Dare to Say

Protagonists and antagonists introduction:

1)  (Newcomer) Urvashi Garg: Skilled classical dancer from north India, knows all the eight classical forms to perfection. They say her eyes speak, her expressions tell a story and when she dances, the world disappears except her. Her smile, her charm, her ‘addayen’ can make a dead sing her tunes and kill an undead. She is desired not only in India but in Europe as well where she has performed numerous times.

2) (Superstar) Aryan: He holds most people in disdain but is quite chivalrous when it comes to women. He is full of himself, extremely arrogant, believing himself to be the best superstar that ever lived in Bollywood. His charisma, his charm, and his good looks never seize to impress and he is well aware of the effect he has especially on women. From girls to a mum, everyone goes gaga over him. No wonder he is quite a ladies’ man but despite his popularity, he is still tagged as ‘Single-heartless-heartbreaking-heartthrob”.

3) (Baby) Agni : A girl of eight years, highest paid child artist, she is in limelight, achieved more than what other stars can’t achieve in their lifetime. She made her debut when she was six years old with a Hollywood Oscar-nominated film and entered Bollywood with a bang in a children’s film and since then she has been everywhere.

4) (Eyes and ears Knows-it-all) Bruna: No one knows what she is, is she an item girl? Or a controversy queen? Perhaps that fish that is rotting the Bollywood pond? Or just a misunderstood girl?

5) (Casting Director) Bose: Rumours has it that he has deep connections to the underworld, an alchemist who converts a piece of stone into a precious gemstone. Every newcomer wants to be casted by him, every director, producer wants him on their good side, pays him a fortune for casting and well, he is not the one who doesn’t take any advantage of his position.

6) (Paparazzi) Sameer: Well, he is a paparazzi who became a paparazzi because of a stunt he pulled on a bollywood actor, demoted from crime reporter to a paparazzi. But seems like a triple skinned man but is he really or he has more masks than one can count. And the most important question is, can you count on him?

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Story:

“And cut!” Director Dev Bhansali called it a day after getting the perfect shot of scene 2 where Urvashi as Latika a dancer in Shanshah’s Darbar, a role inspired from the very famous Anarkali, stumbled upon Aryan as Zoyeb, a role inspired from Prince Salim. This is their first meet in the enchanting garden under pristine moonlight and Zoyeb is utterly besotted by Latika’s beauty. He doesn’t know who she is, doesn’t know that she is no Nobel blood, have no clue that she will not be pardon when his father if the Shanshah Rehman hears about their affair. But this movie is no Mughal – E – Azam, this is ‘Pyar ki Daastan’ (Tale of Love) and Latika is not alone, she has a friend Sara played by Bruna, who is a lady-in-waiting of Begam Banu. And the Shanshah has a deep-dark secret, an illegitimate daughter from Sara. That daughter is going to be the game changer in the story, and she is been portraited by none other than highest paid child artist, baby Agni.

Urvashi had no interest in acting; she was more than content with her booming dancing career, but on last trip to Paris she met Director Dev B. who offered her this chance to play the lead actress, she refused at first but after hearing the script and knowing she will be playing the role she loves, she accepted and landed in this mire of Bollywood.

“You really looked enchanting in that scene, if I had a heart; it would have throbbed for you?” Aryan smirked down at her, he knows that such flattery makes Urvashi uncomfortable and he finds it endearing. No matter how many times tabloids call him heartless heartbreaking heartthrob, he won’t change his ways of living. It’s been almost a month since she landed in this Mayanagri and met Superstar Aryan. Being a fast learner she has learned how to handle tabloids and paparazzi but her co-star is a different story altogether, when he looks at her, his dark chocolaty eyes changes to deep black, gets so intense that it makes her almost fidget in nervousness. No she doesn’t get scared but gets pulls towards him and it’s a well known fact that he is a heart-breaker and she is rather fond of her heart hence she has no qualms of falling for him charms. So she remained poised and just brushed off his flattery. Aryan always gets what he want, girls, best quality of whiskey, that unavailable suit in LA hotel or the role he desires but Urvashi’s change of behaviour makes him impatient, she used to get nervous under his heavy stare now it doesn’t affect her. He stormed off the set to his vanity van.

Casting director Bose was lying on his infamous couch enjoying the treasures life brings to him or should we say enjoying the desperate girls that the dream of being an actress brings him.
“Darling, you said that you will cast me as Latika, why isn’t Urvashi kicked out yet?” Poonam said batting her eyelashes. Bose promised Latika’s role to her about an year ago, since then she has been pleasuring him and Bose is a scum who has no plans of casting Poonam in any movie but yes if she agrees to enter in C grade then he may give it a thought but again he does not cast for such dirt. Now all he wants is to get his paws on Urvashi, her bewitching beauty is calling for him but that girl won’t submit to his wishes.

One day Bose caught up to Urvashi in one of the page 3 parties, subtly charming her to submit to him but he didn’t know she was that difficult. He caught her hand in a firm grasp and twisted it, “You will act upon my wishes or I will destroy you and your pretty face.” He threatened her, he was reeking of booze.
“Is everything alright?” Aryan came forward eyeing Bose angrily, to other’s eyes Bose was just dancing with Urvashi but Aryan saw the pain and fear in her eyes. Bose arranged his expressions and smiled “Nothing, was just enjoying the company of an upcoming superstar.” And he walked away. Ayran took Urvashi’s wrist in his hand, the faint bruise was clear to him “I will kill that Ba.. Umm scum” he said, his teeth were clenched. Urvashi tried to snatch her hand back feeling suddenly very venerable.
“What did he say to you? If he threatened you in any way you will tell me. Understand.” He gave her a levelled reassuring look but Urvashi couldn’t bring herself to concede, this sudden change in his behavior confused her. Aryans carefree-stiff demeanor was slipping and he didn’t care that Urvashi could see right through him, all he was seeing were red dots, he knows Bose very well and he won’t let him get near Urvashi, he promised to himself. Baby Agni saw everything, she was one of the few people who almost understood that Uncle Bose was hurting Urvashi Di, she likes Urvashi di and she was glad that Aryan was there to save her when her Daddy couldn’t come. She doesn’t like this Bollywood much but her daddy told her that life is expensive and we have to earn it so she is earning life. Bose was angry, beyond angry. He wanted to unleash his anger so he called Poonam to come and see him.

“Miss Bruna, you knew Poonam very closely. Why do you think she committed suicide?” Sameer asked Bruna as she was getting out of her van for the shooting of “Pyar ki Daastan”, she is playing Sara. No one knows but she is very similar to the character Sara, a girl who knows everything but never opens her mouth. They think she is an item girl because she can’t act but no one knows that she has been acting all her life, acting to be a girl who doesn’t give rat’s tail to anything. She was six when she entered this Mire industry, she started as a sweet girl right out of fairy tales but as she grew up she changed or rather the wounds she got cut too deep that changed her now she doesn’t care about anyone not even the unborn child she aborted when she was fifteen, she is twenty now, she didn’t dare or rather care to say then nor will she now. She ignored Sameer and kept walking.

“You look lovely today!” Urvashi smiled at her affectionately, Bruna has seen the fake world so long that the genuine smile that was clearly reflecting in her eyes was her undoing. In these past 3 months of shooting she has come very close to her, she knows Urvashi cares for her and Bruna somehow finds herself caring for her too. They have completed almost 40 present of shooting the film and Aryan has changed a lot, albeit he thinks that no one can see but it’s visible to everyone and Bruna really want to see if he will surrender to love by the end of the movie or will it be an another tragedy. Urvashi feels that Poonam’s suicide is somehow connected to Bose and Bruna knows something about him, because she saw him talking to Bruna in the morning and Bruna looked scared for the first time. She promised herself that she won’t leave Brune alone; she knows if she did then Bose will come and hurt Bruna. But what she didn’t know was that monster might lunge for her.

“Leave me, I say leave me… Help.. help!” Urvashi was shouting on top of her lungs while kicking Bose with all her might. She tried to run but he had captured her in her Vanity van and no one seems to be around. “Leave you??” Bose laughed like a monster he was and twisted her hand and threw her towards the mirror. She covered her face in time with her hands but that didn’t stop her hands from getting hurt, she shrieked in pain and her shriek was lost in loud noise as her van’s door cracked open with force and Aryan stormed in and lunged on Bose. He threw a punch on his face and he fell on the floor hitting the side table, Aryan hit him another time then kept hitting him until he fainted and even that didn’t stop Aryan from hitting him. He didn’t realise Bose was unconscious, he didn’t hear his cries and pleads as he was hitting him, all he could hear was Urvashi’s shriek when we was entering his vanity. He couldn’t see anyone in sight which was strange but he didn’t stop for anyone to come. He broke down the door. He felt soft hands pulling him away from Bose, “Aryan, you will kill him. Please stop.” Somehow Urvashi’s pleading voise reached to him in his crazed frenzy and he stilled and turned towards her. Her face broke his heart, one of her eyes was swollen and there was blood on her face, he instantly checked for injuries but there were none on her face that’s when she showed him her hands.

“Aryan, What do you have to say about Bose?” “Will you surrender to the police?” “Everyone is saying that you had personal grudge against Bose, He was a decent man. What you have to say about it.?” Aryan was in police custody but his head was spinning with all the questions media was shouting. Decent man my foot, he thought. Urvashi was in hospital still Film-industry was trying to save Bose, No one would dare to say anything!
“Aryan, I can help you.” Bruna stood in from of him offering help, that Bruna who knows all and says none. “Why?” He asked “Because… Urvashi doesn’t deserve this and when that scum will gain consciousness, he will destroy her.” She said, unshed tears making her eyes gleam “Also, It’s for you. You stood up for me once, long back when I was fifteen. You saved me from that choreographer. And.. well.. I have to do it.. for myself too. I owe it to my Baby.” She turned and rushed out of the police station leaving Aryan with his deeply Frowning face.

Next day all news channels were running one same breaking news which was broken by Sameer. Brune opened her mouth finally and this time not to insult but to save, she gave an exclusive interview to Sameer, telling him how Bose have abused her the first time when she was ten and kept doing it until she got pregnant with his child when she was fifteen. She aborted the baby and she had the proof of her abortion. She also cajoled baby Agni into confessing the truth, how few years back Bose tried to hurt her but her Daddy saved her from him. What Baby Agni didn’t know was it was her daddy at the first place who pushed her into Bose’s clutches, he knew he would try to take advantage of her, her daddy was already prepared, he recorded Bose’s misbehave with Agni and threaten that he would expose him if he ever as much as come near Agni. Though it was a dirty gamble but he knew he needed something in his hands to save his baby girl from the mire she was entering.

Sameer was after all promoted back as a crime reporter with this breakthrough story, Bose did gained consciousness and was charged under section against woman exploitation, also was held as a prime suspect in Poonam’s suicide case. ‘Pyar ki daastaan’ was a blockbuster with grossing more than Rs 100 crores with all the additional promotion it gained from controvercy. Urvashi became Bollywood’s new darling and the girl who finally changed Aryan, now they are in a serious relationship. And Baby Agni took a break from films and is now concentrating on her studies, Bruna is now trying herself in acting field, now that she bared her heart, she feels free and changed person and who knows she might as well open her heart to trust someone.

No one knew “Pyar ki Daastaan” movie script will become the real life script of the people involved in it.

©AnkitaSinghal2013