Chhaila Babu - part 1

Bhojpuri - the language of Bhojpur - a city north of India, from the state of Madhya Pradesh has been for years now (among several other languages) used by us urbanites when we're trying to be funny... If you manage to carry off the dialect, you're "a riot"...

And what's one man's "laughter" is also another man's "oasis". Ask Ayub Khan, Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kissen - all wannabe Bollywood stars who have found their "calling" (not to mention bread, butter and caviar) with the Bhojpuri film Industry.It was time to understand my friendly auto rickshaw driver a little. Not to mention the vendors who sold psychedelic plastic flowers, tapes and lots more across the maze of railway bridges in Bombay. And of course my vegetable vendors, the next-door milkman, my ironing man, and scores of other "invisible" people, who were responsible for my day going well orchestrated... Was curious to know what their favourite movies were all about..wanted to get under their skin and be one of them....you know, REALLY get acquainted with them..

NAH.........was bored, couldn't bear the mediocrity of my hum-drum life and the thought of doing absolutely nothing except vegetating that evening, and so decided to go do something that would hopefully wake me up a bit..Plus, it was all "hip" you know.. :) Enter- Ms. Anupama Bose...a kindred soul, a partner in rhyme – since watching a Bhojpuri hardly amounts to a crime- hah!! Little did I know what lay in store..

Navrang Cinema is one of those ignored theatres in Bombay, where words like “upgradation”, “facelift”, “renovation” are, and I suspect always will be unheard of. The owner I presume is just waiting to strike the “great deal” and be bought out. So like the once destitute horses of Juhu Beach, the theatre crawls along, with it’s beaten down seats, dark gloomy walls and dilapidated atmosphere. A most distinct smell of freshly churned out paan hangs heavily in it’s corridors, almost as a validation to the bright red, new born beetle leaf spits, which decoratively adorn the lobby and the hallways.

We waited with the assortment of the otherwise "invisible men" in our lives, for the rickety, rusted grills to be thrown open. To be honest, by now I had an impulse to retreat, since we were the cynosure of some 50 pairs of eyes, since we were the only two women there. However my soldier friend held on to my arm with a mission, and with a little of her determined spirit rubbing off on me, we gingerly ventured in behind the flood of men who had just barraged into the small opening in the grill now..

The gatekeeper gave us a thorough bleary look, and herald us in..to what was going to be a truly memorable 20 minutes...