It was the time when great cine stars like Rajini, Kamal, Simran and Jyothika ruled the roost. We were teens during our college courses. Quite understandably our major attraction was cinema, Tamil cinema in particular, because Tamil movies were witnessed by the majority. So, we indulged in apt or inapt comments involving movies starred by the giants of Kollywood. Many of us discussed the acting prowess, style and looks of these stars. Comedians were mostly out of our purview, since most of their utterances hit to say the least below the belt.
As our group consisted of girls, we chose to discuss the looks and performances of Simran and Jyothika. A good majority often voted for Simran. We never knew that our appreciation of Simran would be consequential. It brought about a sea of change in one of our classmates. She imagined herself to be Simran. Just as Jyothika did in Chandramuki which was not yet produced then. She tried her best to walk, talk, smile and dance like Simran. At first, we appreciated her and encouraged her efforts. But soon, we noticed something peculiar in the behaviour. That she was losing her normalcy dawned on us shortly. Then we told her what we felt about her and tried to caution her. It fell on deaf ears. We then informed our HOD who tried her best in vain.
One evening, we went to her house and met her parents. There, our friend was very much at home and quite normal. No oddities were to be seen in her demeanour. In fact, she didn't even talk of Simran at all, nor did we refer to it in our conversation with her parents, even though we were waiting for the earliest opportunity to "lisp in numbers". But, we were only disappointed in not getting a chance. As we left, our friend who accompanied us for a while, gleefully laughed at us. Sporting a wolfish smile, she hinted at our failure to complain about her to her parents. We were really surprised at her being a bundle of contradictions. But, we were relieved to know that she was basking in oddities at the college deliberately and that was quite normal.
Our relief, however, was short-lived. Soon it was a bolt from the blue when we noticed another girl indulging in the same mischief. At this time, it was mimicking a male actor - Rajni. She copied the style of Rajni in several ways - throwing, catching, twisting, twirling, looking askance, laughing loudly and finally asking us "how is it?". She went to the extent of smoking. Once a lecturer watched her performance, unseen. She came out of her hiding, commended her and told her to continue and improve it, so that, she could excel in cinefield. What we tried to discourage and stop was thrown overboard. We were helpless now and our only recourse was to inform the principal.
The principal summoned the lecturer first and questioned her ethical standard to advise a student to mimic a cine star and enter stardom. The lecturer faced the complaint nonchalantly. She merely said that the said girl was a genius in acting and that there was nothing wrong in encouraging her, in fact, the principal herself should encourage her. She added that the other girls were jealous of her talent and they were no friends; they were actually villains who tried to nip her in the bud. The principal was no at her wits' end. She then called the student and advised her not to imitate cine actors and politicians. The student replied that she didn't plan anything and it sprang out on its own and that she didn't make any effort to show off her talent. She couldn't help doing it. In fact, she didn't like acting in movies, though, she liked Rajni. In her opinion, Rajni was not an actor; he was a stylist - a designer stylist made money with his style whereas a stylist makes stylist. She went on and on. Finally, the principal called off the enquiry saying, "Don't forget your studies". Our friend came out unscattered and triumphant.
The next day dawned a surprise note. Our friend had completely stopped copying Rajni. In fact, she had even stopped discussing movies. She did well in exams and much to our surprise, she topped the class in the university exams and secured a gold medal from the Vice-Chancellor. The whole college was proud of her. The principal, in an aside, asked her how it was possible for her. She merely said that it was the democratic role played by the principal and the lecturer that made it possible for her; they allowed her, her own choice.
