Sunday, February 1, 2009

Short story - Late call

John was the lucky son of movie business. Awards came by, but only to be dumped in his closet. Making movies for him was a means to vent out his creativity. Trophies and mementos were just the by-products. But one day, everything changed.

Motion pictures academy ranks movies in three categories every year. One of them is "movie that moved hearts". John had been warming the first spot for this category for six years in a row but this year, he was just a distant spectator to the top 5. This was a shock to his "not interested in awards' heart but why? Was he changing? Was he used to the first place? Or was it his ego? All these questions tormented him and every attempt to suppress them pushed him deeper into the abyss. His surprise changed gradually to sadness and sadness turned into depression.

It took John more than a month to come out of this hole but when he came out he was a changed artist and a changed man too. Till now, he never had a motive to win awards while making a movie; they came to him on their own. But this time he was the chaser. This was not his style and he had no idea how to do it this way. Instead of being spontaneous and instinctive, he tried to imitate his older works and other award winning movies. It was not working but he was blinded by the thought that someone else will take away his beloved prize.

When John completed the movie and saw what he had made, only then did he realize that this was not his work. His creativity was over-shadowed by his desire to win and the fear to lose again had corrupted his mind. He had created a plagiarized product.

The awards were declared today evening. It's mid-night and he is staring at the blank wall of his living room. Scenes from his life are flashing in front of him. He wants to delete the frames of last year and re-live them. But it's too late. Life has no retakes. He decides to quit.