The Hero

It was the year 2150 and Ayan Joshi was embarking on his most ambitious project ever as a director. This film would undoubtedly fetch him all the major awards and make him the greatest personality of cinema of the twenty-second century.  If he died after the film came out, he would die happy, for he would already have achieved what he felt he was born to do- making the most magnificent film ever.

But making a good film in 2150, like all things good and important, was not an easy task.

First of all, he was short on money. He had achieved financial success as a director but ever since fuel had disappeared about fifty years ago, his creative life had become difficult. He could manage his own life. He could well afford the transportation costs, even though using nascent oxygen to burn artificially synthesized carbon compounds was a costly affair. He could afford his food, even though heat generated by some high-tech use of radioactive elements (which he didn’t quite understand) was starting to burn a hole in everyone’s pockets. He made enough money for himself, but not for his filming unit. Since he was also producer, he would need enough funds to support his unit during filming. Otherwise, no actor, cinematographer, choreographer or even spotboy would agree to work with him.

In the twenty-first century, such challenges would have been considered unusual for a director, but these days, it was a common problem. Things were expensive and all because of fuels. Ayan Joshi knew that somehow, he would tide over this problem. He had done it before during the filming of ‘Shadow of Me’, his last movie, and he could do it again.

But there was a problem on a deeper level, a problem which constantly tortured his soul. He had always prided himself for his creativity. He had loved himself for being able to create larger than life characters, to create heroes in his films in a world which lacked heroes. But this time around, that was what he couldn’t create- a hero. Maybe the dismal nature of his era had started getting to him too (the thought really worried Mr. Joshi). Or maybe it was a simple case of writer’s block. Even the biggest geniuses had suffered moments where they had been forced to question their own capability when unable to come up with a story.

He had already announced the film. Now there was no looking back. He had given hope to everyone, promised he would make a masterpiece. He had to think of something, to conjure a hero. Till, then, he would have to keep pretending he knew what he was going to do.

As they say, behind every successful man, there is a woman. Ayan Joshi’s grandmother was that woman. She was confined to her bed, not lucid all the time. But still, he went to her for solace. She reminded him of his childhood, a better, simpler time.

That day, it seemed as if his grandmother was the one with the amazing talent. She put one wrinkled hand on his head and said, “My dear, what is it that you really aspire to make”.

“A period film. A film about a bygone era, with a hero at its centre. The hero may or may not be fictitious but he should be able to make every person watching the film feel his emotions. They should cheer at his triumphs, laugh when he does, cry when he fails, sigh with relief every time he has a narrow escape. Basically, he should strike a chord.”

His grandmother was silent for a while and then said, “Sometimes, what you are looking for is right in front of you but you fail to notice it. Look around you. In our times, people with superpowers were what caught the audience’s fancy, but things are different now. A distance of ten kilometers can be a struggle to travel through. Basically, life is hard. So, think of a man for whom life, somehow, wasn’t so hard because he found a way to tide over bad times”.

After that, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.  But her grandson had what he required.

His behavior in the days that followed had everyone worrying about him. All he did was research. He listed the problems people had to face these days and then went on to research the early 2000s, when life was different. How would a person be happy in 2011- that was his question. After a month of intense study and brainstorming, he finally came up with an idea for his hero.

His hero would be- the common man.

It would be the man who practiced carpooling. It would be the man who took public transport. It would be the citizen who stayed abreast with the most recent developments in fuel prices, who knoew of its rises and its…. Well, rises. It was the man who know when tough times were ahead and planned ahead. It was the man who switched to diesel when required, to save money so his child could have that extra chocolate. He knew how much fuel affected him, he knew how to manage his finances during fuel hikes. It was the man who BEAT THE FUEL HIKES.

Ayan Joshi did become the greatest director of the twenty-second century, and his hero became the greatest hero of all time.

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