Hustling The Hustlers

The phone calls at 2 AM are not new for the minister. However, today's phone call is something Ravinder was anticipating for a week. He knows who is on the other side. So, he jumped directly into the conversation. The call ended in a few minutes, and all his doubts were confirmed. Now he can sleep comfortably and not worry about the ride at his home the next day.

The next morning Ramya entered the minister's house along with a stream of officers. Ramya told Ravinder that she is from CBI and she was there to conduct a raid. The officers started to search the house of the minister and found a big bag full of cash. The officers dragged the bag of money into the room where Ramya was sitting with Ravinder. She pointed to the money in front of her and asked the minister to explain.

The minister spoke for the first time after Ramya came there. He asked her to show a warranty before he could answer. Ramya said there is no need for one anymore now as she found the corrupt money. Ravinder then asked Ramya to at least show some credentials. Ramya showed her ID card to Ravinder. Within seconds the minister's house is filled with police officers. They arrested Ramya in the spot for pretending to be a CBI officer.

 

A long time ago.

Ramya was the princess of a big country till that day. What she realized that day was that it was all imaginary. The father created a world for her of illusions and lies. She was treated a princess till that day. Once he was dead all the world came down crumbling. The loan sharks and the police officers standing outside the house brought her to reality. She learned that day her father was a hustler and a crook. But, she had no time to enrage about her father. Her immediate concern is how to get out of the situation and save the very little money she has left.

The police officer asked Ramya who she was and what her relation to the dead man is. The father of Ramya never introduced her to the world or introduced the world to her. This came as a blessing in disguise for her. The hustler blood in her started to work. She told the inspector she does not know the man. He kidnapped her a few weeks ago and kept her as captive. The police did not believe her right away. They took her to the police station to enquire a little more. She acted all innocent and got out of there. It was not very tough as she knows very little about the outer world.

The next problem that she has to quickly sort out was to get her belongings and the little money she has. But there were a lot of police officers around the house guarding it. Her staying the entire time home came to her help. She found the secret path into her house and got what she wanted. Her money could only provide her with a small room in a shady place. She settled down that night in that room. She did not adjust to the real world and could not sleep all night.

The next morning there was a shooting going on near that place. Ramya was watching the shooting, out of curiosity. The assistant director spotted Ramya in the crowd. Ramya may not be a princess in other senses, but her looks are no less to any princess. She was cast that day to stand in the group behind the heroine. She has no lines or anything to do. But, they promised her some money for her work.

Ramya was ecstatic earning money for the first time. She thought life is going to change for good. But the world is more complex than that. One of her father's old pals found her and dragged her out and started to create a scene. He was there for money that her father owes. Till that day no one knows who she is and the last thing she needs was attention on her. So, she gave away all the money and got rid of him. Empty pockets and dinnerless night made her sleep very hard. Not long ago she was a princess of her own country. Today she is stuck in a small room with not enough light with an empty stomach. She started to look back into her past life to find a hint of her father's reality. That is when she recollected the diary. She never read that diary before. She opened it to find that it was her fathers. The first few pages of the diary had the contact details of her father's crew. Reading further she found the ways her father played the system and cheated people. She read every one of the stories that night. She dropped to sleep with the diary in her hand.

Next morning there are more questions than answers. How will she survive? Where will she get her next meal? Lost in thoughts, she was walking the streets directionless. Luck has it that she saw the same AD walking in the street. He was walking in a hurry not noticing anything or anyone around. She ran to him and introduced herself again. The AD remembered her from the previous day. She begged him for some work. The AD was a good man; he understood her state and took her with him to the shooting spot. Someone in the crew invited her to have breakfast with them. Ramya's eyes welled seeing the food. She got a gig that day to work in the dance group. She thanked the AD profusely. Ramya started to get a few of these gigs every week.

Ramya decided to do something to get bigger work. She learnt dancing went to acting classes and honed her skills. After some struggles with the bed sheets of the producers' roles started coming her way. However, the problems started to multiply multi-folds. The glamour world was eating away all the money she made. But she did not give up; she is waiting for a chance to make it big.

One night she finished a night shift being a police officer. She was heading back home. There were no buses or autos to take her home, except the police jeep that was used as a prop. She requested the driver of the jeep to drop her on his way. They started their journey home. The driver stopped mid-way for a tea. There were few people at the tea shop. Noticing the police jeep some of them started to panic. Two of the young adults there were trying to hide something when Ramya looked there side. The two looked rich to be in this area of the town. Ramya thought to keep to herself for a few minutes. The hustler blood in her asked to do something. She waved her hands signalling them to come to her. She was in the trance of her dress and the role she played. The two had a scared look on their face. She asked them what are they doing and what are they hiding. They two panicked by her question handed her a bundle of 500 rupee notes and ran away. Ramya found her real calling, the hustler.

Ramya continued to use her prop uniform at nights. She also had been very careful to not draw any attention. One of those days she had a chance to work as one of the extras in the Special 26 movie as a CBI officer. She got excited by the idea and wanted to use the movie premise. She, however, was worried about how to create a crew. That is when she remembered her father's diary. She got hold of people in the diary. In no time, they decided crew is ready. They decided who they are going to hit for their first act.

Ramya was to travel to a remote place in Bihar for a shooting. An MLA in that village was facing corruption charges. After shooting, Ramya with her team headed to the MLA's home. They created fake identities and fake warranties. They raided his home and found 200 Crores of cash. MLA was not scared at all. Ramya started to worry a little bit seeing MLA's behaviour. She signalled her team to be ready to run if something goes wrong. She sat near the MLA and asked him to sign some documents. That is when Ramya has seen MLA's son next to him holding a big gun. Ramya got scared seeing a real gun for first time, it was nothing like the prop guns they used in movies. The MLA gave a villainous cackle before starting to talk. If you don't leave from here I will kill all of you threatened the MLA. The team was ready to run from there. Ramya did not panic but started to laugh. Everyone in the premise including her crew did not understand why. Ramya pointed to a small button on her shirt. Do you know what this is asked Ramya? MLA had no response to Ramya. Ramya said this is a camera and police are watching us live. MLA started to panic knowing someone is watching. After calming down Ramya gave the MLA an offer. Ask your son to take away the gun and I will switch off the camera and we can talk. MLA's son dropped the gun Ramya switched off he fake camera.

Ramya started to explain the proposal to MLA. If I hand over this money to police, I get nothing. They may give me a gold medal but my salary almost remains the same. So, you give me 30% of what you have and I create papers in a way that you have no corruption money with you. I even make sure all the nights recording is damaged. No other officer will come to disturb after our report and the newspapers will give you a clean chit. The MLA thought that was a good proposal. He gave Ramya 60 crores and they left the place safe. The team were in awe of Ramya. They started to point out she was her father's daughter after all. After a few more of these kinds of rides, she was set for life. She continued to act in movies to make sure no one questions her wealth. But the adrenaline of the hustling did not leave her.

For all her endeavours the target finding has always been the same. Ramya will find a corrupt politician or a rich man hiding from income tax in a remote village and take advantage. That time she was asked to go after a minister by one of her colleagues. She had very little background on the minister. She, however, took the word of her crew and decided to raid the minister the next day. Everything was in place for the day. When they were reviewing that night their plan of action they find one of the crew members went missing that night. The crew were worried and wanted Ramya to postpone the plan. She, however, decided against it and went for a ride on the minister's house. What she did not know was there was a trap set for her and Ramya and her crew are caught.

 

Now.

Ramya was waiting in the interrogation room. She was worried about her future. She had money, fame and everything she wants. All was going to disappear in a jiffy. She was thinking of ways to get out of this. All paths seem to be closing. The sound of the door opening brings her attention back to the present. The inspector walked into the interrogation room. He asks her to tell him everything and confess to the crime for a lenient sentence. She very confidently replies him that she has not committed any crime. Inspector was puzzled and furious of her response. Do you think we are stupid? We recorded everything that happened this morning. Take a look at this video. You might be feeling the minister will hide the video because of the money. But what you don’t know is the money you found was a decoy we kept there. You have no way to escape from this said the inspector to Ramya.

Ramya after she saw the video starts to think and a brilliant idea hits her. Ramya tells the officer she was just an actress and she was playing a role. You can check my agent if you want, I am an actress. The inspector was stumped by what she has to say. Ramya continuing her story tells the officer that this she was in minister's house for a reality show. The director told us there will be cameras and we have to act natural. The inspector asks her how that is possible. I am not ready to believe any of that. Ramya says she has proof. The script for the day was given to her and it is in her bag. She asks the inspector to check it. Inspector gets the bag and starts to check, there was a script as Ramya told him. He did not know how to proceed with his investigation any further.

The inspector calls the minister to explain what is going on and asks his advice. The minister was stumped by the information. He did not know how to react. Minister then gets an idea. He says he will send someone from CBI to take care. The inspector was okay to handover the case to CBI. The inspector was back into the interrogation room where Ramya was kept. He tells her she is being handed over to CBI. The CBI will use all means to make her confess. Ramya, however, did not budge she kept to her word that it was just a movie shoot. Inspector turned very angry with her response and started to use expletives and warnings. Ramya did not react to any of warning by Inspector. The inspector then called for a woman constable to bring a lathi to scare Ramya. He continued to intimidate Ramya. Ramya was aloof of the happenings. This made the inspector angrier and asked the constable to use her lathi. That is when he was notified of a CBI officer. The CBI officer and the inspector discuss for a while. After finishing the formalities the inspector hands over Ramya to the CBI. The officer binds Ramya in handcuffs and takes her with him.

The inspector could finally relax. The last few days were really hectic. He decides to take a break and steps out of the office. He walks to the restaurant for a meal and drink. After a few hours, he is back in the office. There was day-to-day cacophony going on in the office. He had no time for any of it. He heads straight to his room to relax. The cool air from the air conditioner and the hectic over the top work from the last few days drags him into a nap. Before he could get deep into sleep, the loud sound of his phone wakes him up. It was minister Ravinder.

Inspector: Hello sir, how are you?

Minister: Good job today inspector.

Inspector: Thank you, sir.

Minister: The officer that is picked to take Ramya is Raghunandan. He will come soon to take her to the CBI office.

Inspector: What!!!!!!!

Minister: His name is Raghunandan

Inspector: Not that sir, he was already here. I sent Ramya already with him

Minister: How is that possible? I spoke to him only 2 minutes ago.

Inspector did not understand what was going on. He asked the constables to check the CCTV for clues and he called the check posts to check for the vehicle that took Ramya. After a few hours of checking CCTV, they find that the decoy money is also missing from the station. The inspector keeps shouting everyone in the office. He is ordering everyone to run in various directions to catch Ramya and her crew.

P.S: Ramya and her team sitting in the flight to Mauritius. Her crew were surprised by the events of the day. What they did not know is she planned for one of her crew to be missing the previous day. He will rescue them in case of something is to go wrong. She now can relax for a few years and come back when people are busy with a new scam. Only one she might have to answer is god. If he questions her about her evil ways, she has one answer, she was hustling the hustlers.