Keanu Reeves is known for primarily two things – first, he is Hollywood’s coolest actor and second, he is immortal. Interestingly, theories proving his immortality reach farther and faster than his movies.

Well, I don’t believe in vampires or immortals, but if the world believes that Keanu Reeves is an immortal, I am ready to throw logic and science out of the window. I mean, how else can we justify a 53-year-old looking hotter and younger than people half his age? Unless, someone introduces me to his doctor, whose Botox game is on point. 

Twitter

After looking at this picture, I am convinced that Keanu Reeves might be a shape shifter or a time-traveller. Where else can you spot Keanu Reeves showing off with his pizza and another Keanu Reeves giving creepy looks in the background? I would have tagged Reeves in this picture, but I couldn’t find his official page.    

Imgur

But, having said all that, unlike his Hollywood peers, Reeves seems to be unaffected by all the fame that comes his way. He might walk past you or sit and have beer with you and come off as a regular bloke, even before you realize that you are chatting with none other than John Wick. Like this…

Twitter

Or this…

Twitter

And probably that’s what we love about him. That he does not have any air around him or that he is so chilled out about all the memes and funny theories made on him. We don’t think there’s any other actor who has as many memes as Reeves has. 

Twitter

But, after ‘Keanu is sad’, ‘Keanu is immortal’ to ‘Keanu Reeves is French Actor Paul Mounet’s alter ego’; just when we thought we’ve seen enough, some genius came around to prove us wrong. 

Thanks to Reeves and this Twitter account, we now another hilariously brilliant set of memes. I am sure you must have come across this page ‘Keanu Doing Things’ by now and if you haven’t, you have been missing out on the world’s best thing. 

keanu reeves drinking a corona & having an existential crisis pic.twitter.com/6deLioRw9i

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 4, 2018

As the name suggests, this page has nothing but pictures of Keanu doing things, yet I don’t know why I got so addicted to this page. 

keanu reeves getting excited over a $5 bill pic.twitter.com/eA5n1Bh8cl

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 7, 2018

keanu reeves lounging on a chair in the middle of the street pic.twitter.com/Dpfr0jnoWU

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 23, 2018

keanu reeves drinking some wine and having a nap pic.twitter.com/2LUE6BypwY

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 18, 2018

Once you have seen it, you cannot unsee these hilarious and oddly satisfying pictures of Keanu Reeves doing things. 

keanu reeves encouraging healthy eating pic.twitter.com/TUzSpsMRgu

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 29, 2018

keanu reeves refusing to buy new shoes pic.twitter.com/EmD5M20hId

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 17, 2018

keanu reeves eating lunch & falling into a food coma pic.twitter.com/faXMD5cLqb

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 26, 2018

keanu reeves in a bathtub in the middle of nowhere pic.twitter.com/kVCJpYuYLf

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 25, 2018

keanu reeves showing a plush toy around china pic.twitter.com/pmyTeQytDh

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 13, 2018

And we never realised this…

keanu reeves wearing the same outfit for almost 30 years pic.twitter.com/fBDLg90AOK

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 11, 2018

keanu reeves flipping off paparazzi pic.twitter.com/gfTvXn5hl1

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 10, 2018

keanu reeves sharing his debut picture book pic.twitter.com/enG7FaYLOZ

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 8, 2018

keanu reeves contemplating life while eating a slice of pizza pic.twitter.com/iT7HcGjmqS

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 5, 2018

keanu reeves exchanging wisdom with a homeless man pic.twitter.com/oSnu7DKFqF

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 4, 2018

Keanu Reeves even celebrated when the page got 50k followers (not really).

keanu reeves celebrating keanuthings hitting 50k followers (thank you so much!) pic.twitter.com/JxgRd0oeuW

— keanu doing things (@keanuthings) March 14, 2018

If there was to be an award show where I was called as the jury, I will forget everyone else and just give Keanu and his fans an award for being the ‘Coolest People In The World’. 

Known to throw a curveball with her choice of roles, Vidya Balan is set to explore uncharted territory once again with her next. According to sources, the actor has been approached to play a gangster in a yet-untitled project to be helmed by Jyoti Kapur Das. The director had previously handled the reins of the award-winning short film, Chutney (2016).

A source in the know told mid-day, “Set in the murky world of crime, the drama sees the leading lady as a grey character. The role is that of a strong-minded woman who is almost a crime overlord. After Jyoti finished penning the script, Vidya was the first name that came to her mind. Given the kind of author-backed roles that she has done, the actress would be a perfect fit for the character.”

We hear, Vidya Balan has already been given a narration and has expressed her interest. However, she is yet to work out her dates. The source added, “The actress also has the Indira Gandhi biopic in the pipeline. It all depends on when she starts the biopic. She is also in talks for another project. But if all goes as planned, the crime drama will go on floors later this year.”

Das, on her part, remained tight-lipped. When contacted, she said, “It would be an absolute dream to work with her, nothing like that is happening just yet.” Balan remained unavailable till the time of going to press.

Last year’s “Kala Chashma” from the Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif starrer ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ became an instant rage for a variety of reasons. It was a hummable and foot-tapping party number, Katrina’s abs looked the best they ever have, and then there were the dance steps. Flanked by a bevy of female white backup dancers, Katrina gyrated to the trademark steps that became a sort of a permanent presence in almost every wedding thereafter. It was impossible to not want to move to the song the moment the music came on. But, amid the fun and the galore, we missed noticing the one crucial element responsible for making ‘Kala Chashma’ what it was: its backup dancers.

© Eros International

In the big bad world of Bollywood, the tribe of backup dancers, who form the backbone of any music number, lead not just an invisible life, but also an exploited one. Unlike the star-kid backup dancers like Shahid Kapoor, these dancers lead an unglamorous and overworked life. It’s more so when you’re a white backup dancer trying to make it big in the alien world of Bollywood without any idea of Mumbai’s culture, the language, or its people.

© UTV Motion Pictures

Twenty-five-year-old Jack* is one such male backup dancer braving odds, long working hours, and dismal exposure to make a living in Mumbai. But, life isn’t as sweet as he had imagined it’d be. “Even after struggling in Bollywood for seven years, I still end up living on a month paycheck basis sometimes,” he tells me. Originally from England, Jack came on a backpacking trip to India almost 10 years ago, on a tourist visa. The plan was to backpack across the country for close to two months, with a last pit stop at Mumbai, the City Of Dreams. “I did odd modelling jobs during college and saved up money to gift myself a graduation trip to India,” he reveals.

It was in the last week of his trip that he stumbled upon the Hindi film industry and its myriad workings travelling to Goregaon’s Film City as part of a Bollywood package tour. “The tour included the usual spots: Mannat, Jalsa and the likes. The last stretch included a tour of Film City and the chance to witness a film shoot at Yash Raj Studios.” As luck would have it, that shoot ended up being Farah Khan’s ‘Om Shanti Om’, and the song they were shooting that day was the iconic ‘Dard-E-Disco’ that saw SRK, the country’s biggest superstar sporting eight-pack abs.

© Eros International

For Jack, that was his first tryst with both Bollywood and a dance number. “I had very little background on SRK at that point apart from the fact that he was referred as the King of Bollywood. What amused me more was the 20-odd male backup dancers flanking him. They were all white.” After an hour of shoot, the director called for a break and that’s when Jack bumped into a school senior doubling up as a backup dancer on set. “I met Robyn* after almost 10 years and had no idea she was a backup dancer. Back then, we all thought she’d end up as an actor or some such,” he tells me. It was a chat with Robyn that set the ball rolling for Jack’s long-drawn but hardly rewarding career in Bollywood. “That day, Robyn made it sound like such a dream. She told me how the industry was depending on only white backup dancers and money was therefore easy. I made up my mind the moment she told me how much she would make for these day shoots: Rs 50,000 for a few hours.”

© BCCL

That 20-minute conversation changed Jack’s life. He completed the rest of his trip and in a few months flew back to Mumbai, this time permanently. “Looking back at it, I realise how little I thought about that decision. I was young, a decent dancer and had no idea what I wanted from life, so I figured why not?” After he landed, Jack made the rounds of all the usual offices of various agents and put up with Robyn and her boyfriend Rob, a “veteran back up dancer” seen in Kal Ho Na Ho’s “Pretty Woman”, in a plush Versova apartment.

The first few years were exactly as Jack expected it would be. He was getting ample work, featured in a slew of hit numbers; ‘Chittiyan Kalaiyan’, ‘Bang Bang’ to name a few, and there was no dearth of money. “At that time, I was earning in lakhs every month and so overconfident of that being the case for a long long time,” he laughingly remembers.

But it was only the calm before the storm.

© BCCL

In the last three years, while Bollywood’s fascination with white backup dancers has still maintained a crazy frenzy, what however changed is their preference. Most Bollywood films were choreographing more and more songs with only female backup dancers in mind. “They were of the opinion that relying more on female backup dancers would ensure that their song and film is much more profitable. The girls would add the ample sex appeal needed. And, that’s how we started losing work.”

It started slow, with fewer offers and less screen time. “Take Kala Chashma for instance. There were around 30 female dancers and about half the number of male dancers. Not only did they dominate more screen time, but they were also paid more for the same work,” he tells me. But, now the situation is even more dire. Even as work and pay dwindled, the hours expected from them continued increasing.

Dance isn’t dance any longer; they needed to know a handful of stunts that would invariably lead to unforeseen accidents. But no coverage. Once, during a shoot abroad, Jack and another dancer sustained serious injuries while attempting a stunt and were forced to two months bed-rest. He claims he was more bummed about the fact that he wouldn’t earn money for two months more than the fact that he was injured. “Forget the fact that I’m losing out on work, but now even payments are being processed a month late. It’s a grim situation,” he rues.

© BCCL

On the work front, Jack has two more projects at the moment that require as much as 14-hours a day, and fetch him as much money as a fresher, even though he admits he doesn’t even love dancing anymore. The lack of work in films has forced him to take up more maddening ad film work. “The situation there is even more worse,” he laughs.

As he gets ready to leave for an ad shoot, I prod him on whether he’s contemplated leaving it all and moving back home.

“I don’t even have enough for this month’s rent, forget having enough for a flight ticket,” he replies before waving a goodbye.

*Names changed on request.