Just
to let us know (or perhaps to remind us) that the basement is "scary," we have a
long lingering shot of the room. A spider skitters along the floor and hides
behind a tire (or "tyre" if you're doing the subtitles). Our friends in the
sound effects booth let us know that Bunty has arrived with a helpful
CREEEEAAAAAAAK of the door. Bunty stands at the top of the stairs with
what I imagine was supposed to be "determination" on his face, but instead just
looks either really, really bored, or perhaps a couple of points past the legal
blood alcohol limit.
Bunty stares down the stairs (eh?) and sees nothing going on, so he decides
that it's safe to proceed. He plops down a few of the steps, but stops when he
hears the deafening roar of the door squealing shut behind him. He watches this
drunkenly for a moment, then makes the call to move forward with his mission.
With
the door now closed, it is much darker in the basement. Bunty takes the steps
carefully one at a time as the score comes in with some nice tense strings. Our
POV has switched to following Bunty as he inches his way through the darkness.
After a few moments of watching him plod carefully through the scattered
belongings of the family, he notices the Cupboard Whose Doors Refuse to Close
All The Way, and intuits that this is his goal. We can already hear the doors
creaking a little bit even before he touches them. We see Bunty approaching the
cabinet as if we were inside it. Bunty opens the doors, and the light falls onto
the target of his quest - a weird looking garden gnome.
Bunty reaches for the gnome, but can't quite make it. He steps onto the
bottom shelf of the cupboard and stands on his tiptoes, completely focused on
his task. The camera switches to the now all-too-familiar "hide and sneak up on
the actor" perspective. Bunty is seen fiddling with the gnome before taking it
off of the shelf, and finally stepping down and looking behind him. He spots
whatever it is the camera is supposed to be, and looks carefully at it. The shot
then turns as if to hide again, and peers out at Bunty from a different spot.
Bunty's on top of things, and is already looking back at it. Bunty doesn't seem
too alarmed by what is going on. In fact he almost looks happy about it. A
reverse angle shot shows us why - the thing that was stalking, hiding, and
creeping up on him was a little cat!
Upstairs in the kitchen, we see Shalini making dinner. Mini comes home and
asks where Bunty's gone off to. Shalini says he must be off playing somewhere,
so Mini goes to look for him. A few minutes pass as Mini checks out a few rooms,
but still hasn't tracked him down. She reports to her mother that Bunty is
nowhere to be found, so Shalini suggests that she look in the basement. Mini
does just that, pushing the CREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAKY door open and
squinting into the dim light below. Once again the door closes behind our actor
as she makes her way through the basement. She finally finds Bunty, and I'll
admit the scene is a little weird. He's facing an empty chair, and is sitting
motionless in the dark.
Mini's
not sure what to make of this, so she softly calls his name. Bunty turns around
and reveals that he's holding the cat up by its armpits. Both the cat and Bunty
regard Mini with some contempt, but the awkward moment is broken by Shalini
calling down to them to come upstairs. Bunty's odd silence is broken as he
excitedly yells to his grandmother about what he found. Mini stays in the
basement for a moment with a look of bewilderment on her face.
Apparently this was only temporary, as she is next seen giggling away at the
dinner table. As Bunty feeds the cat table scraps, Mini tells the story of her
odd run-in with Rashmi's grandmother and the following imitation that creeped
her out. Sharma tells her that she really shouldn't tease the elderly, and that
she's probably starting to lose it due to her age. We also get a little
exposition about Rashmi's parents - they also live in the house, but they both
work and are often not at home. In case that becomes important later, you see.
Hmm.
Shalini
notices that Bunty's hands are more often under the table instead of eating, and
asks him what he's doing. He explains that he's feeding the cat, but Shalini's
had about enough of the cat for one night. She asks Narayan to put the cat
outside and takes Bunty up to bed. As they head upstairs, Mini begins telling
her father about her odd experience earlier that day.
We don't get to hear the rest of that story as we cut upstairs to Bunty's
room. Shalini puts him to bed with a doll that's almost as large as he is. Bunty
asks for a bedtime story (despite it being still blazing daylight outside) and
Shalini tries to think of a good one for him. Downstairs, the retelling of the
odd experience seems to have had zero impact on Sharma, as he just says
goodnight and leaves the table.
Mini goes into the living room and flips on the television to a loud car
chase scene. Upstairs, Bunty has passed out and Shalini heads back down to the
living room. She sees Mini staring at the TV and says that she really should go
to bed since she's been oversleeping and running late for school in the morning.
Mini argues for a little bit before finally relenting. She turns everything off
and leaves the room.
