Replacement

The film industry that operates out of the Indian city of Bombay is
called bollywood. The dialogues of the bollywood films are written with
words culled from every Indian language and of course English. The end
product when released all over the world is generally understood by
anyone who has a rudimentary idea about Indian languages. People from
india's twenty-eight states love bollywood films for their images,
their stories but most importantly for their music. To tell the truth
all bollywood films are musicals. Each film has at least five songs.
The most common songs are love-ballads shot in hill stations all over
the world preferably Switzerland. There was a time when songs were shot
with the main players, hero and heroine, and at least forty more
dancers in the background. But this is not done any more. Nevertheless
music is big business in bollywood. The music album connected to the
film is released in a magnificent ceremony in top-class hotels. And if
the album sells well it augurs well for all concerned. Not only is the
music promoter happy, the chances are that the film is then a
resounding success too. The astounding success achieved by the composer
trio Alan-Red-New in the last five years have made them the most
important people in bollywood.
The trio is really a duo. Alan and Red have been friends since college.
Alan studied to be a mechanical engineer but opted for a career in
music. Red is the son of a leading industrialist. To both these people
music was a hobby to begin with. But as the music industry boomed Alan
and Red were tempted to take the plunge. The first five of their films
were huge successes. But the next five failed miserably. Alan and Red
felt that they needed one more partner. Hence the need for "New".
Applications were invited through advertisements in newspapers. Many
boys and girls expressed interest in becoming the third member of the
group of Alan and Red. Only one person was chosen and his name was Roy.
Roy was a college dropout. But he was great at playing musical
instruments. He seemed to have natural talent for it. He also had great
ideas for new tunes. For the next one year the trio that called itself
Alan-Red-Roy provided music for ten films. All ten were super-hits and
the music album of each film sold more than five hundred thousand
copies. Newspapers, tabloids and magazines were all full of praise for
these three people who seemed to have time only for music. Roy married
his childhood sweetheart and went to a hill-station for their
honeymoon. He was killed in an accident on the way.
Roy was replaced by Jim. Now the trio was called Alan-Red-Jim. For six
months the three people composed great tunes. Their style though was
different from before. Then, Jim was stabbed while coming home from the
recording studio. The next person who was taken as partner by Alan and
Red was Arin. After writing some great music for eight months he died
of heart failure. At the end of five years a total of sixteen people
had joined Alan and Red as partners. All of them had original musical
ideas but had not lived long enough to be a threat to the original
duo.
Sonaa was not only beautiful, she had great musical talent too. She
knew that Alan and Red were looking for a partner. She was aware that
these two paid partners very well. But the third collaborator also did
not live long enough to enjoy the success. Sonaa's father had been
diagnosed with cancer of the throat. A lot of money was required for
his treatment and there was only one way Sonaa could legally earn that
money. She sent an application to the appropriate box number and was
called for an interview. The interview was tough and Sonaa was pleased
that the recruitment process was so exacting. In one week's time she
had started working. Her job was simple. She had to think of tunes for
songs that would last for five minutes. Once the tune was finalized the
same was recorded without words. Two days after this, Sonaa would
receive her payment. For six months Sonaa provided one tune after
another. She also noticed that both Alan and Red had taken a liking to
her. Alan would visit her cabin in the morning while Red would come in
the afternoons. After a while the other employees began whispering
whenever they saw Sonaa. They would look at her accusingly and curse
her under the breath. One day while Sonaa was having lunch both Alan
and Red joined her at her table. Alan spoke first, "Sonaa, do you think
I am a nice person?" Red joined the conversation, "Sonaa, is anybody
bothering you in this office?" Sonaa was too awestruck to say anything
to either person. Both Alan and Red took out car-keys from their
pockets. "Now, listen Sonaa," Alan said, "Red and I are going to race
each other. Whoever wins will marry you. If we finish together you
die." Before Sonaa could say anything Alan and Red left the room. A few
minutes later two cars were started outside the office. A bearer came
and informed Sonaa that Alan and Red had started a race between their
two cars. Exactly one hour later a call was made to the office from the
local police station. Both Alan and Red had been killed after their
cars collided on the city bridge.
Little by little the mystery was unravelled. Six months after they
started composing music for films Alan and Red found that they had no
more musical ideas to offer. They then decided to take on a partner.
The chosen partner was usually a poor, needy but talented person. The
moment a new partner understood what was actually happening he would be
eliminated. The police had suspected the duo for some time but there
was no evidence. Sonaa's case was unique. Both Alan and Red had fallen
in love with her and each wanted to marry her. They were sure that the
car race would decide the issue once and for all. They did not believe
that they could ever be harmed in any way despite having taken the
lives of sixteen people.