s The first thing after being singed with acid that Rangoli did was to call up her fiance. "I've just been burnt with acid. Will you still marry me?" Rangoli asked in indescribable pain.
"Vikram thought she was pulling a prank on him," smiles Kangana as she recalls the ordeal. " They're supposed to get married next month. When Vikram got that call from Rangoli it took him time to realize how serious she was.
Once he understood that his wife-to-be had been seriously injured Vikram immediately flew down to Dehra Doon to be with her. He has been a pillar of strength to my sister. Bhagwan aisa pati sabko de. I hope I find such a faithful companion one day," Kangana sighs tiredly.
The worst of the trauma is over. Kangana's sister, along with their parents, were flown down to Mumbai where Kangana had made all the necessary arrangements at a well-known hospital. "Until my sister arrived on Friday evening I was on tenterhooks.
I didn't know the extent of her injury. And I knew my parents were suffering. In fact my father went into shock. He just wouldn't speak to my mother as they drove down from our village in Himachal to Dehra Doon.
Only when he reached and he saw it wasn't as bad as the media reports, and also when he realized that I had taken charge and was making all the arrangements in Mumbai, that my father finally came around."
On Thursday when Kangana's world was shaken and stirred, she was shooting for Suneel Darshan's Shaka Laka Boom Boom. "When I got a call about my sister I was wondering if they had got the wrong person.
How could this happen to my sister? She's so delicate and so beautiful. Even as a child she never fell and hurt herelf, never got a scratch on her body. And now to see her in so much pain..."
A team of medical experts in Mumbai have examined Rangoli. Kangana is now breathing easy. "Fortunately her eye has been spared and her face will heal. The main damage is to her shoulder. In about two weeks she will be out of hospital. And she'll stay with me in Mumbai for two months.
My sister told me when the boy threw a liquid on her and her friend (who escaped with minor burns) the two girls thought it was water. The burning sensation started later. That's when Rangoli's friend suggested, 'Kahin yeh acid to nahin phek gaya?'
Kangana gathers herself together. "The police in Dehra Doon are on the job. The culprit has been identified."
The motive is apparently Rangoli's rejection of a proposal. "She's so pretty, I'm not surprised she got unwanted attention. But Rangoli and Vikram have been in love for years. She wanted to marry only him. Both of us sisters have never been short of male attention. In school and college we'd react to unwanted male attention by complaining to our parents. Who knows this kind of situation would've ever come up in our lives?"
Kangana is touched by the support she has received from everyone around her. "Mukesh Bhatt-ji called up and told me to let him know if I need anything. My Woh Lamhe director Mohit Suri offered to help. I'm so glad I'm in a position today to take care of my sister's treatment.
Imagine if I was just a small-town girl studying in college! Whatever money I had saved for my sister's wedding is now being used for her treatment."