It was the first day of December 1982 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. The harsh winter was sweeping over north India. My close friend Rajesh and I were heading towards the Elite cinema hall around 2:30 p.m. I was sitting on the rear carrier of his bicycle. Rajesh was pedaling hard to reach there in time for the matinee show. We were teenagers then.
The weather was cold, but we were sweating as we were over-dressed for that sunny afternoon. Another reason was our excitement. We had dared to go to watch a movie in the same cinema hall where the notorious and dreaded bandit queen Phoolan Devi was also set to come to view Namak Halal starring Amitabh Bachchan.