days later my entire family was gathered in my uncle’s house to meet us one last time before we went back to Oman. I took my photo with me to show it to everyone. All my cousins smiled, I guess trying to control their laughter at how dim-witted I acted on meeting an actor. I then went on to show the pictures to all my aunts. “Good.” “Oh how nice!” were the responses I got.
Then I showed it to my uncle S. “Mama see!! This is my picture with Madhavan. You know him right?”
Uncle S takes the picture. He stares at it. Scratches his head for a couple of seconds. Then he says, “There isn’t enough lighting here. Let me wear my glasses.”
He then goes to a brighter side of the room. Takes another look at the photo. To my luck, everyone chose to be silent at that time, having nothing to chatter about. My uncle then looks excited.
Yay! He knows him! “Ehhhh G (his wife)…he is that guy…arey yaar….our…our pizza delivery guy!”
Hahaahahaahahaahah. The entire family bursts out laughing, my dad the loudest, except me. I was so embarrassed. I snatched the photo from him, “illa S mama. He is a film star, Madhavan antha. Not some dumb pizza guy!”
The rest of the evening I heard “Madhavan pizza beku!” “He’s the pizza guy!”
That did not stop me from showing the picture off though. Of course, as soon as I landed back in Oman I called all my friends, specially the tamilians and told them about my meeting with Mads. I got all the enthusiastic responses that I wanted, which further irritated my father, or rather convinced him that I would never “grow up!”
You know, as dumb as I find my reactions, I still scream and shout each time I see Abhishek Bachan on screen. AAaaaaaa Aby!!!! Typically followed by “Switch off the TV!” “Go do something resourceful!” “You’re 22 for heaven’s sake!” Hmmmm…I’ll save my opinion of the older folks for some other post!
Maddy reminds me of college, the fights et all!
but lets see, you were in the 7th and the excitement is quite understandable!
I met shobhana, hariharan and shaan during various shows I MCed last year and main bhi ekdum talli ho gaya.
I have been to Hariharan’s concert. I literally wanted o touch his feet cuz it was soo good. Yeah, the “stars” do create a talli effect only!
I met Jagjit Singh, the male Rudaali of Bollywood, in Kolhapur and I met Lucky Ali, the other Rudaali, at Leela Palace in Bangalore. I got Lucky Ali’s autograph on Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone’ with a pencil I grabbed from the reception counter. He had a Mini Cooper, my reason for getting his autograph! I met M. Balamuralikrishna in Atlanta. He is a very unassuming man, very humble. I admire him for both his talent and his persona.
Nice…Balamuralikrishna had come to my house when my dad and some others had organized his program here. I only have pictures with him now, but I dont have the slightest memory of my meeting with him. And who is the male rudali of bollywood?