The Film Shoot

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly"

It was 8.30 on Thursday morning. The maid had begun mopping prompting my husband to move to the balcony to braze the air and lo behold he was flabbergasted to see lot of  hubbub in the otherwise hushed premises of our housing block. He dragged me  to the terrace even as we saw a cine film equipment vehicle unload the shooting equipment. I looked around to glimpse heads sneak a look through windows. People were in their porches wondering what next. We speculated as to who had given the consent as ours was in totality a residential complex. A few months ago when  the  workers from Aqua -tech  had come for the standard maintenance of the water  tank there had been a burglary in one of the flats . The watchman had been whisked away to the police station by two burly stern looking policemen and released in the afternoon. There was quick appointment of additional staff. There after every one was vigilant. As time passed by, to our delight we saw every spot of the campus  being prepared for a Marathi film shoot. There was an auto brought along and many reflectors, lights, make up men artists, metallic chairs and many more . The entire campus was swiftly filled with people. Ladies scurried their hubbies for work and waited in the lawns for the shooting to begin.  Most of the kids had been ushered to school.Young and the old were on the phone and on whats app to inform their near and dear ones about the  film shoot displaying the importance of their property.

I was lucky as our flat  opens on three sides helping me observe from all the corners. A few young ladies became a part of the shoot when they were given a tiny role of walking along the long path from the main gate. There were two lady director too. We kept waiting for the shoot to begin. I saw a little progress. I got geared up to go to the University as the Research committee wanted a few changes to be carried out. For a few days I was upset as it meant a whole lot of changes and a lot more work. The driver Mr. Salunke who had come to take me also enjoyed the shoot. I concluded my work and came back. The driver was now no longer interested as it was over and above lunch time. The cine directors were still shooting. I saw that the scene was to walk straight to the entrance of the ‘E’ block enclave. The man was dressed as a college boy and there was another young girl clad in denims. The director gave the clap as the boy walked to reach the place, followed by the girl. They said it was not satisfactory. They directed him to walk on another path and then it went on many times. They measured,calculated,precised ,focussed, reflected and were dejected till the one last time. By now I was  terribly bored watching the identical scenes again and again but the actor seemed calm and poised. He kept doing his best.

At this moment I saw the man take a last route which was overflowing with the shade of the trees lining the paved firmament. It looked the best and of course the director was happy. They closed down for lunch. I gazed for a long time to realize that truly persistent people are successful as they nurture the PHD attitude as Rick Pitino says, “ the poor , hungry, driven attitude”.  My research no longer seemed complicated as I grasped the changes were  definitely to make me more resilient and triumphant.

 “Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence” Dennis Waitley