A few days ago, we told you about the Stalker avatar of the Great Indian Lover, who has, through half a century of cinema, been indoctrinated into the 'follow till she's fed up and falls for you" school of thought. Today, we're talking about another kind of the cinema-inspired Lover, the film-pilgrim who takes serious notes while watching movies to replicate in real life - the Bollywood Extremist. For him, every dialogue of the romantic hero can only be literal, and every act of his in persuading a girl is a DIY-guide to happily ever after. Never mind that real girls mostly find it creepy; if it works for the movie, it works for them. Some women share their experiences with the Bollywood Extremist with us.
JANNAT-STYLE PROPOSAL ON THE ROAD
Medha*, 25, who works in a BPO, was pursued by a guy for over a year till she made her long-distance boyfriend come to town and beat him up, filmi style, as that was the only language he seemed to understand. It was apparent that Emraan Hashmi's Jannat was the driving influence of this dogged lover, Medha shares with us, saying, "He saw me once in a pub while I was partying with my friends, and after that, started stalking me. I think he managed to get my number from my office. I was told by the security guard once that some courier guy had come for me, but since I was not in office, he gave him my number so that I could get my courier on time. After that day, I started getting calls and messages. I blocked him on Whatsapp, but he started sending me gifts in office. He tried talking to me many times outside my office."
She adds, "I was even admonished by my boss as this guy used to send gifts and flowers to my office. The situation got out of hand when one early morning, while was I going home in my office cab, he brought it to a stop just like Emraan Hashmi did in Jannat, and when I came out, went down on his knees to give me a ring! I obviously slapped him across his face. But suspecting that he might do something even more dramatic, I called up my boyfriend, who works in Hyderabad. He and his friend taught him a good lesson. For the last two months, that guy has not tried to contact me, which is a relief."
ROCKSTAR LOVER
"For the last couple of years, I've been getting flowers, chocolates and gifts from an unknown guy," says Alka*, 26, who works in a real estate firm, "I thought complaining to the police would solve the problem, but it didn't. He's quite smart."
Sharing her story, which quite harmlessly began with a movie, she tells us, "I have no clue where he got my address from or even where he saw me. It started when, a couple of years back, I received two tickets of Rockstar. I was excited and assumed I must have won them in some contest, so I used them with a friend of mine. But the same evening, I got a card which said, "I hope you liked the movie. I love you like Jordan loved Heer. I will destroy myself if I don't get you."
"Both my roommate and I couldn't sleep that night. But that was just the beginning. Since then, he sends me movie tickets of every new romantic Bollywood release. Though I don't use any of those tickets, I still get a card that evening saying how he loves me like the actor of that movie, and how he will 'destroy himself'. He also sends me DVDs of other romantic movies. Dozens of times, he's sent me addresses of some public place where he wants to meet me, but of course I've been ignoring it. I complained to the police once, but since he makes no calls, and only sends gifts, letters and tickets, they couldn't track him down. It's creepy as whenever I step outside my house, I feel that someone is watching me. I am now planning to change my city altogether, but I am still apprehensive because the way he knows everything I do, he might be able to track me down there too."
DIALOGUE KING
"Boys think sending filmy dialogues can win the heart of a girl. I've been getting calls and messages from some boy for the last five months. He always sends me cheesy dialogues from movies, which I mostly choose to ignore," says Deepali*, 29, a dietician. The first message she received was, "Ek ladki dekhi, one flash, aur main apna dil kho baitha, ab toh bas ek hi tamanna hai, rehna hai uske dil mein."
Other gems from his repertoire flooding her inbox include "Kehte hain agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho toh puri kainat usse tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai"; "Humse door jaoge kaise, dil se humein bhulaoge kaise, hum woh khushboo hain jo saason mein basti hai, khud ki saason ko rok paoge kaise" and "Main tumhe bhool jaaoon, yeh ho nahi sakta, aur tum mujhe bhool jao, yeh main hone nahi doonga".
"Once, he sent me a dialogue - 'aag jo dil mein lagi hai, usse duniya mein laga doonga main, jo teri doli uthi, zamaane ko jala doonga main'. I got furious. I had been taking him to be some useless stalker, but that day, I called him back and abused him and even threatened to get him beaten up. But that shameless person again sent a message, 'thappad se dar nahi lagta, pyar se lagta hai'! That was the limit of my patience. I had been reluctant to change my number because it would involve explaining the reason to people like my boss, but after that I message, I changed it and made sure not to make it very public, and thank god he has not managed to get my new number yet," says Deepali*.