Buribai Ramazanov who broke my leg when we had a fight paid me a small fine, then he did time languishing in prison for six month, returned home and got fixed up in the same job. In other words, he got the job of the driver of the " Zaporozhets " car driven by Kalankhan Adalatov.
Ramazanov was a big boaster. Once he stopped his jalopy on the roadside and came out. Then he walked towards the tea-room where the projectionists had hung up on the big maple tree a big portable screen, looking like a sail.
Two men rolled the aluminum reels rewinding the film. Coming up to them Ramazanov asked:
- What is the name of the movie, eh?
- "Sangam" - the projectionists answered.
- Sangam? Aw, - Ramazanov sneered - Do you call it a film? There used to be films in the past, let me see, what is it? Tarzan! Yeah, that"s the real film! It"s about a monkey-like man who lived in trees. The way he shouted jumping from tree to tree! The whole generation of people aped him jumping up and down the trees! So many people had broken legs and arms! Eh-eh-eeeiii! Many have become invalids for life, like Al Kazim, for example. And this Fantômas? It"s a masterpiece, I declare! He looked so horrible! Terrific! Bold, with no mustache, no beard, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. His eyes were smoldering like a couple of flames.
One day Fantômas came and kidnapped these officials, you know, the bribe-takers, who steal people"s money. He took them into his cellar. Then he interrogated them beating and kicking them in the ass. So many state figures and offenders had he reclaimed! We were particularly excited at his laughter! Hah-hah-hah-hah!
I don"t understand why the film was banned.
The projectionists continued rewinding the film, sneering on the sly. When night fell they started rolling the movie.
Killing mosquitoes, the spectators sat in the open air, some on the grass, others on bricks.
The huge screen showed the bank of the River Ganges, or Jamna, I don"t remember it precisely.
Leaving her clothes on the bank a pretty girl was swimming in the river in a bathing suit. Canes were rustling in the wind. A young man, resembling Adolph Hitler sat in a huge tree, playing the Scottish bagpipe. Seeing him the girl said : "divana", i.e. "madman".
The young man said:
-Even Krishna played the flute sitting on the bank of the river.
Then the young man began to sing:
Ar mere manhe Gamno
Ar here manhe Jamna-a-a
Ar pole Radha pole Sangam
Buga tene h-i-i
Ar pole Radha pole Sandgam
Buga tene h-i-i...
At this moment the film snapped. People started shouting from darkness:
- Tinker! Hey, tinker! Patch the film now!
The projectionists lighted up the projector and started mending the torn film. They were bothering about for a long time. At last they had fixed it and resumed rolling the movie.
The young man, whose name was Sundr, turned out to be very poor. But he loved the girl by the name of Radha. who was now swimming alone by the bank of the river.
As for Radha, she loved another man, a wealthy one, whose name was Gopal. The latter was Sundr"s friend. After Radha had rejected Sundr"s love he took to drink, boozing up and crying with grief. He walked around unshaved, like a vagrant alcoholic. Then, against a contract, he set out for war. He flew on board an Air Force aircraft admiring Radha"s photo when suddenly his plane was shot down by the enemy"s artillery. The plane was on fire. Poor Sundr didn"t know what to do. Suddenly, off went the hatch and down was dropped the secret load of the Indian Army, meant for the soldiers who had run short of ammunitions. The dripping plane, all aflame, was buzzing towards the mountain rocks.
Now the spectators snuggled up together in fear, and some women closed their eyes with their hands. Ramazanov, too, rose from his seat and shouted:
Hey, Sundr, jump! Do you hear? Dear Sundr! The plane will explode now! Sundr, good boy! Jump, I tell you! Well, come on! Oh-oo!..
The plane hit the rocks and exploded. At this exciting point the film snapped again.
Now a woman cried out from the darkness:
- Help! He-e-e-e-lp!
Somebody directed his flashlight to the place where the woman cried and asked:
- What"s the matter? Who"s there? What has happened?
- The ants! I"ve got ants in my clothes! Oh, my Lord! I seem to have sat down on an ant hill! - the woman cried shaking her dress.
People were looking at her reproachfully, and some even cursed! Somebody burst out laughing...
Lighting up the projector, the men, like watch makers, started mending the torn film again.
One woman began to cry. A man asked her:
- What"s the matter, Bazargul? Why are you crying? Has somebody hurt you?
- I am sorry for the young man. The poor one... He loved the girl so! It"s entirely her fault. It"s because of her that he went to the war. I pray to God, may his soul rest in peace in Paradise. Ahmin-Allah-Akbar! - said the woman.
At last the projectionists had fixed the projector and the film went on.
When he saw Sundr coming back home from hospital after treatment Ramazanov cried:
- There he is! He is alive, you see? He had time to parachute from the plane! I had warned him, hadn"t I? Dear Sundr owes me half a liter of vodka. Had I not warned him, he would have burnt alive! Yes, he would!
Meanwhile, Sundr dropped in at his aunt"s. He learnt from her that his beloved girl, thinking that he had died, married Gopal.
Sundr sat down at the piano and started playing and singing the sad song about the unfaithful girl-friend:
Dosti dostna raha,
Pyar pyarna raha.
Zinsegi - i tume sra,
Eе-ее - etabarna raha...
To check his tears, Sundr sang looking at the ceiling. The villagers watching the movie joined him in crying.
Suddenly, a strong wind had risen, gradually turning into a storm. People got up in panic and, covering their faces and eyes with their hands from the sand and the dust raised by the sandstorm, began to disperse. The screen which had been spread on the tall maple tree broke in two. The projectionist"s hat was blown off his head and flew away, god knows where.
Zaporozhets - a series of subcompact cars designed and built from 1958 at the ZAZ factory in Soviet Ukraine ("Zaporozhsky Avtomobilny Zavod", or Zaporozhian Automobile Factory).