This
appointment with the old lady is arranged quickly, and a jump cut takes us right
there. Grandma says that over the last seven years, there have been many
families that have come and gone from the house, and none of them lasted more
than a few days. Earlier, there was a man that lived there who had a mistress.
The two of them were in love, but she was "a bad person" according to local
repute. One night, the woman mysteriously vanished and no one knows what
happened to her.
Fortunately for the plot, our upcoming (and sudden!) flashback does in fact know what happened. We see "the man" surprise and attack "the mistress" and he strangles her. Grandma says that even the police were unable to come up with any explanations, so the whole thing was left unfinished. That is until a few days later, when the man was found dead in his room.
Another
flashback shows us what happened to him. He is seen sleeping, when suddenly a
pair of hands bursts out from under his pillows and strangles him! Grandma is
convinced that based on what Shalini has told her of Mini's behavior that Mini
is being controlled by the spirit of the murdered woman. She then advises
Shalini to go to a nearby town and summon a man named Sarge (I'm not kidding)
that can help her with matters such as this.
Shalini heads home first before setting out. Narayan tells her that Sharma, Mini, and the psychiatrist all went off to the hospital to conduct some tests on Mini. Shalini thinks that's okay, and prepares to get into her car when Deepak pulls up behind her on his bike. He introduces himself, and says that he's Mini's friend from College. Shalini says that he'll need to come back another time, as Mini is not well these days. Deepak says he's already aware of this, and wants to tell her about the strange incident that took place on his picnic with Mini. Shalini looks thoughtful for a minute, then asks Deepak if he knows the little town they're headed to. He does, so they go off together.
A
short driving montage follows, and they find themselves at the right house.
Someone points them to the right room in a good sized house, and they find
"Sarge" (his name is Sharji in the credits, but I'm enjoying the whole Sarge
thing. Please forgive me as I continue to use that name instead!) waiting for
them in a darkened room. He looks up and seems to have been expecting them!
They don't mince words, and we cut right away to Sarge sitting in the back of the car as they head over to the Sharma's house. Sarge gets out of the car and surveys the house with a critical and suspicious eye. He looks at the Scary Window and takes a winding path through the yard and enters the front door all to the accompaniment of the spooky music on the soundtrack.
He
says nothing through all of this, and the family members (minus Sharma and
Bunty) are content to let him do his own exploring of the house. Sarge starts to
go upstairs, but stops after climbing a few. He turns back the way he came and
stares intently at the basement door. He slowly pushes the door open (CREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!)
and takes a look inside. After slowly descending the stairs, he stops at the
bottom and just starts looking around. Shalini breaks the silence and says that
if he wants to meet Mini, they'll have to go to the hospital. Sarge tells her
that the problem is not with Mini. It's definitely something in the house.
Just so we know that they are in fact doing something constructive at the hospital, we cut there now to see some technicians loading Mini into a CAT scan machine as our favorite psychiatrist monitors the readouts and displays in the control room (all while furiously smacking on some gum!).
It looks like they've got that all under control, so it's back to the spiritual side of the investigation.
