Despite all the hurdles, Manish finally achieved his dream as he was a part of R Shukla’s new film as an assistant cameraman. His parents wanted him to do a 9-5 corporate job and that there was no future in this field. But Manish stood firm upon his decision. He was the cameraman in small serial shoots before he got an offer to work in a Bollywood film.
The initial parts of the film were shot at different locations. However, the majority part of the film was scheduled to be shot at Milgaon. Milgaon was a hilly area surrounded with a touch of peace and tranquility.
At Milgaon, Manish found out that someone else was taking up the role of being the senior cameraman. His name was Gareeb. His peculiar name had the crew in splits. He was a simple man in his late 40s who took his profession seriously. Every shot he took was flawless. He used to talk when it was necessary. The first interaction Manish had with him was when Manish was struggling to get a shot right, and then Gareeb would come and give him an advice. His advice was so good that the rest of the shot took by Manish were near perfect. Manish was getting interested to know more about him. So he went to one of the crew members who told him that he has no one and lives alone all by himself.
During the break, Gareeb would used to write something on his diary. When
Manish asked him what he was writing, he would simply go away. One day, the
shoot was canceled due to heavy rain and in one place all the supporting crews
were present. They took a dig at his wife. Manish didn’t like someone making
fun of someone’s late wife. He saw Gareeb looking very worried and was tapping his feet as if he wanted to go somewhere. Gareeb told the crew that he had to go somewhere. Despite his crew asking to stay with them and even making fun of his lonely lifestyle, he waved them goodbye and went away. Manish thought something was fishy. Gareeb who would never show any emotion showed emotions of fear and anxiety. Out of curiosity, Manish followed him to find out the truth.
He saw Gareeb going into a house, presumably his own. When Manish peeped outside his home, he found out that there was a lady in a wheelchair and in paralyzed state. Gareeb took her out of wheelchair, carried her to the bed. During this time,Manish slipped and he was caught sneaking him. As he tried to run away, Gareeb pulled him into his house, threatened to beat him and told him not to say that the lady who was in wheelchair is his wife, who is dead to everyone.
He narrated an incident from three years back. His wife was left paralyzed in a car accident which was caused by R Shukla, the director himself. He was shooting a film in Milgaon where he was the cameraman himself in that film. R Shukla knew that this film would make his career forever in the industry. However, one day while driving in drunken state, he rammed into a woman, which was Gareeb’s wife. Shukla knew if he got a charge of drunk driving, he would be arrested and that it would tarnish his image and destroy his career. To make matter worse, he go to know that she was Gareeb’s wife. Initially the doctor presumed her to be dead. Since he was just one foot away from fame, he paid Gareeb ₹20 lakhs in compensation and said not to say anything in public.
However fighting her life tooth and nail, Gareeb’s wife miraculously survived but she was paralyzed and would never be able to speak again. With the compensation money, he carried out a fake death certificate. When he went to Shukla to show his wife’s death certificate , he promised him that he would tell the production team to hire him whenever there was a shoot in Milgaon. Since then, his wife is known to be dead except a maid who used to take care of her when he was away. Manish was shocked hearing this story. He dreamt of working under Shukla but he never thought he could do this. He was caught between his ambitions and moral dilemma.
The next day in the sets, Gareeb told Manish that his wife was very fond of reading English novels. However, he didn’t know English. Since his wife couldn’t speak anymore, she found great difficulty in reading English novels. So, he started learning English and would try his best to read it for her. He took out his diary and showed a poem which he had written in English for his wife whose birthday was in couple of days time.
” I never wrote anything in English, this is the first time I’m writing a poem for my Bulbul. Please read this poem”
“Wow, this poem is really good, however there are considerable amount of grammatical errors.” said Manish.
“I’m still learning English, can you fix the grammatical errors, I would be grateful.”
” Sure, I’m would be really happy to help you.”
Gareeb pulled aside Manish closer and he said:
“Can you do one for work for me?”
“Ha sure, tell me what to do”
Gareeb pulled out something from his bag which was a knife.
“Can you kill R Shukla for me?”
Manish was taken aback. He couldn’t say anything.
“Oh, don’t worry I was just kidding. But ever if I got a chance, I would stab him
but I stay quiet because who will take care of Bulbul if I’m in jail.”
Milgaon was under torrential rain for few days now. It was raining so heavily that there was a heavy landslide. Gareeb left his work midway and looked for his wife when he heard there was a landslide in his area. Through the heavy rain, he found out his home was washed away. He searched for his wife only for the wheelchair to be found. She was missing and most presumably dead. Manish also helped to search her out but in vain. It was night time and after searching for her everywhere, she wasn’t found. Manish insisted to report the police but what would Gareeb say, that his wife who was already dead three years ago is missing?
It seemed like Gareeb had lost everything. He couldn’t walk properly and his tears was hidden with the rain drops. His mental state was deteriorating. Manish tried to calm him down. However Gareeb now went crazy. He yelled and was feeling a rage inside him. Manish tried to stop him but he took a heavy rock and hit Manish on the head which left him unconscious.
The next morning, it was all quiet. Gareeb was standing at the top of a hill which was a tourist spot where he and his wife Bulbul would spend time together. He became nostalgic and recalled an incident of their first date which they spent here:
“Take my photo in such a way, I look slimmer.”
“Oh my Bulbul, if I had to make you slimmer, probably I need to take a picture
of your skeletons.”
“Hmm nice photo. But Gareeb do you think will I ever be loved in a right way?”
” I don’t think so. Maybe I will love you in such a way that even would surpass
the definition of love. I will love you more than the definition of love.”
Back to reality, R Shukla’s farmhouse could have been seen from there. He walked to the farmhouse with the knife that he showed to Manish. He went there with a sharp knife and killed down the guards with rage. He entered into the farmhouse and stabbed Shukla to death who was in a get together party with his family before Gareeb was shot down dead by one of the guards.
A month later, Manish woke up from coma. When he woke up, he suffered a memory loss. When he was stable, the police interrogated him about Gareeb. But he couldn’t recall anything. He got to know that R Shukla was dead and his killer Gareeb was declared a person having mental problems. Manish could’nt show any emotion towards this news. The film never came out. Few months later, he started doing a 9-5 job and one day while he was cleaning his room, he found a note in which a poem was written. It was written by Gareeb in which the lines read :
” The sky is bright and blue,
But hidden from view, beneath my umbrella’s shade, I see.”