Tormented by dreams of his Std V teacher who insists he makes a movie, Ola driver waits for Aamir Khan with script in hand
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It's a rainy Thursday evening and we're on our way from Bandra to Tardeo in Mohammed Hanif Shah's Ola. It's been five minutes since we've taken a seat in the brown Wagon R, when the 40-year-old offers to tell us a story. It's a tale that he has regaled many of his passengers with, especially on long rides.
"I first gauge the temperament of the passenger before launching into the story. Some don't like talkative drivers," he says gingerly.
The story is about a boy who scrapes through exams till class V by bribing his teachers. Things take a U-turn when a righteous professor refuses the offer, and decides boy has no choice but to clear the exam through merit. All's well until she, one day, resigns from the job.
"What happens next is that that the teacher starts appearing in his dreams, every single night," he says, eyes firmly on the road.
Ola driver Mohammed Hanif Shah
It turns out that this is a true story. And it's inspired by Shah's own life. Since 1996, he has been plagued by dreams of Miss Chandrika. She taught him at the Mahim school he went to for three years, before moving on. Since then, he tried tracing her, but in vain. "She might have left the country. She talks to me in my dreams, and wants me to make a movie starring Aamir Khan," he says straight-faced. Shah explains that the plot is inspired from a philosophical question called Mantiq which he was introduced to when he attended the madrasa. It refers to a situation where you can't tell the truth, but neither are you allowed to lie. "The manner in which the truth can be manipulated is what the film is about."
Why Aamir? It's a question that most passengers ask him. Because he is the only actor unafraid to experiment with novel scripts. "The story draws inferences from a religious text, so you can imagine the chances of people misconstruing the issue. There might even be a fatwa issued against me. But I feel Aamir will take it up," he says.
That he drives the cab at night and runs domestic errands by day means he doesn't have the time to chase the actor for a hearing. Incidentally, Shah had a chance encounter with the actor a year ago when a lady hailed a cab from Khan's Bandra residence. "She happened to be his PR manager. I narrated the script to her. She was impressed and assured me that she would share it with Aamir. But I didn't hear from her," he says.
That doesn't mean he has given up. "Through a friend who has worked in one of his movies, I managed to get my script across to him. But he's yet to respond," says Shah devoid of the hysteria usually associated with star fans.
It has taken him 13 long years to put the story together. Surprisingly, it's just this one film he wishes to see through and has no ambition of making it as filmmaker or writer. "I'm happy with my life. But I want to make this one movie so that I fulfill my teacher's wish," he says. This father of two is not worried about his idea being lifted when he narrates it to passengers. "I don't reveal everything. Moreover, it's not an easy subject to wrap your head around."
He says these conversations have helped him prep for possible call from Khan for a narration. "I might just have five minutes. I need to keep it concise and crisp," he says. Besides, he has received valuable feedback from the interactions. "The public gives me feedback on the story. While I had hoped to call the film Chandrika Miss, a few passengers didn't agree with me. They think Mantiq sounds better."
For now, the dreams continue to recur. On advice from family, he is undergoing counselling at a Kandivli hospital. "My wife insisted that I take to therapy because she believes the dreams are because of a chemical locha in my brain. But it hasn't helped. I think the only way the dreams will stop is when the film is made."
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