Govinda Films

FF #11
“Do you still watch Govinda films?”

It was Anurag. The voice was unmistakable, even after a decade of not being in touch. He lived in LA now, and was in town for a few days, visiting his sister. A long chain of friends and acquaintances had helped him track down my number.

We had first met in a rather crowded Diwali Party in Munich; we had common friends, and we got along very well because our sense of humour matched perfectly. We hung out a lot. Occasionally, on a Saturday evening he and I would rent a video of the stupidest Govinda films from a Pakistani spice shop; we would cook in his flat, and watch the film—others would join in for the dinner, but refuse the film.  We started seeing less of each other when he began dating a German colleague, although we would occasionally manage to get together for dinner, a drink, or a film. Understandably, Govinda film nights ended, and so did our very Indian jokes and humour if his girlfriend was around. Culture and humour are, after all, very interlinked. I moved countries, lost touch more. I got to hear from the grapevine— and a bit from him— that his relationship status was getting increasing complicated, before it descended into complete chaos. I was curious about that too.  

I picked him up from his sister’s place and we went to a café nearby. He filled me in on his work, and of course on the complications. He and his German girlfriend had broken up because she didn’t seem to be interested in taking their relationship any further ahead; he had come back to Nagpur and got married; back in Munich, his ex-girlfriend had become interested in him again; his wife had become upset when she came to know all this and had left him; gone her way. He had moved to the US. A few years later, he and his wife had bumped into each other in the US, had become friends, and had again decided to give marital life another try. It seemed to be working. Good for him.

“But Neel, what about you? There were so many girls interested in you in Munich— you flirted with each of them, but nothing seemed to happen, or at least I don’t know if anything happened. You aren’t even married yet. What’s the deal?”

I smiled.

“Ah, Anurag. As you point out, there were a lot of girls interested in me, but nothing ever seemed to happen. On the other hand, you know very well that I’m not a saint. Use your brains and think off the track a bit; what could it be…”

He frowned and looked hard at me for a second or two, and then his forehead cleared up and he gave a huge grin.

“Really! I must say, I’d never ever thought about it! But that still doesn’t answer my question— do you have a boyfriend?”

I reminded him that this also meant he had slept with a gay guy: after all, I used to sleep over on Govinda nights.

“Indeed! Let me tell my wife and create some more complications! By the way, Govinda no more acts in movies, so which're the stupid films we can watch now?”

22 Jun 2016