MIDWAY : Studio mess

Rajan Raj Acharya

It was my first visit to a TV studio and it was the pits. Somehow I’d always imagined it to be funkier, fun and like what I saw on the TV. I’d expected glamorous sexy female VJs sharing fashion make up secrets, male VJs flirting around, dazzling writers showing off their music knowledge and inside stories of the biz. Instead, I was greeted at the reception by the head of programming, who introduced me to some uninteresting VJs. Nobody paid much attention to me after the first few minutes and I was left to wander around the cable-strewn sawdust smelling studio. I was standing behind a giant thermo remote control at the rear of a studio, which was being prepared for the taping of a count down show. The VJ had had some major argument with the writer over a line Smriti (my favourite VJ ideal) was supposed to say and had stormed off the set, giving everyone heartburns.

Smriti was just coming out, dressed in a ridiculous clown’s outfit, when a man with an iron rod appeared from behind and hit her several times on her head and vanished in no time. She, a petite, young, former-film star, was unconsciousness immediately. I stood frozen and totally shocked on the spot. The studio erupted flurry of panics. Someone sprinkled water on her face and brought her back to consciousness. When she was asked about the incident she pointed out to me and immediately lost her consciousness. Now I was the culprit. ‘Fan admits seriously beating up VJ,’ said the headline of a very famous movie magazine a day later. Since she pointed at me, I pleaded guilty on all charges, the trial was over quickly and I was sentenced for a year.

Luckily, a few weeks later she had regained her consciousness before slipping into another coma and revealed to the police the name of the real assaulter — her ex-boy friend — thereby, proving me innocent. But when asked why she had directed her finger towards me, she said, “I wanted the fan of mine to tell the truth to the people as he was an eyewitness.”

My motive behind visiting that studio was simply to have a photograph with my ideal. But that was not to be. The temptation of having that ditch picture nearly shackled me down for the rest of my life.