The audition with David Dhawan went very well, even better than I had expected. David was captivated by Karishma's innocent, sweet looks and banging hot body. And so was Govinda, who was present at the audition.
We were sitting out in the open, under a makeshift tent, trying to escape the blazing sun. Portable fans were whirring at full speed, making it bearable.
"Yaar Kartik, this Karishma is really good. Dances very well and she's too cute! I've actually worked with her earlier, but she was just a teen back then," Govinda said to me while sipping a piping hot cup of cutting chai, basically Indian tea.
"Yes Govinda ji, she's extremely talented. Raj Kapoor's grand-daughter, so it's in her genes," I said, including the part about her family background to kind of impress upon him the fact that he shouldn't try to mess around with her.
"Hmm," he replied, pensively. "Tell me one thing, Kartik," he added later. "Do you happen to know Neelam well?"
"Neelam Kothari?" I responded, surprised that he was bringing her up. "Yes I do, but why?"
"Any idea who she's with? Boyfriend's name?" he asked, taking a long sip of his chai while keeping his eyes on me.
"Na, I didn't know she had one," I lied with a straight face. I knew who the guy was, but wasn't about to reveal it to him.
"She has one, I am sure of it. Yaar, ek baar acche se haath mae aa jaaye," he said, pursing his lips and looking in the distance. (Once I get to lay my hands on her properly)
I didn't reply to that and with that our conversation ended as his manager called out to him. He smiled, shook hands and walked away to his trailer.
I then walked up to David Dhawan and began conversing with him, "David saab, Karishma's audition was great, na?"
"Yes, yes, wonderful. She has that light in her eyes! Her innocence, it comes through on the camera. And yet, there's a naughty side to her too, I can tell."
"Absolutely, I told you that you'd like her." I replied smiling. "So the contract documents, can we sign it now?"
"Yes, I'll have my secretary bring it to my trailer in another half hour. Make sure Karishma's there to sign it too. And the amount will be as per what I spoke to you on the phone. Signing amount we'll give today itself."
"Of course! Thank you David saab! You won't regret this decision," I said with a huge smile on my face.
"David saab, after we last spoke, I thought about what you said about Raveena a lot. And then I had a long talk with Raveena. I've convinced her to give an interview with Stardust explaining that she didn't mean to say those things about you, that she was misquoted and that nothing had happened. If you want it, of course."
"Really? You did that?!" David said with a big smile.
"Yes of course David saab. I'll take care of that. Your reputation will be restored, don't worry. But there's one thing you could do for me.." I said to him frankly.
"Anything, just tell me!" David responded.
"Your next movie, 'Andaaz' could you cast Juhi and Karishma?"
"Ah, both your clients!" David laughed. "Hmm OK, you're serious," looking at my expression.
"Karishma may be right for the role of the girl in college. But Juhi as Anil Kapoor's young wife?" he seemed unsure.
"She's not got any movie for a good 6 months after the one she's working on now. You were worried about her being over exposed to the public, but this'll be a break of sorts." I said.
Actually, I would've been OK with Juhi not getting the part even if it meant less income for me. Juhi could do with a break, she'd been working pretty much non-stop for the past couple of years. My aim however, was to get Karishma the role of the younger girl besotted by her teacher. After all who else could play the role better than a real life nymphet like Karishma?
As if on cue, David said, "Ok, listen, what are Karishma's dates like? I mean after 6 months? 'Raja Babu' will be wrapped up and I want to see if she could be signed on 'Andaaz'."
"I'll make sure her dates are available." I said calmly, although I was elated within that he'd agreed so easily.
"And about Juhi, let's see. I'll need more time to decide on that."
"OK. Let me know when you've decided. I'll talk to Raveena about the interview. And don't mention anything about 'Andaaz' to Karishma. Let me first talk to her."
"Sure," replied a beaming David.
And so, I had managed to convince David to sign on Karishma for two movies, to be filmed back to back, 'Raja Babu' and 'Andaaz'.
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A couple of hours later, with all the contractual work and initial reading of the script done for signing Karishma as the lead actress for 'Raja Babu', we were driving back to her parents' bungalow. Karishma was all excited and yakking about what costumes she would have to wear for the role of a rich young girl.
"I will ask my costume design lady to come up with some really bright colored ghaghra and cholis for this role. I want it to really shine on the screen," she said excitedly.
"Listen Lolo, there's a friend of mine, Manish Malhotra, I want to introduce you to him and his work. He's a fashion designer."
"Oh, OK. Why? Isn't Mathur's work nice?" she sounded surprised, looking at me sideways.
"We could do a lot better Lolo. Manish is really talented, has had some great exposure to designers here and abroad and wants to get into film costume designing eventually. Keep an open mind."
"Ok. If you say so. Can I talk to Mummy too about it?"
"Yes of course. Babita aunty must be on board as well," I replied.
It was a fact that many actresses had controlling parents (mostly mothers) who would sometimes be present on set and mostly want decisions to be made with their approval.
As I pulled into the parking lot of the Kapoor bungalow, Kareena waltzed into view and opened Karishma's door.
"Didi, how did it go?" she asked eagerly.
