Shades of Fame (reading extract)

“There’s not a single one left.”
Both women sat silently next to each other till the sun sank behind the horizon.
The color of the sky glowed into a deep red. Soon it turned into a faint violet, slowly
disappearing in the rising darkness.
Meena was overwhelmed by this performance of nature. Never before in her young life had she felt
so close to Nirvana. She looked at Shea for the first time in the face. What she saw was the
reflection of her life long search for the meaning of life.
“I want so much to be like you. Can you help me.”
She said.
Shea had to laugh and Meena knew that her yearning had found home. It was her birthday and she
was all of eighteen.
----------------------
The helicopter was directly suspended over the cove and the sea. A camera was placed on the open
door. With its panoramic perspective it was taking in the actors on the blue stone.
Deepa Mehta looked at the monitor which was connected to the camera. Satisfied she nodded her
head. The image on the monitor corresponded to her conception. She took her wireless and gave the
camera man his cue.
“Please move away slowly from the cliff towards the direction of the open sea. Attention! Action!”
The helicopter blades accelerated their revolution and the aircraft started to move. The director
looked expectantly in the monitor. Shea and Meena had put their arms around each other and were
gazing at the sunset. The image began to fade them away, the cliff transformed into a coastal strip
and dissolved itself into the endless expanse of the sea.
Deepa Mehta stared at the sea. In her thoughts, she heard the soundtrack of her film, which would
just give an impressive frame to the last scene.
“What do you think?”
She asked her friend sitting next to her who was attentively following the events.
“Wonderful,a wonderful climax.” Her friend replied.
“It has a very emotional effect, the colors, the shimmering golden waters, the play of nature and
human destiny. I think the audience will weep buckets.”
Yes, she was satisfied with Deepa Mehta’s work. She knew that only she could translate her artistic
ideas into cinematic forms. She had been enthused and inspired by the content and artistic form of
her earlier films. Subsequently, she had entrusted her friend her script whose last scene was now
dissolving in the sunset.
“Cut!” cried Deepa Mehta in relief while the monitor showed the frame of the last sequence. The
silence that had accompanied the filming now turned into a loud applause.
“Bravo, wonderful!” resounded from all sides. The light - men, the assistant director, the set
designers, the camera team and all the other members of the film crew reached out to shake her
hand. The actresses had arisen from their blue stone and freed themselves of their costumes.
“I think we were really good. What do you think?” said the star actress. “Don’t you hear that?”
laughed Deepa Mehta, passing on the applause to them. She switched on her mobile phone which
started ringing immediately and incessantly. The refreshment van opened its doors and the first