One (More) Wolverine Wannabe

Summer of 2012. Nokia had just launched the 808 PureView,its first 41 MP cameraphone. This one was a dazzler, and quite understandably so. As a part of promotions, they held a contest, titled 'My Hollywood Impersonation', on their worldwide blog NokiaConnects. The winner would be getting a brand new Nokia 808 PureView. All we had to do is pick our favourite Hollywood character and act out a scene playing the same.

I happened to learn of this ongoing event from an uncommunicative,camera-shy person who's otherwise ever-enthusiastic about any activity that might yield such lucrative rewards on success. And the allure of the promised trophy wasn't my only incentive for leaping at it. My profound childhood dream of becoming an actor in life had taken a (permanent) step back by the time I reached 11th standard. I mean, sure we had school plays and the occasional college fests here & there, but that was pretty much it. The drive to thrive in front of the camera wasn't getting a scope to fulfill itself.

So there I was, on our terrace,with my schoolmate-cum-neighbour and a Nokia E63 in his hand for the filming. I'd chosen Wolverine,my unrivaled favourite since back in our Cartoon Network days. The objective was to capture a short clip in which I would be portraying Hugh Jackman's character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
For the next 15 minutes or so, we made a complete fool of ourselves before the surrounding terraces' spectators. But the feel of it,the entire thing, was out of this world! The 'shoot' took a very short while, but its effect was long-lasting, liberating. With a simple upload, I'd entered the contest by evening.

    

I didn't win the phone. A guy from Hong Kong did,with an extraordinary impression of Heath Ledger's classic, The Joker. However, the European judges' panel had made a special mention of a couple other entries they'd liked. Mine featured there, along with some words encouraging me to take up acting someday, professionally. The appreciation pleased me. My peeps would argue,that it's stupid, that all the effort,ultimately had nothing to show for it, and that it was a mere promotional event online; but I know what superlative joy I had attained from that brief experience. And given a chance, I'd do it again...over and over again!