The credits begin immediately over the sound of a sobbing, wailing woman.
Standard issue "eeeeeee-ooooooo-waaaaaaaah" music plays as the credits roll.
Ahead of us is a sliver of light, but it is not immediately clear what it is.
After nearly a minute and a half of this, the sliver of light widens quickly,
and we see it was a crack between two sides of a door that has now been thrown
open.
What
happens next was not at all unexpected. One of the first few credits was for the
Steadicam
operator, so we get a long (very long) Steadicam shot as the operator seems to
run all over a village. He trots down alleys. He runs through the streets. He
scampers about like, well, a Steadicam operator. He finally comes to a halt near
the town's bus stop just as the afternoon shuttle is arriving. A young woman,
bearing the weight of several backpacks and a suitcase, exits the bus and stands
at the bus stop for a while as we watch a reverse angle shot from a camera that
was apparently strapped to the rear bumper. Since I know her name, I'll use it!
Mini looks around and starts walking. After a few shots of her trying not to
look into the camera (and failing), she begins to look uneasy. A few false
alarms make us all jump (whee!) and she starts pounding on doors to get away
from whatever has her feeling uneasy. She passes an abandoned car and the door
pops open in front of her. She looks inside and screams at the top of her lungs.
This gets her running and screaming while decidedly 80's-esque synth music and
programmed drums go to town on the soundtrack.
More
doors are pounded upon and alleys hurtled down as Mini tries frantically to find
some sort of refuge from the as-yet-unseen terror. Mini pauses for a moment to
catch her breath, and notices a house with an open door. She steels herself and
bolts for the comforting darkness within. She searches a few rooms and still
can't seem to find another living soul in the house. She discovers another
locked door off of the living room and starts banging on it to try and go
inside.
Outside the house, our still unseen assailant is running around, jamming to
the repetitive chase synth music. He notices the same open door that Mini did,
and heads inside. He doesn't have to do much searching of his own, as she's
quite easy to track down with all of her yelling, crying, and slapping of the
door. Mini becomes aware of the additional presence in the room, and stops
beating on the door. She shrinks back into a corner of the room and shrieks as
the camera lunges forward into her face.
Mini
then sits bolt upright in her bed. Ah, good. It was all a dream! She stares at
an evil looking doll (is there any other kind?) at the foot of her bed, then
over to the clock on the wall. It's a little past 6am, and she's got to get
ready to go to College. She breathes a sigh of relief, and rubs her face to
erase the memory of her traumatic evening.
Downstairs, Shalini is preparing the morning meal for her family. Their
servant, Narayan, comments on how much he likes this house than the last one.
Apparently they used to live near an airport, and the noise kept him up at
night.
The
cast introductions continue as little Bunty staggers into the kitchen in his
little school uniform. He tells Shalini that he's finished his milk and is ready
to leave. Narayan takes him off to catch the school bus. The Master of the House
(whom I will simply refer to as Sharma) is seen in the living room directing the
movers in where to place the furniture. Shalini fusses over the lateness of some
of the items, but Sharma assures her that everything will be fine and that he's
got it all under control.
Mini comes downstairs (it was about this time that I noticed the Foley guys
doing overtime. She sounds like she's pounding down the steps wearing tap shoes
on hardwood floors) and is hurriedly getting her things together for class.
There's a stereotypical argument between her and her mother about her outfit for
the day (it's a little too modern for Shalini's tastes) but Sharma settles
things by basically overriding Shalini and telling Mini to do what she wants.
Nice!
