2011. That was the first time I saw Jacqueline Fernandez. It was at Malhar and she happened to be judging the street dance finals at the St. Xavier’s College fest. I overheard how all the boys from the security department wanted to be her ‘bodyguards’ even though it was only a college festival and she really didn’t need that much security. I am meeting her once again, exactly four years later. I can say this with the precision of a surgeon’s knife, because I have googled a snippet from the archives of a leading daily that had featured Jacqueline at Malhar, four years ago, on this very day.
Her call time is 3 p.m. and the location for this massively orchestrated shoot is at the Essajees warehouse on Reay Road. It is almost as if I have stepped onto the sets of Edward Scissorhands — into that scene when Dianne Wiest creeps into the haunted castle and is welcomed by huge chandeliers and strange artefacts. This is even more hauntingly beautiful. While vintage bathtubs, statues of stallions and Ganeshas stand unperturbed, the team preps the set, gleaming Louis Vuitton cases are carefully babysat, a circuit trips, and the photographer complains that he may have caught the flu.
I can sense a build-up of tension. But Jacqueline arrives well before the call time. I wait for the hustle, yet everyone moves like well-coordinated robots in a factory. So, I move along with these machines looking for her. And there she is — in a perky orange polo T-shirt, grey tracks and flatforms.
“I want this chandelier!” shrieks Jacqueline as she strolls through the warehouse in an embellished jacket layered over a pristine white gown. She is enamoured by the entire depository, the birdcages in particular, and takes breaks to explore in between shots. Is her penchant for the birdcages symbolic of her being the master of her own choices, and yearning to soar?
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