Filmi Freaks' Day Out - 1

After a long dramatic night, with great emotional bonding between the few of us, it was difficult for me to get into the mood of meeting so many new people and talking about movies and stuff. For a moment I thought I shouldn’t go, as I didn’t wanna look gloomy out there :O But then this was the only chance I had to meet everyone, and also this was the purpose of me staying back till that day. So without thinking further, I left my place and reached the Studio.

On entering the place, I found Divs Sir, Arnab ji, Pritam ji, Akhtar ji, Rohit, Harsh, Punnu, Tashu, and few others, all involved in some work or the other. I quietly took a seat next to Punnu and Tashu and spoke a bit. Harsh also joined in. They were just occupied with the registration of people coming in. Soon, Shenith ji came in with a couple of guys, and it was really nice of him to identify me instantly and greet me :) After a while, Sajid ji came upto me and surprisingly he knew me too :) I was beginning to feel a bit more relaxed as I wasn’t a total stranger there. I also spoke to Akhtar ji for the first time. Pritam ji and Arnab ji were also kind enough to ask me about my trip. Slowly more people started coming in, whom I was seeing for the first time. I had noticed Dr. Ashok standing behind, but didn’t get a chance to speak to him.

It was time to begin with the introduction. We took our seats. Divs Sir gave us a short note on how the club had been formed and Arnab ji spoke about Gomolo. The lights then went off, and we got to watch the first performance of Jaya Bhaduri (Suman) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Murder At Monkey Hill) for FTI - pretty interesting ones. Just when all were engrossed in the film, Subur and Ambika entered in a rather filmi style :P , causing a slight chaos which thankfully lasted just for a few seconds. Many were surprised to see Ambika there! :)

Next on the agenda was a fight scene from “Shera” featuring Mithun Da. Sajid ji gave an interesting introduction to the film and other related Mithun Da’s films. Once the clip was on, there was laughter all over. The last scene was the most hilarious I felt :D

Finally, the quiz was about to begin. Since teams were selected on chit basis, I think most of our partners were someone we were meeting for the first time. Nishikant was my partner. We both couldn’t talk much and were busy thinking about our team name, something related to Salman, as we both liked him :P But finally, he chose the name Teen Numbari (we were the 3rd team). The preliminary round began. Very few questions were easy, some were confusing, and others quite tough. Thanks to Harsh, I guessed the 2nd one to be Choti Si Baat :D , which had to be right! 20 questions were done with soon. I was confident of not qualifying. Corrections followed up soon, and as expected, my team didn’t qualify :P :(

Suddenly Divs Sir appeared with his mobile in hand, saying that Suresh ji had called from the U.S. to greet everyone! :O That was quite a surprise! Everyone said a loud Hi in chorus. It felt good :)

Soon, as it was lunch time, some quick bites were distributed to us. We were busy munching, while Divs Sir screened the original version of the song Jaanu meri jaan… and also the color version of the song Abhi na jao chod kar… I was elated! :) Mohd. Rafi suddenly brought a broad smile on my face and I looked at Divs Sir with gratitude in my eyes :)

The top 6 teams, who qualified for the quiz, were then asked to be seated in front, one beside the other. Each round was based on a different theme and some great questions were asked, too tough to even guess :( But Pravir ji managed to crack most of them, quite instantly :O The other teams hardly got an opportunity to answer. There were also questions for the audience (those who didn’t qualify), and I guess Faiyaz (hope I’m right) answered most of them :)

There was still another round of quiz left, when I realised it was time to leave for the airport :( I had a flight to catch in a couple of hours. I told Divs Sir and then said a quick goodbye to everyone else. I wanted to say a lot, thanking everyone for all their effort, but I was out of words and also really upset about having to leave. I walked out of the room and looked behind wondering if anyone would come out, as I really wanted to meet everyone personally. To my amazement, I found Divs Sir right behind me :) He could make out I didn’t wanna leave, as my eyes said it all. Soon, Harsh, Rohit, Ambi, Subur and Tashu joined. We took a group photo. I wanted to bid farewell to Punnu too, but he was busy marking the scores inside :O Anyway, time was running out. I finally left with a heavy heart, as I was craving to spend more time with everyone :(

On the way to the airport, I was only thinking of ways to cancel my flight and stay back atleast for another day or two. But I couldn’t think of anything substantial. How I wished it would rain, or the roads get jammed, or my flight gets delayed or cancelled. Alas! All of that remained just a wish in the end! :( I boarded the flight and wept until I arrived in Chennai. This was the first time everything went right in my trip. I was just too happy and excited, at the same time depressed that I may not have such a chance again. I just didn’t wanna get back home for a change! :O :(

As for now, I’m still in Mumbai, though not physically present. I can still feel the noise on the roads, the raindrops, voices calling me, those silent tears, and everything else that made my trip so wonderful.

Thank you Divs Sir for convincing me to attend the meet and for organising it so well :) I know it must have been really hectic, managing so many things at the same time, both personal and professional. Also, thanks to Arnab ji, Pritam ji, Harsh, Devendra ji, Dr.Ashok and others who put in their effort too. It really paid off! :)

P.S. I really wanted to meet Sharib ji and see his performance, but it was plain bad timing of him to reach as soon as I left!! :( Anyway, hope there’s a next time. I also wanted to interact more with others like Shenith ji, Sajid ji, Akhtar ji, whom I found very friendly. Well I hope that happens in the next meet, if at all I can make it there too! Oh yeah, if it’s in Chennai, I’ll definitely be there! :)