II Semester SRFTI
1. My
grandmother used to say that the folded edges in a book is a sign that the
student is lazy. [The girl is unfolding the folded edges]. Am I lazy? [The girl
tries to reach for the switch from a distance with her foot.] or a long pole].
These days i feel my life is a long session in which i am intently trying to
unfold the pages of a lazy girl’s notebook. My grandmother is dead now. These
days when i think of her what first comes to my mind is that time when i drew a
design with mehendi on her palm. Our house was being painted then. When she
went to the loo she forgot she had mehendi on her and brushed past the freshly
painted wall. The mark stayed there till i painted the house four years after
her death. Her palm looked beautiful in mehendi. She liked it. But the only
thing she said to me was ‘How will I attend the mass with this on?’ [Go to the
picture of jesus christ on the wall.] Zoom in on the bright red mehendi on her
palm. Her smiling, expression changing abruptly and then she says the dialogue.
Then we go to christ.
2. Remember
when the principal asked you how your father died and you said he choked and
she couldn’t understand what it meant. Look at the irony of the situation. All
of them insist on talking in english. Then you, with all the language learning
you did say he choked. She keeps on asking ‘what?’ And finally you say he was
having food and it got stuck in his throat.
3. Remember
the dream you had tonight. There was a scene in which the mother character who
had the face of Irs goes to the security and gives him a hand job.
4. A
kid watching/playing one of those video games in which everybody kills
everybody. His parents are fighting. Some activity like that always going on.
In the night the kid is sleeping alone and is still listening to the fight. He
opens his eyes. Suddenly the mother rushes in hugs him tight from behind and
starts crying or something. Noise from the video game flood his ears.
November 2013
1.
സേതുവമ്മയ്ക്ക്
ഇന്നിട്ട sweater ഇട്ട് photo അയച്ച്
കൊടുക്കണം. മമ്മിക്ക് സന്തോഷാവും. എന്ത് മാത്രം ഉടുപ്പുകളാണ് സേതുവമ്മ എനിക്ക്
വാങ്ങിത്തന്നിട്ടുള്ളത്. ഓരോ പുതിയതിടുമ്പഴും അങ്ങനെ ഫോട്ടോ അയച്ച് കൊടുക്കണം.
ചെടികള്ക്കിന്ന് വെള്ളമൊഴിച്ചില്ല. വാടാതിരുന്നാ മതിയായിരുന്നു. കറിവേപ്പില
പ്രത്യേകിച്ചും. എഴുതണം എഴുതണം എന്ന് വിചാരിച്ചിരുന്നിട്ടൊരു കാര്യവുമില്ല. അത്
എത്രയും പെട്ടെന്ന് ചെയ്യാന് തൊടങ്ങണം. ആ Hyderabad write-up തീര്ക്കണം. ബാക്കി തീര്ക്കാന് നിക്കണ്ട. എന്തൊരു വെഷമാണ്. Next work on Calcutta Chromosome. Places.
[Should send
Sethuvamma a photo wearing the sweater i wore today. How many clothes has she
bought me! Every time i wear a new one should send a picture to her. Didn’t
water the plants today. Hope they don’t wilt. Especially the curry leaf plant.
No use thinking ‘should write’. Have to start doing it as soon as possible..
Don’t wait to finish up the rest. How sad. Next work on Calcutta Chromosome.
Places.
2.
That thing which
happened during the production workshop. You were watching a movie on the
screen. In the movie someone opened the door. At the same time Sengupta opened
the classroom door. If you were to shoot how’d you have done it? Screen-open
door-sound+real door open+ its sound and then the person who came in through
the real door. His bewildered expression? [There was also S. Kar laughing
seeing this. Is that your character? Right now i feel it’s not important. But
there will be one person who noticed it. [in this case sad that it wasn’t you].
Is that person who noticed it your character?
3.
Will you walk
into my shoes.
4.
In theatre (main
for Sum Majumadar’s screening, diploma). Modhu and Mule talking on the phone.
They are some rows away from each other and Mule calls to ask Modhu why she is
sitting behind. They make comments on people coming in, out etc. You could use
the curtain parting over this.
5.
Vi is standing
and reading what S is sending on his phone. Completely unaware that i’m seeing
him seeing him.
6.
22nd
December
That thing which happened in metro. The door closing just in time. Conversation
happening. Extended hand. Two people outside. One left inside. What could they
have said? Stay? Get off?
7.
Use: The scene
from demo film I in Indian Coffee House. The girls clicking themselves. The
photo should പതിയല് [get captured]. There should be flash. Your
protagonist could walk past these two girls in the next shot. We could follow
him/her.
8.
Use: The guy
forgot to take his sweater from the girl while getting off. He remembered just
before getting off, came back and took it from her. (expressions).
9.
That thing which
happened while coming back from Birla Academy of Art and Culture. Two girls
were playing badminton. Their shuttlecock was tattered already. When once it
fell a car passed by and the cock went with it. (Must have got stuck under the
tyre). The two girls ran behind the car. Calling out ‘Uncle! Uncle! Uncle! Then
she saw that it’s a woman and she started calling ‘Aunty! Aunty! Aunty! (They
got it back and resumed play?) But let’s leave them there and go.
10.
What happened
when you cycled. Two people opening the car doors at the same time and passing
a box of cake. One man said sorry to you. You laughed.
11.
In the metro
station-anywhere, everywhere, a woman-why should it always be young
girls-teenagers? A woman, say is smiling the smile and walking texting or
reading a text-reading a text She is drifting-unaware of surroundings. Just the
message and that moment for her now. Your character is the one watching her.
She is the kind who smiles seeing this smile. And does she get a call soon
after and get into a complex conversation of her life while taking a last look
at this texting woman. Do her responses get affected by the emotion that is
created by seeing this woman?
12.
A fly on the
nipple. Doesn’t budge even after ‘phoo’ing
മുലക്കണ്ണില് ഒരു ഈച്ച
ഊതിയിട്ടും പറക്കുന്നില്ല
13.
When you light
something with a matchstick it’s not the stick’s sound that you hear. It is
something else’s. Next we can show the source of that sound. In Nandigram what AjMa
heard and S did not.
14.
Abdhi: She talks
like a song (a lullaby) the girl who talks like a song. Drinking session-an
episode. She and her lover. Does she write poems? Probably not. But why does
she pretend to write one all of a sudden. On a cigarette packet. Whisper it in
his ear. His reaction. She throws it (Me-who am i) gives it to him. He puts it
in his pocket. Her sudden reaction ‘see darling, how much even i am in love
with you don’t fuck with me when i am drunk’ (how muchever i am in love with
you)
15.
In the car- me
trying to find a date to quit smoking. Now the month is January. So you
basically want a far away date. Asl S. He first says somewhere in April. You
are mildly happy. But he reads your face. He understands what you are trying to
do. So he changes it to February 27th-you catch him. As AjMa. January
7th-it’s already over. Karmakar August 19th. You are very
happy. Now you can ask the reason for each of their reasons for having said
these dates.
June 2014, Kozhikode
[Short film time, Break-up with Jay]
1. Germ:
A robber on train. His loot. A chained iron case. He steals it. But when he
sees the contents of the box he wants to meet the girl. Starts stalking or
something.
2. An
old couple on train. Ever so beautiful in the morning light. This was after III
A.C had become the Sleeper class of the middle class.
3. വെള്ളത്തില് നിന്നു പറിച്ചുമാറ്റപ്പെട്ട മീന് പോലെ ഞാന്
പിടയുന്നത് നീ കാണുന്നുണ്ടെന്ന് എനിക്കറിയാം. ആര്ത്തവസമയത്ത് പുറത്തുപോകുന്ന
രക്തം ഒരു കഷ്ണം മാംസം അടര്ന്നുപോകുന്നതുപോലെയാണെന്ന് നമുക്കറിയാവുന്നതുപോലെ.
I know that you can see me writhe like a fish out of
water. Like how we know that menstrual blood feels like a chunk of flesh
falling apart from the body.
December 2014
1.
The woman next to me. Her oranges and apples falling, ripped bag, തട്ടം. [veil] yellow saree. Maroon sequins. The woman in the
next seat passing a bag and fallen oranges via me.
2.
Like two lovers against the whole world. One person with a cat against the
whole world. Explore. One idea/ideology against the whole world.
3.
A man in 60s booking ticket to Chennai from Trivandrum. He asks for side
lower berth. Not available. Asks to look for middle berth. Looks at me and
smiles. എനിക്ക് പിന്നേം
കൊഴപ്പല്യ. [I
am still okay with it] But she cannot manage. Smiles. Asks to check if it is
available in ‘senior’ quota. The counter person says ‘yes’.
4.
A couple talking in metro. By the 2 glass manes windows/door. Smiles when
in love. This is the POV of our girl.
