We
cut to the outside of Shaukat's office where Ramakant is chasing down Rajni. She
is marching towards the office with a lunch tray, but Ramakant stops her before
she barges in. He tries to explain to her that Shaukat is a fairly temperamental
guy, and does not wish to be disturbed while writing. She thinks he is
overreacting but finally gets tired of arguing about it, and hands Ramakant the
tray. She tells him that he can stand there with it all day if he's too scared
to go in, then she marches off.
It's cute to watch these two together. There aren't that many breaks for
light-hearted moments in this film, so most of that responsibility falls on
these two. While not exactly
the Bickersons, it
is fun to watch them pick at each other.
We
cut into the office where Shaukat is rolling around some ideas. He tries to
think of what sort of woman he will write about while he talks to himself. We
also get our first look at what I'm going to call "Book Vision." Whenever
Shaukat is describing the characters in his story, we see what he is describing
through a slightly distorted, black and white shot while small glowing letters
fall from the top of the screen. I'm not really doing the effect justice in
describing it as such, but it is a pretty slick effect. Click on the picture to
the left to see it in motion. (5.5MB)
After imagining various women and their features (some of which include his
own wife) Shaukat finally decides upon his character, and that she will be
called Tamanna (tamanna means "desire.") Shaukat seems very pleased with
himself about his breakthrough, and begins to speak to Tamanna as if she were
real. He introduces himself to her, and asks her if he could tell her story.
Not to get too far ahead of myself here, but I need to clarify something.
In case I've not done an effective job of it so far, it is important to
understand that Shaukat is a pretty intense person. The movie shows this
without problems, but when reading my treatment of it I'm uncertain that I'm
conveying this. Shaukat is very emotional, quick to react, and often loses
himself in what he is doing. He will periodically speak to the characters in
his mind as if they were standing there next to him. So, if you see me
writing something to the effect of "Shaukat tells Tamanna..." he's doing so
internally. None of the characters talk back to him, so all of these
interludes are one-sided. Just wanted to make sure that was clearly defined
before I go too much farther.
As
Shaukat is "watching," he sees Tamanna go running off through various locales,
ranging from a lighthouse to an amphitheater to the beach. We don't get a clear
look at her face during this. She is a slim woman in a long flowing sari that is
billowing out behind her as she runs. She has long dark hair that comes down
past her shoulders, which occasionally blows in her face and obscures her
features. He asks her if she is taking him on a new journey, and eagerly accepts
her offer.
Later that evening Antara returns home. She enters the kitchen to find Rajni
and Ramakant who are impressed with the load of groceries that Antara has
brought with her. Antara tells them not to worry, they don't have to cook
dinner. Rajni tells her that she's not worried about that, but she does point
out that Shaukat hasn't eaten all day, so she's afraid all of the food is going
to be wasted. Antara goes over to Shaukat's office to see what's the matter.
Just as she arrives, Shaukat comes out of the room. He reminds her that he
does this when he's writing, and that he doesn't question her when she does
unusual things, such as coming home late. She asks him if he will come and help
her in the kitchen, which he agrees to.
They
spend a few moments working on the food without speaking. Antara casts a few
wayward glances in his direction while searching for something to break the
silence. She begins thinking out loud about how Shaukat gets so many good ideas
for his books. She says that she wouldn't even be able to tell someone the story
of her life. She thinks that the all of the critics that were so hard on
Shaukat's last book don't know how difficult it is to write, and that Shaukat's
books are always very good. She tells him that his latest book will silence all
those who doubted him. He asks her if that will make her happy. She tells him
that if he is happy, then she is too.
Shaukat presses the issue a little further, and wants to know about her own
true happiness, and what makes it happen. She tells him that she's never really
thought about it before, but he insists that she tell him about it. The music
ramps up a little here, and we can tell from the look on his face that Shaukat
is getting more ideas.
