Wake up call at 3 AM. No necessity for that as I was half asleep throughout the night with the TV providing election campaign coverage over and again in Mathrubhumi News channel.- Pinarayi Vijayan, Veliyam Barghavan, Ooman Chandy and all other heavyweights and lightweights blown out of proportion and endlelssly sermonizing in front of the mikes stretched out with funny logos of TV channels jetting out like a bow tie.
From Ramoji Rao Film City, it takes at least an hour to reach Hyderabad airport, that is when there is absolutely no other traffic in both directions. Maratpalli and other numerous pallis along the Ring Road receed fast into darkness.
The movie shoot is proceeding smooth. The script writer was required to be present to incorporate the final touches to it when the script reading with the actors and impromptu rehersals are taking place. You should watch Yogi enacting a scene end to end getting into the skin of each character, often with overlapping dialogues and interactions in silence. He does it so naturally providing in parallel the camera’s perspective of the scene and a word or two on the dialogue delivery – sheer pleasure to watch, I have to say. It is worth losing two nights sleep over the weekend to participate in those sessions…
The IC flight takes off delayed by a full thirty minutes – it arrived late and the coffee maker is not working. The engineers were struggling to fix the mother-of-all technological problems, sweating out at dawn. At last there were some signs to the effect the coffee maker is now behaving itself or that there is a common consensus that we all will go without our cuppa in-flight. I slip into my half-sleep again, now with the flight announcements replacing ‘Pinarayi Vijayan madhyama pravarthakarodu parayukayayirunnu…’.
I wake up to find someone offering me breakfast and enquiring my preference for the beverage to go with it. ‘Black coffee please’. I mutter as I had done endlessly during the past three days. ‘Yes Sir’. The voice receeds into the background and I mechanically take out the mobile from my pocket and start dialling up the director. ‘Chakri, we shall resume .. is KH in?’.
Sir, what are you doing?
No, the room boy can not be so rude and speak in a girlish voice. I raise my head and look at the air hostess frowning at me with an artificial smile pasted to her lips.
My apologies young lady. I drop my mobile back into my pocket and close my eyes. ‘Pinnarayi Vijayan innu election rally ulgatanam cheythappol..’. Somewhere the TV resumes the newscast in a drone.