Golden Heart

Blue light shielding glasses and bejeweled khanjar notwithstanding, terror fills Lakhi Chan’s heart as he steps on to the set for a take to transform a megastar supervillain into a heart of gold character actor.

Charanjit Singh Lakhi stared at the set through his diamond studded blue light shielding glasses. Spots, floods, flashes, and reflectors bathed every corner of the green-screened set sucking hungrily at the power surging through the wires snaking across every inch of the floor. Silent shadows flitted frantically. Waves of hushed whispers rose and ebbed as tension filled the air.

Lakhi Chan, megastar supervillain of cut-throat cliff hangers like Where Eagles Flare, Diamonds are For Her, and Black Patthar sat impassive, silent and calm in the eye of the storm, waiting for the shot to be set up.

His bejeweled tiger claw knuckle dusters sparkled as the glass of ice-cold ruby red Rooh Afzah floated to his lips, in the iron grip of the hand that never shook. A tray hovered nearby, waiting to carry away the empty glass on its magic carpet.

“Khanjar, Lakhi-ji,” said the timorous voice of the prop master offering a gleaming dagger on a velvet cushion.

In Where Eagles Flare he had skydived on to a fighter jet, plunged his Damascus steel khanjar into its belly, and ripped off its wings with his iconic tiger claws. That action sequence alone had made the film a mega super hit and him the heroic villain of all times, much to the delight of his family and friends in Jind district, Haryana.

Today, in Dil Soney Da, the soon to be mega super hit film he was making, he would use the same trusty khanjar to cut out his own heart and save a poor, innocent child’s life. Then, after an action-packed helicopter and ambulance race against time, and a long, tense operation room scene, he’d come back to life with a solid gold, 21-jewel artificial heart. 

“Lakhi-ji, shot is ready,” said a soft, respectful voice beside him.

Lakhi Chan got up, his heart beating wildly. Fear flared up in the cold dead stare of his lizard like eyes. Terror crawled across his skin at the thought of looking down from the top of the ladder now hanging in front of the brightly lit green-screen. The scars of sixteen stitches on his skull began to throb with panic. 

Lakhi Chan took a deep breath. “Sat Sri Akal!” he reassured himself as he adjusted his trademark top hat. 

Now was not the time to wallow in old memories of falling down the borewell shaft as a child. Now was the time to shoot the final climax scene of the film written to transform him from super villain to heartwarming character actor like Pran as Malang Chacha in Upkaar and Sher Khan in Zanjeer. Or into a lovable action hero like Jackie Chan after Wheels on Meals and Rush Hour.