A long, winding road bypassing Aksa beach leads to the Arangal village, at Madh Island. You are looking for the Beach House, where the shooting of Zulmi is in progress. But the only landmark offered is "directly opposite Subhash Ghai's bungalow". Finally, you land on the sets just in time for the shooting of the song `Teri badmashiyan, meri kamzoriyan...'. Gulshan Bawra's lyrics blare but the stars Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna seem oblivious to the action. They are chatting with the director, Kuku Kohli. Akki is dressed in a burnt sienna floral printed shirt and beige trousers. Twinkle is wearing an orange coloured slip dress that she is clearly uncomfortable in. She is fiddling with the towel that hides her bare legs.The song to be shot has loverboy Akshay paying a late-night visit to Twinkle in her bedroom. "Cannot reveal the story. Akshay standing with a gun, will give zulmi a different meaning, and him holding Twinkle by her hair, assumes a different meaning," says Kuku. To make thatmeaning clear the director moves the scene of the action to a 300-sqft room a bedroom that has a six-ft-long double bed. Twinkle straddles the pink satin-covered bed she has had to abandon her towel and needs a talisman to ward off the evil eye. The focus of the shot is the stretch between the bed and the door. `Ek din pakdi jayegi apni yeh choriyan..' sings Asha Bhonsle, and at the last line Twinkle is supposed to push Akshay out of the room.
The actors take their positions. One, Two... counts Saroj Khan. Akshay is cuddling up to Twinkle who is trying to push him towards the door. As she leans on his back, the short dress rides up to her waist, revealing matching orange shorts. Twinkle pushes Akshay out, but she isn't quick enough. Before she can slam the door shut, Akshay takes her with him. Leaving little to the imagination, the next shot has Twinkle `thunder thighs' returning with a dazed expression. And Akshay looking triumphant.
"No, no. There's no point coming back to the room. You standat the door," says Kuku to Akshay. Saroj suggests that Twinkle ruffle her hair and leave a lipstick mark on her hero before re-entering the room. For the next take, Twinkle conceals her lipstick in her hand and perfects the act.
"You should keep a camera out there to check her antics," says Akshay, on finding a piece of lipstick stuck in his hair, "she pulls my hair instead of hers and goes completely berserk." Twinkle retorts, "Why don't you carry the lipstick and do it yourself?" And then complains to Kuku, "For some strange reason, he keeps pushing me towards the door saying, `Go, go', even before the count has ended." Complaints apart, the stars on the set seem to be having a blast. Each retake has Akshay coming up with a different quip that has both Saroj and Kuku splitting their sides with laughter. But Twinkle shares none of their enthusiasm. She heaves a sigh of relief when this shot is canned.
But before she can run off, Kuku decides it's time to take a few close-up shots. Twinkle's shouldersdroop under the weight of takes and retakes. But it's these reels and reels of celluloid that make the dreams that sell Bollywood.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
