Can’t stop smiling…

It hasn’t been too long after Farah Khan’s love-story with Bollywood OSO has shown a mesmerized SRK getting swayed by his lady love, who happens to be the heart-throb of millions. So genuine was his crave for the ‘Star’ that his act of getting carried away and overwhelmed actually brought tears of joy into my eyes, and I was happily wiping them off as the film progressed.

It has been a couple of weeks after that and I see myself in a position where SRK was in that scene, coming face to face with someone, who has not only been my most absolute favourite ever, but has been an icon of sorts. A lot of things have been mentioned several times about ‘Star Power’, and ‘Idol Worship’ in a country like India, where fans go ballistic over their icons, their Stars, their demigods. Something similar struck me yesterday as I just opened my eyes wider and wider to actually tell myself that no, this ain’t any dream, and that I am actually, actually seeing Madhuri Dixit.

I think I now know what experiencing Star Power at the receiver’s end feels like. The aura, the magnetism, the charm which her personality exuded, was something that can’t be put into words. So much so, that for a usually verbose me, who just needs a reason to talk, I couldn’t even open my mouth and say a ‘Hi’, as the Star walked past me, and I felt like there ain’t any earth beneath me, as I was actually flying high in the sky, far into the galaxy that I have been so close to a Star, radiant as ever.

I always take such Star-praise articles with a pinch of salt, and though in case of Madhuri I always made an exception, I always thought that the 400watt smile and all were but creative exaggerations of lucky journos who’ve basked in the Star’s radiance. But on a brilliantly lit bright set, when I watched the diva walk in a dazzling pink dress, I realised what each of those epithets ever mentioned with regards to her smile, mean; and for a second I felt that I was being unfair the film columnists. As for her dance, well it is one thing to hear about it, another one to witness it on screen, and an entirely different experience to experience it live. No words can perhaps do justice to this divine occurrence.

And it is since then, that I just can’t stop smiling…