Almost Famous!

It was the summer of 2003, I had just given my Class XII board exams and a never ending vacation was on. The transition phase between school and college was turning out to be one long wait and I was unbelievably jobless and bored to tears. One fine early morning came a phone call from another equally jobless friend. She said, "Mariya get ready in half an hour, we're heading to Madras University now!" I thought OK this girl is in one hell of a hurry to start college isn't she.? But wait a minute.. we didn't even apply for that university, so why on earth were we going there. So, i demanded an explanation and all I got from her was that there a part-time job thing happening and the pay was fantastic. Money! Yay! I didn't need further convincing.

Off I went to the destination picking up two friends on the way in an auto. We reached there and we see a very long queue of boys and girls waiting for God alone knows what. Then this guy who was my friend's friend walked up to us and gave a brief which left my eyes popping out. We were apparently to be audience extras in Shankar's ongoing project called Boys. The shoot at the University auditorium was for a song and would last anywhere between 4 to 7 days and we would get 400 for a day(which was a lot at that time) and FREE food! I was extremely thrilled. We entered the auditorium and were awed by the sets and there were some very skimpily-clad hot dancers on the stage along with the cast of the movie. The cast was all fresh faces unheard-of actors, Siddharth, Bharat, Genelia and names I don't recall.

We were asked to sit in the audience, and when the camera panned us we were supposed to scream, cry, tear our hair out, and basically look mad because we were supposed fans of the people performing on stage. I was even offered glycerin to make my eyes water which I refused. Tears come easily to me so I didn't need it you see. Everyday of the shoot was an adventure, I had the time of my life, made great friends who are still in touch and also got my fifteen second of fame. Really. You'll see a quick glimpse of me doing one silly hand and head movement right at the beginning of the song and also another glimpse of me crying towards the end of the song. Check out the song "Sa Ri Ga Me (Secret of Success)", the video on YouTube is not very clear so I suggest you buy a good print of the movie DVD :p You can do that for me no?