(A/N):
Drop a here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
Guys I hope you put more comnts and power stones... Which will encourage ...
....
After the day's shooting wrapped up, Karuppu returned to his caravan.
The makeup artists carefully began removing the dark circles, pale complexion, and other touches that had transford him into Ram.
Piece by piece the exhausted man vanished.
The familiar Karuppu slowly returned.
Just as the makeup artist finished removing the bandage above his eyebrow, a knock sounded on the door.
-Knock!
"Sir."
The assistant director stepped inside.
"Rajini sir and Kamal sir want to et you."
Karuppu imdiately sat up.
Curiosity lit up his face.
"...."
He honestly thought they were coming to discuss the scenes.
Maybe congratulate him.
Maybe share so acting secrets.
"Send them in."
A few monts later the door opened.
Rajinikanth entered first.
Kamal Haasan followed behind him.
Karuppu imdiately stood up.
"Rajini sir."
"Kamal uncle."
Both smiled seeing him.
He quickly offered them seats.
Tea was brought.
The atmosphere remained pleasant at first.
The three chatted casually.
Rajinikanth asked about the IPL.
Kamal asked about California and VFX studies.
Karuppu answered happily.
The conversation flowed naturally.
Then Kamal suddenly leaned back.
"...."
His expression becoming more serious.
"Karuppu."
The young actor imdiately noticed the change in tone.
"Today."
Kamal folded his arms.
"Were you doing thod acting?"
The question hit him completely out of nowhere.
Karuppu froze. Just for a second.
"...."
That single pause was enough.
Kamal imdiately knew.
Rajinikanth noticed it too.
The silence answered the question before words did.
Finally Karuppu scratched the back of his head.
A nervous habit.
"Maybe?"
Kamal sighed hearing his answer.
That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.
Imdiately another question followed.
"Your previous films."
"Aadhavan."
"13B."
"SMS. Am I right?"
He pointed toward Karuppu.
"Did you use it there too?"
Karuppu quickly shook his head.
"No."
Then after a pause.
"This is my first ti."
"Honestly..."
He laughed awkwardly.
"I didn't expect it to work this well."
Rajinikanth and Kamal exchanged a glance.
"...."
"...."
Neither looked relieved.
Which confused Karuppu.
After all.
The acting had worked.
The scenes were good.
The director was happy.
The crew was happy.
Why did both of them suddenly look worried?
Then Rajinikanth spoke.
"First."
A smile appeared on his face.
"You were brilliant."
Karuppu blinked hearing the complint.
"I an that."
Rajinikanth pointed at him.
"The performance today."
He shook his head.
"Excellent."
The complint from the Superstar genuinely made Karuppu happy.
Then Kamal asked another question.
"Who's supervising you?"
Karuppu blinked hearing the complete opposite tone.
"Supervising?"
"Your psychiatrist."
The young actor stared at him like clueless.
"My what?"
Now Kamal was absolutely certain.
"...."
The boy had no plan.
No support structure. No professional guidance.
Nothing.
Which ant he had accidentally jumped into one of the most dangerous acting techniques in cinema without fully understanding what it involved.
Karuppu scratched his head.
"Why would I need a psychiatrist?"
"I'm just acting as Ram."
The mont those words left his mouth, Kamal closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
Rajinikanth couldn't help laughing.
"-HA! -HA! -HA!"
"There it is."
Kamal opened his eyes again.
"That's the problem."
His tone wasn't angry.
But it was serious. Very serious.
For the next twenty minutes, Kamal explained.
Not as a superstar.
Not as a legend.
But as an experienced actor speaking to a younger one.
He explained how thod acting worked.
How so actors carried characters ho.
How so stopped separating reality from performance.
How certain roles stayed inside people for months.
Years.
Sotis permanently.
Karuppu listened quietly.
"...."
The more Kamal spoke.
The more uncomfortable he beca.
Because suddenly the system warning resurfaced in his mory.
[Emotional Residue.]
At the ti he hadn't thought much about it.
Now?
It sounded far more serious.
Kamal continued to explain.
"If you're playing dark characters."
"You need balance."
"Don't do continuous depressing films in a row."
"Mix genres."
"Do cody."
"Do romance."
"Do positive roles."
"Let your mind recover."
Rajinikanth nodded hearing his friend's suggestion.
"Otherwise you'll start carrying them."
The Superstar tapped his own chest.
"Here."
Karuppu swallowed hard thinking himself becoming Ram.
And beating but his best friends Darshan and Mahendran.
-Gulp!
"...."
One might ask why is he thinking of beating his best friends well the reason is they were his best friends no other reason needed.
Both n weren't exaggerating.
Neither was trying to scare him.
They were genuinely worried.
And that realization touched him.
Because they didn't have to do this.
Neither owed him anything.
Yet here they were.
Spending their own ti warning him.
Protecting him from the wrong way to practice a thod.
Guiding him.
Almost like uncles lecturing a stubborn nephew.
Finally Kamal finished.
"And if you continue using this technique..."
His eyes narrowed.
"Get proper guidance."
"No shortcuts."
"No overconfidence."
Karuppu nodded imdiately.
"Yes, uncle."
This ti there was no joking.
No argunts. No excuses.
Because he understood now.
If Kamal Haasan of all people was warning him.
He should listen.
The atmosphere beca lighter afterward.
The serious discussion had finally ended.
Seeing that things had beco a little heavy, Karuppu suddenly grinned.
"So..."
Both legends looked at him.
"If I beco ntally unstable..."
He pointed toward Kamal.
"Can I put uncle's na in the complaint letter?"
For two seconds silence filled the caravan.
Then Rajinikanth burst out laughing.
"-HA! -HA! -HA!"
Even Kamal struggled to maintain his serious expression.
"What complaint letter?"
Karuppu imdiately replied.
"The one saying..."
He dramatically pointed.
'Kamal Haasan inspired !'
Rajinikanth nearly doubled over laughing.
"See?"
The Superstar pointed at Kamal.
"He's already blaming you."
Even Kamal couldn't help smiling now.
A few more jokes followed.
The tension completely disappeared.
Eventually both legends stood up to leave.
Before exiting, Rajinikanth patted Karuppu's shoulder.
"Keep acting."
"Just don't lose yourself."
Then Kamal added one final sentence.
"The audience needs Ram."
His gaze beca aningful.
"But your family needs Karuppu."
For the first ti that evening.
Karuppu had no joke ready.
He simply nodded.
"...."
Because among everything they had said...
That single line hit the hardest.
And after both legends left the caravan, Karuppu remained seated quietly for several minutes.
Thinking.
About acting.
About Ram.
About the system's warning.
And about how close he had co to treating it all too casually.
For perhaps the first ti since unlocking thod Acting...
He understood exactly why the Practice Room had called it dangerous.
Karuppu had barely survived Kamal Haasan's lecture.
He had barely survived Rajinikanth's warnings.
His brain was already exhausted from the emotional roller coaster of becoming Ram for an entire day.
All he wanted now was peace.
A shower.
Food.
Sleep.
Preferably in that exact order.
Inside the caravan, he stretched lazily on the small bed.
The makeup was gone.
The costu had been changed.
His phone lay nearby.
The air-conditioner humd softly.
For the first ti all day, he felt relaxed.
"Finally..."
He let out a satisfied sigh.
"Today is over."
Fate imdiately decided to prove him wrong.
-BANG!
The caravan door flew open so violently that it nearly hit the wall.
Karuppu shot upright.
"...."
Three figures stord inside.
Akshara.
Hansika.
And Shruti.
The sight alone made Karuppu blink.
Akshara being here? Understandable.
Her sister was the heroine of the movie.
Shruti being here? Obviously.
But Hansika?
That made absolutely no sense.
Before he could even ask what was happening—The trio charged towards him.
"WAIT!"
Too late.
-THUD!
Karuppu found himself flattened onto the small caravan bed.
Three furious ladies imdiately surrounded him.
The next few seconds beca pure chaos.
"OW!"
"AKSHARA!"
"WHY ARE YOU HITTING ?!"
Another punch landed.
"OW!"
"HANSIKA!"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
Another smack.
Then to his horror...
Even Shruti joined in.
"ET TU, SHRUTI?!"
"TRAITOR!"
The assault intensified.
Karuppu desperately raised his hands to defend himself.
"STOP!"
"EXPLAIN FIRST!"
"WHAT DID I DO?!"
"WHY IS EVERYONE TRYING TO MURDER TODAY?!"
Akshara snorted hearing the way he was calling himself as victim.
"Murder?"
"You'll know in a second."
Hansika folded her arms.
"Show him."
Shruti grabbed the TV remote from the nearby table.
Click.
The television ca alive.
A news channel appeared.
The entertainnt section.
The mont Karuppu saw it, a bad feeling entered his heart.
A very bad feeling.
"...."
Then the headline appeared.
HARRY POTTER STAR EMMA WATSON SPOTTED WITH IPL SENSATION KARUPPU.
EVERYONE KNEW HE IS AN ACTOR AND A CRICKETER...
Karuppu froze seeing it.
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Him. And Emma.
Standing near the beach house.
Another image.
The car.
Another image.
Both sitting together.
Another image.
Emma smiling back at him.
The news anchor's voice filled the caravan.
"Speculation continues after photographs published by London's famous tabloid The Sun suggest that Harry Potter actress Emma Watson may have been seen on a private outing with Indian cricket and film star Karuppu..."
Karuppu stared.
"..."
"..."
"..."
His soul briefly left his body.
"Oh."
Now everything made sense.
Slowly. Very slowly.
He turned toward the three girls.
All three were staring at him.
Smiling.
The dangerous kind.
The smile that existed shortly before executions.
Akshara grabbed his collar.
"So."
Hansika narrowed her eyes.
"Want to explain?"
Shruti crossed her arms.
"Carefully."
Karuppu looked at the TV.
Looked at the photos.
Looked at the girls.
Looked back at the TV.
Then uttered the most intelligent response available to him.
"...I can explain."
Three voices replied simultaneously.
"EXPLAIN."
The temperature inside the caravan dropped by ten degrees.
Karuppu swallowed seeing they seems to be taking this issue seriously.
"It was dinner."
Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
The three girls stared at him.
Akshara blinked.
Hansika blinked.
Shruti blinked.
Their reaction seems like all of them were processing the sa thing
Then all three spoke together.
"JUST DINNER?!"
The synchronized reaction was so perfect it felt rehearsed.
Karuppu pointed desperately at the television.
"It really was!"
"She invited !"
The mont those words escaped...
Karuppu realized he had sohow made things worse.
Much worse.
All three eye brow twitched hearing his words.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then Akshara slowly sat down beside him.
"Let's start from the beginning."
Hansika sat on the other side.
"Every detail."
Shruti pulled a chair and sat directly opposite him.
"Don't skip anything."
Karuppu looked around.
Three interrogators.
One suspect.
No escape routes.
For a brief mont he actually missed Kamal Haasan's lecture.
At least that one had been less terrifying.
And sowhere in London...
Emma Watson was probably having the exact sa conversation with her mother.
Neither of them knew it.
But thanks to one paparazzi photograph...
Both had accidentally walked into the sa storm.
Karuppu imdiately knew he had made a mistake.
Not a small mistake.
Not a normal mistake.
The kind of mistake that made a person's soul quietly leave their body while their brain desperately tried to figure out how to undo the last five seconds.
The mont the word left his mouth, he froze.
"It was nothing..."
Karuppu said hurriedly while waving his hands.
"Just a normal date."
The caravan beca silent.
Completely silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Even the television anchor seed quieter sohow.
Karuppu's eyes widened.
His mouth slowly remained open.
His brain replayed the sentence.
Once.
Twice.
Three tis.
Then realization hit him.
"..."
"..."
"Oh no."
The young actor slowly turned toward the three girls.
They were staring at him.
Not moving. Not speaking.
Just staring.
Which sohow felt much scarier than if they had started shouting.
Karuppu imdiately raised both hands.
"Dinner."
Nobody replied.
"I ant dinner."
Still nothing.
"Not date."
Silence.
"It was just dinner."
The three girls continued staring.
Karuppu swallowed nervously.
"It was a completely normal dinner."
Akshara raised an eyebrow.
Hansika folded her arms.
Shruti leaned back in her chair.
"Date?"
Shruti asked calmly.
Karuppu pointed at her imdiately.
"No."
Akshara nodded her head confirming.
"I clearly heard date."
Hansika joined in.
"So did I."
Shruti added with a serious tone.
"Sa."
Karuppu looked around helplessly.
How could three people hear the exact wrong word at the exact sa ti?
"You people heard wrong."
The three girls imdiately answered together.
"We didn't."
Karuppu wanted to cry.
The television anwhile seed determined to destroy his life further.
The news channel continued showing photographs.
One picture showed him standing near Emma.
Another showed them walking toward the car.
Another showed both sitting inside.
Then the news anchor started talking about "growing friendship" and "possible relationship."
Karuppu pointed toward the screen.
"See?"
"This is what I'm talking about."
"The dia is exaggerating."
Akshara snorted.
Hansika rolled her eyes.
Shruti simply looked unconvinced.
"Then explain."
Karuppu imdiately nodded.
"I can explain."
"Good."
"It was dinner."
The three girls waited.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Karuppu blinked seeing they were waiting for more answer.
Shruti blinked back.
"Continue."
Karuppu scratched his head.
"That's basically it."
*******************************
(Author note:)
I hope you guys give your opinion and idea's.
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Don't forget to review guys...
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