The family all decide they've had enough excitement for the day, and retire for the evening. The next morning life has more or less returned to normal. Shalini is seen walking around doing her morning routine. Mini slips past her into the television room, and grabs the phone. She calls Deepak, and wishes him a happy birthday. She also says that she thinks it might be a bad idea for her to go with him on his little picnic trip. With all of the excitement at home lately, and the little conversation with her father have made her second guess the plan, and she thinks it's a better idea if she stays at home.
Deepak
is very disappointed and does his best to change her mind. Mini finally calls it
quits and says she has to go. She looks as if she has An Idea, so she goes to
speak with her father. Mini goes on a long and winding story about how one of
her friends (a girl!) has a birthday today, and all of their friends are taking
a bus out to the countryside to have a party, and she would like to go as well.
Sharma listens to all of this and says that she's allowed to attend.
Mini smiles and thanks him, then turns to leave the room. Sharma calls after her to wait, and says that he has faith in her, and she doesn't need to make excuses about what she's doing. Mini blushes at having been caught in a lie, but she assures him that she loves him very much, and will not do anything she shouldn't. With a hug and a kiss, she heads out.
We
barge in on their date, and watch as the two youngsters speed down the road on
Deepak's bike. It would seem they are not alone though. Our old friend the
Steadicam operator is back, and is keeping a close watch on the progress of the
motorcycle.
They engage in lots of good wholesome Young People Outdoors behavior (letting her steer the motorcycle, getting soft drinks, skipping rocks on a pond, you know) as poignant piano music plinks along on the score.
The Happiness Montage ends with the two of them sitting under a tree and reading "MAD Magazine" together (this was a surprise to me). They giggle and laugh as only MAD Magazine can make us do, until Mini notices that it is getting late. She hustles Deepak over to the bike as the Steadicam operator sees his chance. After a couple of minutes of cutting back and forth between the kids on the bike and the Faceless Evil running through the woods, the camera finally gets ahead of them and sneaks out onto the road. We see them approaching, so the camera dips back off of the road and lurks in the bushes.
Just
as the bike approaches the camera's hiding place, Deepak blows a tire. They get
off of the bike and try to figure out what to do, when another bike comes from
the opposite direction. They flag down the driver and he agrees to take Deepak a
couple of miles up the road to get a replacement tire. Mini agrees to stay with
the bike until they get back.
Of course this is Steadicam's big moment. The camera hovers around in the bushes, keeping an eye on Mini as she tries to make herself comfortable while she waits. The camera inches along until it is finally right behind her. A soft breeze blows Mini's hair around and she turns to look directly at us. Instead of screaming or running like I thought she might, instead she rises from her sitting position and follows the camera into the woods, staring right into it the whole time. She's got an eerie calm look on her face and doesn't seem bothered at all.
This, however, does not last.
The camera finally comes to a halt, and whatever it is Mini is looking at must change in appearance as Mini goes from a deadpan expression to screaming her head off in about three seconds.
Deepak
finally shows up on a truck with the new tire, and calls out for Mini. She's not
with the bike, and is nowhere to be seen. Concerned, he rests the tire against
the bike and wanders off into the woods calling her name. After a few minutes of
poking through the brush, he hears the sound of Mini softly weeping. He homes in
on the sound and finds her squatting down near the shore of either a huge puddle
or a very shallow pond.
He tries to comfort her while asking her what happened. She doesn't respond for a while, but eventually looks up at him. We see his face before we see hers, and his expression goes from one of concern and worry to one of utter confusion. We see why shortly thereafter - Mini's eyes have completely changed colors and she's giving him a look that says "Deepak's on the dinner menu."
In a moment of panic, he steps backwards and looses his footing on the shore of the water. He falls butt-first into the murky water and scrambles to get himself together. Suddenly Mini seems herself again, and she offers to help him out. Deepak is completely bewildered by all of this, and stays right where he is.
