The story of my new movie :)

Sagnik is right - penning an abstract in my blog gives me at least some evidence that I thought of this before some guy makes a movie awfully close to this idea and my idea is forever branded an "inspiration". This is one lesson I have learnt since my days in PTM.

My story is about a happy couple - a high flying investment banker and a lovely, sensible NGO worker - who have been married for 4 years. Theirs was a love marriage much against the wishes of their kin. So, in a sprawling city of mumbai, they have been living alone in a posh, sparsely filled, dimly lit apartment. There comes a time when they get so sick of the pollution, gossip, work schedule, lack of time for eachother that on the fourth anniversary, he gives her two choices - one is a promotion to become a partner which meant more travel, more pressure but more money and the other is to just disappear into wilderness in one of the remote corners of kerala. It was a village they had accidentally visited during their honeymoon and one of their friends was the district collector there. They had enough money to live the rest of their lives in that village and they would be far far away from this maddening crowd, a post man being their only link to the rest of the world. She thinks it's too risky, dangerous. Though unhappy, they know this place and feel safe here. But he's persistent, he talks of how he has always wanted to write a book but could never find the time. He would go there and write about the tribe who inhabit that village (they, called the semai tribe are one of the few non-violent tribes in the world. No violence ever!). He also convinces her that her NGO experience and skills would help emancipate the population there.

So, they pack their bags and buy a nice thatched house facing the back waters and start living there. She soon gets adjusted, finds work for herself among the village crowd, teaching women about hygeine and all that. They walk in the beach in the evenings, make passionate love, sit and talk of everything under the sun. But his book doesn't move - not a word. He toys with a lot of ideas and finally reaches a point of frustration where he drops the whole plan. He then tries doing a lot of things to keep him busy - a teacher, a social worker, an entreprenaur - but the professionalism, the secretary to make calls, the dependence on fax-email-internet and the cause-and-effect principles of a city don't work here. But in this experience he meets up with an old man in the village - the only one who's gone out of the village. He starts talking to him about the tribe and its customs. The old man promises to help him write a book. And during their long talks, he is shocked to know the various inhuman acts that take place as a part of rituals. He swears to change all that - but what it entails is much more than what he can handle. It changes him as a person, screws up his relationship with his wife, and he soon loses perspective and is in the brink of destruction.

The story basically is placed on three premises - one, there's nothing in this world that's perfect. Every good thing has its own disadvantages and you can never remove the bad side of it from the good one. It's like the theory of shadow and self, jeykill and hyde - together they coexist and make sense. but you can never seperate them. EVER! Secondly, each one has his place. You belong somewhere - a place where people share your definitions of truth, good and evil. Beyond that your existence doesn't make any sense. And thirdly and subtly, there are some basic assumptions that make us humans. You never question them - once you question it, you realize the difference between you and an animal is dangerously slim.

My brother's already passed his judgement - this movie will never work in tamil. However, I persist :) Inside my head, it's like a set of glimpses/moments/situations/dialogues. So, if any of you have the resources to make a movie and like this idea and want to discuss it further, do get in touch with me :)