The Death of Vishnu

close, he thinks that a movie is about to start.

C HAPTER F IFTEEN
    “F INALLY HERE, SEE it now,” the man is saying. “So many decades in the making, The Death of Vishnu. ” The man is standing on a chair in front of the ticket booth at Metro Cinema, next to the large “House Full” sign. Moviegoers are milling all over the place. Lines of people are stretching from the advance booking booth, they are snaking as far as the train station at Marine Lines.
    “Better than Bobby, bigger than Sholay, see it now, The Death of Vishnu. ” Touts are black-marketing balcony tickets. Already the price has climbed to twenty-five rupees. Someone has extra tickets, and a fight breaks out as the crowd surges to get them.
    “Amitabh Bachchan as Vishnu, Reshma as Padmini, see it now, The Death of Vishnu. ”
    Vishnu takes the tickets out of his pocket. Where is Padmini? He told her to be here at 6:30 P.M . Now they’re going to miss the advertisements, which Vishnu likes so much.
    “Hear the music by Laxmikant Pyarelal. See the killer dance by Helen. Snap your fingers to the number one hit ‘I am Vishnu, king of the universe.’ See it now or wait till you can get the tickets, The Death of Vishnu. ”
    Padmini pushes through the people. She is breathless. Vishnu watches the gold-colored necklace resting on her bosom rise and fall as she inhales and exhales.
    “Sorry I’m late.” She brushes off the dress she’s wearing, as if it were covered with dust. “Mai, what a crowd. How did you ever get the tickets?”
    As they go through the entrance of the theater, she puts her hand on his. “Finally, a proper theater,” she says.
    Vishnu buys her a cold drink and a samosa. She eats the crisp part first, then the potatoes. “Ooo, nice and spicy,” she says, pulling out a whole chili from the filling and putting it in her mouth.
    The movie starts. Vishnu’s mother comes on the screen. They are in their hut together, and she is singing a song to him, about the games he will play when he meets the baby Krishna. Suddenly, a storm breaks out, and lightning and thunder and rain start lashing the hut. The door opens, and lightning crackles as Vishnu’s father walks in. It is Pran, the villain, his eyes red and bloodshot, the muscles in his jaw twitching, his lips set in a thin, cruel line.
    “Oh, ma,” Padmini says, and draws closer to Vishnu in her seat.
    Vishnu can feel her hands gripping his arm as the Holi scene appears on the screen. He sees himself singing and dancing as he plays Holi with his mother. The screen fills with color, and then shifts to his father drinking bhang. Padmini’s leg rests next to his, and he detects a tremble running through it.
    Slowly, Vishnu puts an arm around her chair, then raises it so that it barely brushes the nape of her neck. She is too absorbed in the movie and does not notice. He lets his arm ease around her neck. Her cheek brushes against his shoulder. She nibbles the last of her samosa, the empty wrapper clutched between her fingers in her lap.
    Kavita is played by a newcomer, Usha Bahaduri. Vishnu likes her very much. During the Divali song on the staircase, when Usha climbs up and down with phuljadis in her hands, he starts clapping his hands along with the music, as others are doing in the audience. Padmini looks at him disapprovingly.
    But then Reshma, playing Padmini, comes on the screen, and Padmini sits back in her seat. “She should have lost some weight for the role,” she sniffs to Vishnu, “though her acting, thank God, has improved.” There are several songs that Reshma sings, and this makes Padmini happy.
    “Do you think she’s doing me justice?” she asks with concern during the interval, and Vishnu assures her she is.
    “She’ll get a Filmfare award, you just wait and see,” he says.
    Padmini asks Vishnu to buy her an ice cream, so they go to the lobby. He leaves her by the cardboard cutout of Reshma and Amitabh, but when he comes back with an orange bar, she is no longer there. She returns a few minutes later, her face flushed. “I went to see what the ladies’ room looks like. Do you know they have those English-type seats there?”
    Padmini takes the wrapper off her orange bar. “Let’s go see the balcony,” she says. Vishnu follows her up the stairs, into the dress circle. Padmini looks down at the screen, then turns to look up at the rows stretching all the way to the top. “It’s so nice up here,” she says. “These seats must cost a lot