Malhar - The Movie: Part 4

“But you don’t understand! She was the love of my life. I would never kill her” shouted Tanmay, rattling the bars of his claustrophobic cell.

“Explain the shoelace, then.” The bored guard strolled away, leaving Tanmay sobbing.

“Let it go, boy,” said the man in the corner. “No one’s going to believe you.”

Tanmay slowly sank to the floor. Life was pointless.

Eventually he became accustomed to life in jail. Wake up, eat, shower if possible, trace lines in dirt, rest, trace lines, eat, trace lines, sleep. He and Sallu became good friends. They shared stories and contraband cigarettes. In fact, they spent almost all their time together, except in the shower: Sallu was an intensely private man, and Tanmay had never seen him in anything less than a towel.

One day, while having a rare bath, Tanmay felt a pang of unease shoot through his stomach. He thought he needed the loo. But no. On the way there, he met Sallu. Sallu had been acting strange that day. For starters, he was in the nude. Too late, Tanmay saw SONJA’s lustful eyes in his friends'.

“Noooo!” he yelled.

“Yes!” yelled Sallu.

There was a thump, then an ominous silence.

***

The Banker had been so young then. A mere innocent, he had wandered through life, looking at advertisements, and believing them. For his fourth birthday, his parents had bought him a hawk. He called the hawk Neo. He loved it very much. When he got his first set of G.I. Joes, he thought that they would get along splendidly with Neo. He was wrong.

That night—the night it had all begun—he had gone to sleep early. As the seventh stroke of midnight struck, he felt something metallic pressed against his head. He turned his head groggily, only to find his G.I. Joes alive and threatening him.

Things never were the same after he was forced to kill his precious Neo.

***

Gokul tried to run, but the Fantastic Four were too quick for him. He offered them cheap inebriation, but they spurned it. He offered them money and toys, but they sneered, following him easily as he dashed down the twisted corridors. As he took a sharp turn, the longest curl of his tresses got caught on a road sign. He felt a hook behind his navel, and suddenly, he was whirling through time and space. He crash landed among a heap of metal devices and several dark red objects. A whip cracked behind him.

“Are you prepared for your test?” asked Lisa Ann Marie.

“Who are you?” asked the frightened Gokul.

“I am The Torturer”, she said.

***

“So what seems to be the problem?” said Nainsaaf. She was in TY Psychology, interning as Ruby’s assistant. Goliath was her first client. “I don’t know who I am anymore” sobbed Goliath. Nainsaaf grinned. This promised to be an interesting case. “Why don’t you tell me more about this, Mr... Himesh?”

“Himesh? Who’s Himesh?”

Nainsaaf attempted to ease the moment. “Well, then, what is your name?”

“My name is... er... Beaver—no, I mean Badger.”

“Okay, Mr. Badger, when did this problem begin?”

“Who’s Badger? My name is Goliath.”

Nainsaaf became frustrated. She screamed. “Just tell me what the problem is!”

Goliath quivered and slowly began the story of his ordeal. It took five hours, six cups of coffee, four personality switches and more patience than Nainsaaf had.

Nainsaaf yawned when he finally stopped. “So, you clearly suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder. I am going to put you under hypnosis so that all your selves can meet each other. Is that fine with you?”

In a nasal tone, Himesh replied, “Teri, teri, teri marzi. I mean whatever you think will work, ma’am. I just want Goliath and Beaver—no, Badger—out of my life....”

***

Sonikon and Rose eyed each other across the foyer. “I’m going to snap you like a flower” snarled Sonikon. “I’ll give you slip disc” countered Rose. Sonikon’s face lit up like a flash, but soon she realised that this time there could be no DJs. “Enough trash talk,” said the referee. “Pump up the beat” The crowd cheered.

This dance off was going to be a carnival, with Sonikon and Rose as the lead pair.

***

What happens next?

Will Tanmay survive SONJA's latest attack?

Will the Banker find redemption?

Will Gokul pass his test?

What will transpire at the meeting of the identities?

Who will prevail in the battle of the foyer?

STAY TUNED.

Malhar - The Movie: Part 3

The wedding night was finally here. Love awaited consummation. Tanmay entered the honeymoon suite to find Sweety standing by the window in silken array. He walked towards her with slow deliberate steps, betraying the tempo of the love song playing in his head.

Suddenly, there was lightning and thunder and the ominous voice that had haunted their nuptials was heard again. Tanmay screamed at his reflection in the mirror. It was SONJA and she had taken over his body.

The next few minutes went by like a blur. Tanmay was on the ground with Sweety’s body in his arms, lifeless. In his hands, he found the murder weapon. Sweety had been strangled by a shoelace.

***

The Banker sat in his cushioned rocking chair, smoking his pipe. The room was dark and austere, as morose as its inhabitant. The Banker looked back on his life and wondered where it all went wrong. He hadn’t always been this way. As a child, he wouldn’t have hurt a fly. But it had all changed.

It was sunny Sunday morning and the Banker was five. He had got his first set of action figures. They weren’t quite like his Barbie dolls, he mused. He would found out exactly why, later that night.

***

Gokul took the plunge. Tossing his body off the edge was the hardest thing he had ever done. He landed with a loud thud. Having survived a fall of sixty thousand feet he felt invincible. The room looked oddly familiar. It was LR 31. He heard sounds of laughter and he turned to see four women sitting in a circle, engrossed in a book.

The book was Twilight. Twilight chicks are easy, Gokul mused to himself. “Hello Ladies” he said. They turned; their faces as pale as ghosts. Gokul was scared stiff. They stood up, walked towards him and surrounded him to form a rhombus. Then in one voice they said, “We’re the world’s best predator, aren’t we? Everything about us invites you in — our voice, our faces, even our smell. As if we need any of that!”

***

Yorel was furious, how could such a small girl have escaped from his grasp? He burned with fury; he wanted them now, more than he had wanted them before. He looked through her bag and found her wallet, going through its contents, he found out where she lived.

Such a small girl ran out of the subway and into the arms of the Law. Police Officer Jagirdari looked down upon the weeping child. “What’s the matter?” she yelled. Such a small girl recounted her tale and the Officer promised to take her home. She was finally safe, she thought.

Yorel hated Powai, its rich, its flourishing and its most recent addition, Michael Jackson (as recent polls suggest). He hid behind a pillar near the elevators and waited. He didn’t have to wait long; such a small girl was there in minutes, accompanied by an officer of the law.

Yorel came out of hiding, such a small girl shrieked and hid behind the Officer. “That’s him. Arrest him.” Yorel appeared unfazed and drew closer. “Stop in the name of the Law” said the Officer and drew out her gun. In one swift motion, Yorel had overcome the Officer and now held her in a pretzel like tangle with the gun in his hand. The Officer screamed and ranted. “Don’t cross words with me” Yorel warned. But she just went on and on and on.

He couldn’t take it any longer. There was a bang. The bullet ripped through her, staining her uniform. She was finally at peace now that she was dead. So it goes.

***

When Goliath woke from troubled dreams one morning, he found that he had been transformed in his bed into a giant beaver. “What’s happened to me?” he thought. It was no dream. His room, a real room meant for human habitation lay peacefully within its four walls. He tried to call out to someone, but found his vocal cords in a tangle. He desperately tried to make a sound. He spoke through his nose. He got off his bed with great difficulty and decided to go outside. Looking in the mirror, he didn’t know what to make of himself. Was he a badger? he pondered.

Outside in the hallway, he looked at the name on his door, Goliath was scratched out and a sticker with ‘Himesh’ was pasted below it. Who was Goliath? Who was Himesh?

***

What happens next?

How will Tanmay overcome the spirits that haunt him?

What is the secret behind the Banker's urge to kill?

What terrors will the foursome unleash on Gokul?

Will such a small girl escape Yorel's clutches?

Will Goliath discover his true identity?

STAY TUNED

Malhar - The Movie: Part 2

Love is like sunshine and marshmallows, it makes you fuzzy inside. Tanmay would follow Sweety’s scent and find her no matter where she was. He was seen whispering sweet nothings into her ears and she had started feeding him. They were both smitten and before they knew it, they were talking about the Future and planning a Life together.

Wedding Bells rang on a rainy Wednesday. A great storm was brewing, much thunder and lightning prevailed. In the middle of the proceedings was heard in a deafening roar “Yeh Shaadi nahin ho sakti.” After a moment of silence and nervous laughter, the warning was dismissed as practical joke. Sweety and Tanmay, now forever bound in the promise of love and fidelity, looked forward to their wedding night.

***

He was still in between some recesses of consciousness when Gokul realised that he was trapped in ARGH! In between spurts of darkness and blinding light, he desperately hoped for escape. He was determined to find his way out. He started to walk in what he presumed to be a straight line. After walking for some hundred odd miles, he reached a corner and felt a door. He groped it blindly and at last found a knob. He turned the knob, the door flung wide open. He looked out into a floorless abyss. It was the edge of nothingness. Suddenly, he heard a roar. He looked behind him and saw three lions approaching.

He had two options in front of him, get devoured by lions or jump off the edge into the unknown.

***

“Tera kya hoga kaliya?” asked the Banker. The Con Man shuddered and mumbled a feeble excuse “It was Hathway’s fault.” The Banker frowned and signalled his henchman. Out came Jigisa’s gun. The Con Man peed himself.

***

Such a small girl let out a petrified shriek. She turned and ran as fast as her little feet would carry her. She darted across the freeway, dodging speeding cars with Yorel in close pursuit. Having lost her sense of direction she entered a subway, hoping to find people there. But the subway was a monstrous maze with no one in sight. She emerged at the opposite exit only to find Yorel waiting for her there. He grabbed her arm. She kicked him in the shins and ran, dropping her bag at his feet.

***

Goliath stared at himself in the mirror. He didn’t recognize the face. It wasn’t him. He told himself he was dreaming. He pinched himself. But this was no dream. He felt claustrophobic and decided that he had to get out. He grabbed a coat lying on his chair and searched for a cap in his cupboard. Outside the apartment door he was surprised by the name chiseled into the wood. Who was Goliath?

He was walking through bustling streets when he heard a familiar voice. It was his own. It seemed to be coming from a taxi. He ran to it and put his head through the window. “Kahan jaana hai?” asked a startled taxi driver.

In the comfort of this taxi, with his voice crackling through the radio, Goliath contemplated his next move. For a while he ran dry. Suddenly, he paid attention

“...If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right...Tan Tana nana Tandoori Nights Tandoori Nights.”

What happens next?

Will Tanmay and Sweety find marital bliss?

Will Gokul jump?

Why does the Banker keep killing people?

Will such a small girl make her way home without her wallet?

What will become of Goliath?

STAY TUNED.

Malhar - The Movie: Part 1

There had been a celebration of life. An unassuming lot had made merry through the night. A chilling scream was heard above the sounds of revelry. Death had then caught up with her, at a rapid Pace. Sonja was just another Stranford graduate, but her untimely demise destroyed her husband Tanmay. Distraught by his loss, Tanmay turned to roulette tables; to wine and waste, until he was out of fortunes and forced into a life of S&M. The man had descended into dire straits, disillusioned and forlorn. It was when he was reduced to his weakest that he found love again. Sweety had come into his life, bringing with her much hope and consolation.

***

The walls were closing in or perhaps he was just losing his mind. For the first time in his life, Gokul contemplated suicide. But there was no option to self destruct in the virtual world that was ARGH! Bored of the monotony of it all he hit the escape button. It didn't seem to work. He tried again. And again. Frantic now, he looked up and noticed that the surroundings in the game had taken on an eerie life-like quality, so closely resembling his own. Suddenly, a tender coconut fell on his head. He screamed and fainted.

***

The Banker stepped out of his Honda Civic. A large entourage followed suit in suits. He stepped into the casino and sat across Andy. “Kitne aadmi the?” asked The Banker in an ominous undertone. Andy smiled, admiring The Banker's luscious ponytail. In a sudden spurt of machismo, Andy stuttered, “Dude, are you like, talking to me?” The Banker sighed, he turned and walked away. Bullets tore into Andy. Outside, while getting back into his Civic, he was heard to remark, “Dhampa Laga.” Hoo HA!

***

Tracing the crevices of the buildings, Yorel walked in their shadows, following his newest prey. She was such a small girl. He eyed with great yearning, every step she took. He had never laid his eyes on anything so beautiful. The curves, the shine, the little black bow, all made him shiver with longing. He quickened his step and was right behind her in the blink of an eye. Startled by the movement behind, she turned and looked him in the chest. He smiled and said, “May I be of any Assistance to you, Miss?”

What happens next?

Do Tanmay and Sweety find happiness and love?

Does Gokul wake up to find himself trapped in a game?

Who does the Banker kill next?

What will be the fate of such a small girl?

STAY TUNED.