Aaja aaja Bombay
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First a packed train, then another crowded bus. There is an overstaffed workplace, but also one revered place — the set. When the city shuns you, the set becomes your refuge.
The industry first humiliates you. You’re new and you don’t really know how it works. Every trivial task they assign you will come with too much pressure. You’re a headstrong guy. Here everybody will give you enough reasons to fuck off. But you please your god; this set is your shrine. Your director understands; your seniors are experienced. They know how to deal with a newcomer. They also know how to handle a problem child.
You’re homeless. But you have neither time nor money to find a home. They tell you were crazy to come to this place penniless. They tell you this is Bombay as if you didn’t know. Then you get a chance to rewrite a script. There are thousand odds, but this is your chance to win their confidence. You don’t mind the tearing train; you don’t care the boiling bus. You flip the pages of a novel you’d read five-six years ago inside your head. You write your notes in the bus. Your story requires the ability to handle the most difficult situations on the set. You invite torture, you step on landmines. This might be a suicide, but you hang onto the dangerous train. Each day you read that line on the way to you friend’s home: Those who doesn’t fail cannot grow an inch.
You thought there would be a cab to the location of your set. You go to your office early and wait for your crew. You forget this isn’t Delhi. You didn’t ask how to reach the site because you expected at least this facility. You didn’t ask for money. You didn’t ask for anything. You don’t have an answer to “What logic?” But when they tell you, “Don’t you know what a train station is?” you try to reason with yourself how is that going to help.
You decide to run. You don’t care if a bus is on its way to the bus stop or not. It doesn’t matter. You want to be on the spot anyway since you’re already late for the shoot. There is not a single bus in sight. But you run. When you reach the stop, some 100 meters ahead, you see a double decker bus. It is stuck in the traffic. It might or might not be the bus to the Andheri Station. It might be futile to run upto there you know. But you run anyway. You take a chance. The vehicles start to ply, and the bus increases its speed. You fear you might lose it. You don’t even know if you can afford to lose it. You run like a bull and it seems impossible that you’d be able to manage it. But you make it on the very last minute. And this is the right bus. You don’t mind the thick breath, you like the pounding heart. You love the sweat. What logic? You don’t know whether it is luck, hard work or determination.
You are outlandish. There is a shoot at Leopold. You are too excited to see all these neo-Gothic structures. You want to remind yourself, “Dude, you’re in Bombay! First time at Leopold!” Your director is kind enough to let you indulge in merriment. You drink only at times. This time, that ‘time’ happens on the wrong time and the wrong place – on the set. Later you realize that the set is the most revered place in the industry. You start to respect it. You start to understand now this is your shrine.
After the shoot, you decide to explore the city. The weather is on your side. You are dead tired after the whole night of work, but what you see keeps you alive and kicking. You thought they’re not giving you any work. Then you learn that it is upto you how to get it. There’s this little place in Aaram Nagar which let you take some breath. You just like to visit this holy place in the cover of darkness. You don’t want to be seen. You don’t go there to meet anybody. It just gives you enough strength . . . You want to do something on your own. You know they are there to encourage you. You know they’ll help you. But this is your battle and you’ve to fight it.
Aaja aaja dil nichode / raat ki matki tode
koi GOOD LUCK nikale/ aaj ghulak to fode
Hai dil dil dara / mera teli ka tel
kodi kodi paisa paisa / paise ka khel
Are are re re / dil dil dara/ mera teli ka tel..
kodi kodi paisa paisa / paise ka khel
Chal chal sadko pe hogi / tan tan…
Dhan te nan / na na
Dhan te nan / na na
Aaja aaja . . .
Three weeks in the city; three weeks in the industry. What a beginning, isn’t it? Please welcome to Bombay…
Dhan te nan / na na
Dhan te nan / na na
Aaja aaja . . . Bombay
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Nice post, best of luck to you.
Welcome to Bombay/Mumbai
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This is real good stuff!!
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really nice post, captured the hope, insecurity and guarded optimism of the new comer beautifully..
congrats!!
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Welcome to Bombay.
Run Bhola Run….
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Ah! good to see you take the plunge.All the very best.Hope Mumbai and you take to each other very well indeed.
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Good post.
There wuz a line in My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, directed by E Nivas. Saurabh Shukla tells Nikhil dwivedi, who’s a wannabe. Haathi ka poonch pakda na., abhi lage rehneka, kabhi to hathi pe savari karega!
Ur lucky, three weeks in the city and you already got work.
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Bro, welcome, fight the tide with all you have got..bleed, but keep fighting…the tide WILL turn.
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From one AD to another:
Best of luck, Salik!!! You definitely deserve it!
I’m one who is still reluctant to get into the maddening Mumbai crowd so still sticking to Bangalore. But one never knows….
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kisse appni photo kichvata rehta hai?
Salik you are here to stay. rest assured….yes you are a problem child…but the ones most troubled inside will bother some on the outside…it’s a good thing. aaja aaja gaand marale. WELCOME TO DURJANPUR….
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welcome boss welcome…train ki aadat dalne padegi….easily the best mode of transport in mumbai…oye aur pair ke jote kaha hain?
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“I see planets that don’t exist and landscapes that have only been dreamed…”
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Awesome Man, Way to go. Three weeks and you already have the job. That’s incredible
People spend there whole life in Bombay just get one break through.
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Welcome to Bombay and I hope all your dreams come true and it was a brilliant post!
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great post mazaa aagaya…truly inspritational for people like me who are planning to give another chance to life… great man keep going and best of luck…i hope after reading it… one or another will definately come to Bombay meri jaan (may be mee too….) Hey are u from delhi…as u know abt the cab culture in delhi…?
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gawd bless bro. real motivation is this. thanks a bunch! :-)
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Hey man.
Good stuff. You deserve this. Lol, Both. Trouble and the work. yeah.
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