STUDENT : MOHAMED FAROOQ

PROGRAMME : Post-Graduate Diploma Programme

DIPLOMA PROJECT

MUTHU MALA MILL

Sponsor :SELF

GUIDE : AJAY KUMAR TIWARI

COMMUNICATION DESIGN FACULTY (FILM AND VIDEO COMMUNICATION)

National Institute of DesignAhmedabad

2012

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LAYOUT DESIGNHARI PRASAD

ILLUSTRATIONMANIMARAN

PHOTOGRAPHSHARI PRASADANOOP SATHYAN

CREATIVE SUPPORT &PROOF READINGANOODHA KUNNATH

content

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE IGNITION

SYNOPSIS

THE ELEMENTS

RECCE

DAYS BEFORE THE SHOOT

THE SHOOT

TREATMENT

EXPLORATIONS

SHOOTING PLAN

GUIDANCE FROM MY GUIDE

CROWD FUNDING

BUDGET

CASTING

SCRIPT

EDITING

CREDITS

CONCLUSION

acknowledgment

From inspiration to story, script, planning, shoot it was a dream for everyone who supported me with trust which finally gave birth to ‘Muthu Mala Mill’.

I take this opportunity to thank all of them who made this film possible.

First and Foremost,

My parents whose heartiest support right from the beginning helped me to complete this film. For every creator his loved ones are his hard core fans who would encourage at every down-fall. To me,my mom & dad were my fans, critic, guide, mentor and so much more. My brothers Rahim and Sadiq gave me the creative vision and support to accomplish this film.

Ajay Tiwari, my Diploma guide who took spe-cial interest on this project and gave his volu-

minous creative ideas which fine tuned my film. Arun Gupta & Paresh Kamdhar were the pillars for me to rise in the field of filmmaking.

Anoop, who assisted me in this film, prepared shooting plan and made the 32-page script look simpler. His witty jokes kept the shoot floor live. This project wouldn’t have been pos-sible without his endless support; he has been an adviser or rather like an elder brother help-ing throughout!

Hari, for being an allrounder in the shoot. He was everything - an assistant director, a pro-duction manager, hospitality manager. Not to forget the best part, for being a good friend!

Deepak, the Director of Photography who is well known for his brilliant image making skills, captured each shot carefully with great atten-tion to small details.

“From inspiration to story, script, planning, shoot it was a dream for everyone who supported me with trust which finally gave birth to ‘Muthu Mala Mill’...”

Jamie, our very own sound recordist, who fant-abulously worked his way out inspite of the lan-guage barrier.

Vijay, Bindhu and Archana - my actors, for hav-ing full faith in me. Their hard work took this film to another level.

Sulaiman uncle, who helped getting permis-sions, supporting actors and also lent his office for the shoot. Ali uncle, for the transportation facilities. Zeenath and Hameedha, for their enormous support and delicious food supply throughout the shoot. Mohideen uncle, for giv-ing right directions and right contacts.

Santhana Krishnan, a wonderful college senior who with complete trust in me and my work, supported me with his encouraging words and backed me up financially too. A R Sathish and Ram Brijesh, for showing so much interest and

excitement in the project. Divya Chandrasekar, Arun Raghunathan for sending their wishes and contributions across the globe.

Maniyarasan, for making me realize my strengths, for being supportive throughout my journey, for his numerous ways of helping out and for being a nice-hearted friend.

George, the best creative supporter who was a guide from scripting to editing, who helped shape this film.

Jo, for the endless support, encouragement.Special thanks to Anoodha, Boopathy, Sudha-kar, Sandhya, Diksha, Deepika, Swagatha, Pra-bhu, Saravanan and Sendil.

It all started when I noticed few NID diploma students who had food in the mess without ac-tually paying for it. They didn’t sneak out of the mess, rather they also went near the counter to grab little complimentary scented arecanut, then leaving the normal course without feel-ing guilty. I asked a few for the reason. Each of them came up with their own versions trying to justify it; a few accepted their fault but said “Yeh Chalega!” meaning that was OK.

This incident triggered me to find out what there were such petty thefts in and around us. Some people stealthily take away small bulbs, handles, etc from public transport systems, some lift tiny articles in super-market being least bothered about the video cameras. House maids steal small utensils such as spoons every now and then, sometimes the Laundry service

would take three working days to return the clothes; they would actually rent or wear it for their personal use. The list went on! I took no-tice of one such crime and that was electricity theft.

Now that was a different theft. My search en-gine Google gave me a thousand results. Trans-mission & Distribution losses have been a huge concern for the Indian electricity sector since these have been very high when compared to the other developed countries. Each year al-most 30% of power energy goes unaccounted.

Though it is a crime and is punishable by heavy fines, in some cases imprisonment, people steal electricity in simple processes like giving direct wire-connection to the main power route pass-ing through the street or road; here electricity

“ Rice mill was something I had a little connection to because I often go there with mom to grind spices and grains...”

the ignition

flows to the consumer without getting record-ed in any electric meter that is fixed by the State Electricity Board. I read a few cases where au-thorities themselves are found involved in such scandals.

Then the question raised - Who would be prof-ited by stealing power? Someone whose daily occupation is based on electricity - a launder at laundry service, a farmer to water his land, a rice mill and many other small scale industries who are totally dependent on power.

Rice mill was something I had a little connec-tion to because I often go there with mom to grind spices and grains. Recently Tamil Nadu and other states suffered huge power crisis. Even the metropolitan cities were hugely af-fected by this. A four hour power shutdown ev-

eryday in the city and an eight to ten hour shut-down in small towns and villages! This resulted in huge business losses for people whose daily occupation were totally dependant on electric-ity, which made me write a story based on this.

synopsis Muthu and Mala, who grew up in the same vil-lage spending their adolescent ages together, meet after ten long years. Good friends, sus-pected as lovers by their families, they had gone on to marry other people and live apart. Their unexpected meeting, triggers off memo-ries. Somewhere, each discovers that the other is not so happy with their married life.

Muthu, a foreman in the Electricity Board is married to Thenmozhi, a homemaker and a freelance tailor. Married for eight years and yet without a child, frequent quarrels and bitterness are a part of their routine. Having saved money

“Muthu, under great turmoil, is forced to choose- between his wife’s dream for a baby and lending the money to save Mala!”

Meeting at this juncture, when life is unkind to both of them, Muthu and Mala find solace in one another through their conversations and support. Somewhere, for a split second, like lightening, an affection erupts in both their hearts for one another. Although it vanishes, Muthu tries to help Mala return the money. Un-fortunately, it gets too late and the money lend-er takes over the mill, leaving Mala out on the street.

Muthu, under great turmoil, is forced to choose- between his wife’s dream for a baby and lend-ing the money to save Mala!

over the years for medical intervention, to try for a baby, Thenmozhi believes that the child shall restore marital bliss in their lives. Muthu however is uncooperative about meeting the doctor. Mala’s husband, having left to the Gulf for bet-ter prospects, has not returned in five years and she has no information about his where-abouts. Toiling in the family mill, heavily in debt since her grandfather’s death, she is trying to make both ends meet. Sekar a bank officer who worsens her situation and put Mala under great pressure.

the elements

MY PLOT

“A Separation” by Asgar Farhani - The relation-ships in and around me - My parents - My newly married brothers

Before I started writing my film I wanted to choose the treatment for the film. The charac-ters in the film ‘A Separation’ very much inspired me to write a realistic story through which ev-ery single viewer can connect with.

MY STORY CHARACTERS

For most of us relationship after marriage gets complicated due to several reasons. One such area was explored in the film ‘A Separation’. I was also on the lookout for one such reason where I could weave electricity theft as part of the story. Being unmarried, it was tough for me

to figure out but having heard a lot of stories shared by my elders and through Tamil films like Mudhal Mariyathai and Sindhu Bhairavi, the possibility of exploring one’s life post marriage only widened.

Most in common what I have noticed so far is most of the men jump out of their way to help women even if they are strangers. A few ex-amples - Male teachers show more sympathy towards girl students, traffic police are kind to women drivers and the list goes on. One real-ly can’t blame men for their chivalry or women for their charm. In my opinion, that is how the world is designed.

HOW IT ALL STARTED AND STORY CHANGED

I named my characters Muthu, Mala and Then-mozhi and started describing their physical

and mental traits. This gave some direction to my story. I then worked on a flow chart which took me to basic plot with more sub characters which helped the story to build.

I applied a simple formula to write this story - Muthu who is married to Thenmozhi has a bor-ing married life. He meets his old friend Mala who runs her grandfathers mill. He helps her out of the way and builds a good relationship. The more he gets closer to Mala the more he moves away from his wife Thenmozhi.

The first help was that he gave a direct power supply for her mill to sort the meter issue and later he let her run the mill for a few more days without accounting her for the electricity being used. He slowly started taking more risks for her. At this point of the story, I had few convinc-ing options.

Later I shared my concept and basic story line with my folks. I narrated the story to my mom and paused at interesting points and asked her what would have happened after that! She came up with her own interesting versions, I noted them down. After coming up with better and a clear story I narrated it to my dad. This time we recorded our conversation in my mo-bile phone. It further helped me in getting back to what I said and to the feedback my dad gave.

For most of us relationship after marriage gets complicated due to several reasons. One such area was explored in the film ‘A Separation’.

recce

Questions arose for the location to be Chennai or Tenkasi! Tenkasi is my mother’s native place and I often visited there for family get-togeth-ers. I made use of one such visit by searching for mills and I took inspiration from other lo-cations. Tenkasi has such beautiful landscapes and pleasant climatic conditions for shooting. I knew if I shot there, the visuals would be more stunning than in Chennai. But it was a huge task to shift the entire crew and materials to Tenkasi. I shot couple of photographs which gave me a clear picture of the film and I started with my script.

During the first recce we fixed up a mill for the shoot - Sulaiman Rice Mill at Kizhapavur; through one of our relatives. It was huge mill with two divisions, one served as a rice mill and the other one was for grinding grain flours. The mill owner showed interest in renting the place for shooting but he wasn’t happy with the num-ber of days we wanted to conduct the shoot. With help of those photographs and videos which I shot I developed a basic shot division

and also had discussions with my DOP Deepak Bhagavath; so we could plan and arrange light-ings accordingly.

Me and my dad set out once again for the last time to fix up the locations. We visited again, took more photographs according to the final script and made floor plans accordingly. We then offered the mill owner a token advance of 2000 INR and assured to settle the balance during the time of shoot. He seemed to be very confused whether to agree or not, so he didn’t

“ The mill owner showed interest in renting the place for shooting but he wasn’t happy with the number of days we wanted to conduct the shoot...”

accept the money. However, he granted permis-sion to shoot and asked us the final schedule.

Then we set out to search other locations and primarily had to fix up EB substation and EB office. It seemed very easy as we took recom-mendations from a Junior Engineer. He gave a 100% assurance that he would get permission from the Divisional Engineer. We returned to Chennai with a bag full of promises but no offi-cial confirmation.

MAIN LOCATIONS TO ATTAIN FOCUS ON

1. Muthu House2. Mala Mill3. EB office4. EB substation5. Electric pole6. Temple7. Road8. Hospital

days before the shoot

We fixed our shoot days and we had to cancel it on account of non fulfilment of requirements in almost all parameters. This gave me the chills but my dad confided and assured to be with me till the shoot completed successfully. He listed the props, procured and planned the journey.

To get the locations without any hindrance, we reached Tenkasi three days in advance. First we approached the Sulaiman Mill and we were shocked to know that the owner wanted 20,000 INR per day as rent. We immediately gave up the idea and looked for alternate mills in and around Tenkasi. To our surprise, we found one near Aayiraperi, where the owner welcomed our move and offered his mill to shoot at free of cost.

We then discovered a nice place for the crew to stay and fixed it. To our surprise the adjacent building was a big rice mill - Kumaran Rice Mill, but we didn’t want to change the plan at the last moment. And also, my cousin offered her individual house in the village Min Nagar near Tenkasi for our stay and I decided to use it for indoor shoot.

I came to know that permissions to shoot at the Thenkasi EB substation was very difficult to get. I was asked to contact the Thirunelvelli district officers for permission. At Thirunelvelli, I was again asked to get permission from the high-er officials at Chennai. Since this chain went on for an indefinite length, I had to drop the plan. I made a small mental note that I should try and shoot this scene in Chennai later.

“my cousin offered her individual house in the village Min Nagar near Tenkasi for our stay and I decided to use it for indoor shoot...”

PROP LIST

1. News paper 2. Kasi Towel 3. Tester 4. Finished Baby Dresses5. Blouse 6. Bank Notice, 7. Bank Cover 8. Saving kit, comb,9. Mirror 10. Baby stickers 11. Cutting Plier 12. Baby toys 13. Mobile 14. Baby Photo

15. Bank Notice 16. Currencies 1+1 x 4 17. White paper-100 rupee 18. Small diary 19. Yellow bags [manja pai]20. Plastic Kudam21. Bucket, Mug 22. Scooter 23. Washed clothes, 24. Sewing Machine25. Torino cool drinks – 226. tea, biscuit, food parcel,27. Old cycle 28. Broom stick29. Cot, old chair 30. Office files & Registers31. Worn out motor and parts

32. Dust bin & Time piece33. Rice mill tools 34. EB store room materials35. Pillows, Mats 36. Grinding materials-237. Tiffin box/Lunch carrier38. Lantern 39. Gunny bags 40. Banana Leaves 41. Framed god pictures 42. Old burnt meter 43. Grandpa’s framed photo44. Thali

The below list of properties were procured from Chennai, Thenkasi and Tirunalveli, simulatenously as per requirement.

Its not only one person’s dream. When each crew member takes some ownership and responsibility then this big dream of making a film close to reality is possible.

DAY 1

Though plans made always seem perfect, we fail to follow. The same happened on Day 1. Shoot was planned to start early in the morning but it started by afternoon, post lunch. Mom & Dad made super special lunch since it was day one. It was a little weird in the beginning to di-rect the entire team and the actors. I sent Vi-jay(Muthu) and Bindhu(Thenmozhi) for a walk so they could be familiar with each other. It took sometime for them to become those characters and perform and for me to direct. Jamie, our sound recordist, was extremely happy to be in such a quiet location. Deepak took time and care to capture each frame. He would even wait long for a large cloud to pass to get that perfect lighting.

DAY 2

The shoot begun according to schedule with shots covering the house sequences which in-volved Muthu and Thenmozhi. It took me a little while, since the beginning of the shoot, to get them into their respective roles. They initially took time to get out of their skin and get into the lives of the characters. For example, in the

shot where Muthu had to clean his bike, Vijay went about it very quickly. Whereas Muthu as a character has had a very uneventful and mun-dane lifestyle. Speed would be very unnatural in his case.

It was a late start and an early pack up.

In these two days every single time when we went back to our guesthouse to rest, we were tempted to walk into the mill which was located in the same compound. Me and Deepak [DOP] went in and to our surprise the place was big and interesting. The owner of the Mill saw us and he too offered permission to shoot. Though it was not spoken clearly we knew that we had to pay him for sure. Later when we analyzed the pros and cons be-tween the Mill that we got free for 3 days but located far from the guest house compared with the one which is big and situated in the same compound. We chose the to shoot in the new one. Though we shot less in during day one, we managed to pull it off on the second day. Vijay and Bindhu had developed a good chemistry

by then and they performed very well. Both of them would act in full long take which was al-most 3 mins.

I remember telling them - “ When you act in front of the camera you are always monitored by your own conscious - if one can control that, it be will easy to act.”

Bindhu told me she took my words seriously and thus it helped her perform very well. By the end of the 2nd day I felt like I have completed most of the film.

Hari and my father had set out in search of a line-man to appear in the film. We needed an actual line-man to bring the necessary authen-ticity to that character. This I could not have achieved by casting just any other person. We also needed an Electricity Board (EB) sub-sta-tion as a location for Day 3. After a long search, they came about a sub-station at Alandur, a few kilometres away from our place of stay. They also found a line-man and brought back a few snapshots of him climbing the electric post to help me take a call. Both the EB substation and the line-man was fixed for shoot on the next day.

DAY 3

Deepak had suggested that we make good use of the magic-hour light at dawn and shoot the bike shots of Muthu where he travels on the road to and fro from work and other places. These covered the bike shots spanning the entire film. Therefore, there were a lot of costume changes required. I had listed it all out in the ‘shooting plan’ table. This helped avoid confusion with re-gard to which costume was for which day in the film.We efficiently shot from 6am to 8am and got beautiful visuals in the morning light.

We then shot at the nearby BSNL office which was converted to look like an EB office for the film. This happened with the help of my uncle, Suleiman, who works at BSNL. He played a very helpful role in allowing us to shoot there on a Sunday. Permissions to shoot there, a govern-ment office, were sped up thanks to him. He and his friends were also kind enough to act as Muthu’s colleagues. This scene proved a little difficult for me to direct since they were a large group of non-actors, who were assembled at short notice without prior rehearsals. After a few failed takes I decided to stick to mid-shots.We then took the line-man and went to his usu-al duty area. He then shut the power off for a

few minutes and climbed up the electric post for the shot.

Suleiman uncle also helped us get permissions in a nearby hospital to shoot the end credit scene. We then proceeded to the EB substa-tion.

Here, there was a major issue. The line-man re-fused to act around the station since he did not want to be spotted by his higher officials at the substation during his duty hours. So an entire page in the script was reduced to a small shot where the line-man and Muthu ride past the station on his bike.

On the way back, we thought we will make use of the sunset light for a few more bike shots of Muthu. We wound the shoot early on that day, at around 7pm to gear up for the early shoot the next day.

DAY 4

A lot of mishaps happened on this day. Firstly, we could not locate a person for the supporting role of the bank officer. Finally we managed to hunt down somebody from Thirunelvelli. Secondly, the shoot at the mill started after a 9

hour delay. The permission for shooting at the mill was acquired on a condition that I will be allowed to shoot only at times when there were no customers. Unfortunately, the customers kept flowing in till around six in the evening. We were waiting outside the mill all along with the entire crew. I was slowly getting frazzled that I was slowly losing control over the schedule. (include in conclusion)

It was slowly getting late and then an idea struck me - why not include the customers that were gathering at the mill in the scene. They added to the naturality of the setting. I did face a few problems in handling the crowd and getting in-structions across to them like to not look at the camera and to not be conscious. Nevertheless, with a lot of effort and help from crew we man-aged to pull it off by end of day.

The mill was totally free late evening and the owner gave the keys giving us permission to even shoot the entire night. Deepak works at lightning speed, managing both cinematogra-phy and lighting the place. He used a ladder as a substitute for light stands. Kanna the local teen boy who acted as Anbu in my film, slowly got more involved in the shoot and became an active part of the crew. He later assisted us hap-

pily and it was of great help.

Muthu and Mala were very much following the script and they would stop acting if something goes wrong. They were trying to remember the dialogues. Then before the actual take, we had rehearsals and made the dialogues more or-ganic. Making them not follow the dialogues in the script line to line, but asking them to make it impromptu and improvise it as they went along, helped make it more realistic. Each time it got improvised, it got better. Finally they both gave their best performances in single long takes.

But last minute work always goes for a toss. Since the shoot was far from Chennai I couldn’t get supporting actors all the way from home. Hence I decided to find out and work with the localities. This had turned out disastrous when Sekar acted as the Bank officer in the film.He was very conscious. He started stammering and fumbling the dialogues. After many takes we managed to get some good shots.

Though we had a controlled situation back in the shoot I didn’t want to shoot all night long. The owner had said he will allow us one more day to shoot at the mill and there were too many day scenes were left. According to the

initial schedule, mill scenes were planned as a 3 day schedule but what we ended up with was just one day and two nights.

DAY 5

Since Sekar’s performance as the Bank Officer was not up to the mark and it was a crucial role, we were having a few discussions as to wheth-er we should replace him and reshoot. Unfortu-nately there was no way to convey this to him and replace him, since on day 5 he was the first one to reach the location at six in the morning. He had travelled all the way from Thirunelvelli.There were a lot of interesting scenes in the script which had to be sacrificed due to the sup-porting actors. Since they were non-actors but the roles were pivotal in the narrative, them not being able to pull of a satisfying performance lead to many scenes being taken off. There was also no time for them to rehearse and be made to get into the characters.

Thankfully, Vijay and Archana realised this and they started getting more involved to put up better performances to balance out that of the supporting cast. They now seemed to take less time to understand what I was trying to convey

and imbibed their parts well. This in turn helped speed up the shoot in a good way.

We just had this day to shoot all the mill scenes. We had been shooting for quite a long time since morning and the customers were com-ing in. Around five to six people were waiting around till the afternoon. They were hoping that we might take breaks during the shoot, and they could get their work done in the mean-time. Since we were on a crunch time, we did not take any breaks. Anoop and my father were very helpful at this time, when they took to en-tertaining them till the afternoon and diluted their difficulty in waiting. They talked and had a few photo sessions while we were shooting. Then we took a late lunch break, during which they got their work done and left. A few of them even stayed back to watch the rest of the shoot.The owner of the mill started taking more interest in the proceedings. He even sat aside and read the entire script.

The sun was setting but there were a lot of the ‘day scenes’ left to shoot. We were running out of time but had to finish those scenes at the mill. At this point, Hari and Anoop perked up to help me make decisions as to how to make the scenes more concise but still not lose the

essence. They were at a position to look at the script objectively. This was soon followed by discussions. We soon made changes to the mill scenes, which made it possible to be shot at the given time but convey the original purpose of the scene all the same.By now, the Bank Officer had also started to perform better.

Everyone on the crew was geared up to work all night. My parents used to send frequent sup-plies of tea and juice, which was picked up and delivered by Hari. These timely refreshments kept the spirits going.

Even though the shoot went on for late, nobody was worked up or I did not hurry it up myself. I kept my calm and carefully made sure that all the shots were completed. This late hour also helped derive that sorrowful look needed on the faces of the actors for the particular scenes. As the shoot went beyond four in the morning, sleep took over the crew very strongly. I even drank a glass of tea, something I have never done before. Since the guest house, where everyone was put up, was right next to the mill they could take time off for some rest when it was not their turn to act. Vijay had gone to the guest house to take a break. For the next scene, I wanted

someone to write a paragraph in tamil in the di-ary. I went to Vijay with a few lines that I wanted him to write in Tamil. During the five minutes he took to write it down, I fell into deep sleep. It took him more than five minutes to wake me up. This five minutes of closing down proved to be a power nap and helped me regain some energy and go ahead with shooting the remain-ing scenes. But one by one, the crew members started falling asleep in the middle of what they were doing - Jamie dozed off holding the boom while recording, Hari slept on his laptop, Anoop crashed in the guest house and the DOP while taking a shot.

Finally the shoot got over and I thought I could go rest. Deepak wanted to check the visuals again and confirm whether the exposure and focus was fine. He is very hardworking and ded-icated to his work. While he was copying files the others didn’t have patience to even spread the matt and sleep. They just slept in random poses. Once again the idea struck Deepak. We set out again to use the sunrise and capture few more bike shots of Vijay. We came back and had good sleep.

I felt so complete and slept till the afternoon.

Once again mom and team prepared an awe-some lunch. We enjoyed the big last feast and clicked group pictures for us to remember.

Though the shooting officially got over. We still had responsibilities like dropping the actors in the bus station and returning the things which we had borrowed and thank all the family and friends who helped tirelessly during the entire shoot. My mother and father were elated that the shoot got done in a satisfactory manner and there were no complaints. It was a dream come true for them.

treatment

I always had an inclination to films which were very slice-of-life. Films which did not deviate a lot from reality and looked very appealingly ev-eryday. One such film which majorly influenced me was Asghar Farhani’s ‘A Seperation’ which one this year’s Academy award for the Best Foreign Language film.

The treatment was such that, at no point would one feel that they were watching a fictional sto-ry play out on screen. The technicalities.move-ments and camera angles also played a huge role in breaking the wall between the view-er and believability. Even the most emotional scenes did use music or a background score to aid it in bringing out the emotions. It was as raw as real life and had that inherent drama that an everyday event displayed.

This film proved a long standing notion of mine wrong. I had thought that an edit involving a wide take would be closer to real life than cut-ting to close shots during actions/reactions. Since in real, we would not be viewing it in cuts

and close ups. But this was exactly what they did in the film. This got me thinking that this is closer to reality because that is how we see people when we are closely observing them or reacting to them.

This film was a great source of inspiration when it came to detailing my own film. I had not-ed down these aspects and decided to bring it about suitably in my film too.The elements I chose was the aspect ratio. I did not want to go in for a cinemascope. That would make it increasingly look like a film and subconsciously distance the viewer.

COSTUMES

I wanted Mala’s and Thenmozhi’s costumes to be different eventhough both would be wear-ing sarees. I wanted it to depict their charac-ters. For Thenmozhi I chose cotton sarees of faded pastel colours, which gave an idea of her life with a monotonous routine.

“The technicalities.movements and camera angles also played a huge role in breaking the wall between the viewer and believability, in bringing out the emotions...”

treatment

Mala’s sarees where a contrast to this. She was given bright polyester sarees to aid her charac-ter of a charming and shrewd business woman.For Muthu, there was a transition. Before meet-ing Mala he wore full-sleeve shirts which were not tucked in. After he meets Mala, his shirts become crisper and smarter. He wears short sleeves and neatly tucks it in.

DIY CAMERA RIGS & SUPPORT

DSLRs are generally not equipped for shoot-ing videos which are stable. The image stabili-zation capability for video is not very efficient. Tripod is the usual solution for this. But since I wanted a controlled handheld and breathing movement I had to look for alternatives.Hiring or buying shoulder rigs were not possible with my limited budget. Therefore I decided to make one.

I used PVC pipes to construct the rig. I chose

PVC pipes because they were easy to handle being lightweight and strong at the same time. They were also easy to cut according to the re-quirements.I ended up making two camera rigs. The first shoulder rig I made had supports for both hands. This made focus pulling difficult. So I went in for another rig which had one arm sup-port and the weight was distributed onto the shoulder. The camera weight was balanced us-ing counterweights. This helped in achieving stable handheld videos.

I also constructed a camera slider. I explored different materials like PVC pipes, plastic chan-nels, aluminium channels, bearings, wood, CNC linear guides and even skating shoes. I finally made one with plastic channels and skating shoes, and another one using aluminium chan-nels and bearings mounted on a wooden block. Nevertheless the shots using the slider would not have suited the rugged handheld flavour of the film, so I decided not to use it.

Camera Slider DIY

Camera Shoulder Mount DIY

shooting plan

SCENE NO. PAGE NO. SCENE DESCRIPTION

Scene 22

Scene 4B

Scene 6B

Scene 1

Scene 18B

Scene 12

Scene 18A

Scene 7A

24

5

6

2

20

12

20

6

Muthu riding scooter

Muthu in scooter - way to EB office

Muthu in scooter - Pandy in cycle follows

Beginning shots

Muthu, Pandi knocks at one house door. Warns a lady about stealing current

Evening- Muthu rides his scooter to Mala Mill

Pandi on post repairing, also listening to song- Muthu scolds him and asking to cut the wires used to steal current.

Muthu, Pandi reaches mill. Spots the small boy ‘Anbu’ sweeping the floor. Muthu waits in chair- Mala Intro

INT/EXTLOCATIONS D/N ARTIST PROPS

Thenkasi-Outdoor

Thenkasi- outdoor

Thenkasi- outdoor

Thengasi - Land-scapesROAD-House

Road

ROAD

Mill-Outdoor/ Indoor

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT/INT

DAY

DAY

DAY

DAY

DAY

DAY-EVE-NINGDAY

Day

Muthu

Muthu

Muthu, Pandi

Muthu, Pandi, Lady in the houseMuthu

Muthu, Pandi

Muthu, Mala, Pandi, Anbu

old chair, Broom stick, poster on wall, tester, old damaged meter.

Scene 10

Scene 14

Scene 20

Scene 24

Scene 16C

Scene 15B

Scene 26

Scene 29A

Scene 7B

Scene 7C

Scene 13

Scene 15A

12

14

21

26

17

16

28

31

7

9

12

15

Muthu on the way to office- goes to Mill and sees its locked

Muthu comes outside Mill - Talk with Mala on Meter issue- Machines stops working- they go-ing inside the mill.

Mala , workers shifts gunny bags inside Mill. Shekhar comes and stress about bank notice. Mala requests to extend. Muthu comes and Sekhar leaves. Muthu enquires about the issue. Muthu gives the bag of snacks to her.

Muthu sits outside the Mill- his scooter parked nearby

Long Shot of Mill at Night

Muthu goes out in scooter - Time lapse til NIGHT -Mala’s Mill

Muthu-Mala comes out the Mill. Sekhar waiting outside-Gives her the final bank notice. Mala tries to convince him, but Sekhar leaves. Mala in tears.

Mala reaches outside her Mill, holding the bag- Stops , looks at the board and gets in

Mala take them in the Mill. Muthu- Mala talks about Meter. Pandi finds meter has gone-Muthu asks to give direct connection

Shekhar Intro inside Mill. Talks abt bank notice. He leaves. Muthu feels sorry for Mala and leaves

Evening- Muthu comes with new meter. Mala and Anbu busy with a lady customer. Mala un-happy to know that Muthu going to fix new me-ter

Anbu and other workers trying to fix the ma-chine- Muthu starts looking into it-Goes out to take tool box

SCENE NO. PAGE NO. SCENE DESCRIPTION

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Outdoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

EXT

INT

INT

INT

INT

DAY

DAY-EVENING

DAY-EVE-NING

DAY-EVE-NING

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

Day

Day

DAY-EVE-NING

DAY-EVE-NING

INT/EXTLOCATIONS D/N ARTIST PROPS

Muthu

Muthu, Mala

Muthu, Mala, Sekhar

Muthu

Muthu

Muthu,Mala,Sekhar

Mala

Muthu,

Mala,Pandi,Anbu

Muthu,Mala,Sekhar

Muthu, Mala, Anbu

Muthu,Mala,Anbu

gunny bags, Bank Officer bike, Muthu poly bag.

bank notice

manja pai, with cash

Damaged meter, 2 softdrinks

Bank notice cover, Thatha photograph on wallnew meter and box, buckets with grind-ing materials.

Scene 23

Scene 16A

Scene 16BScene 16D

Scene 25

Scene 29B

Scene 2A, Scene 2C, Scene 2D

Scene 4A

Scene 21B

Scene 27A, Scene 27C

Scene 28A

Scene 30B

24

16

17

26

31

(2A)2, (2C) 3, (2D)4

4

24

29

30

32

Evening-Mil. Mala sweeps the floor. Muthu en-ters with a bucket of grains and Mala complains there is no current. Muthu makes a call and cur-rent comes. Mala becomes happy and offers him dinner.

Muthu repairs the Machine. Mala turns happy and current goes off - Mala offering dinner

(16B) Muthu and Mala having dinner. (16D) Muthu and Mala having nice talk after dinner.

Muthu and Mala having dinner inside Mill. Muthu says she remembered Mala when Thenmozhi told about 2nd Marriage. Mala gets up

Mala inside the Mill. Opens the bag and finds Pictures,baby clothe stitched by Thenmozhi, also her diary. She reads the diary.Breaks into tears

(2A)Muthu’s intro outside his house. Talking with house owner about powercut, (2C)Walk-ing with Kodam-converse with HouseOwner, (2D) Walks out and dusts scooter

Muthu taking scooter-Next day- wiped old cy-cle too

Muthu looks at Thenmozhi sleeping. Picks up his mat and pillow-sleeps away

(27)Muthu takes Mala to his home in his scoot-er-asks Mala to wait outside. He finds the house locked-Getting the key from the flower pot and opens the house. (27C) Muthu comes out of the house- Gives the bag of money to Mala. Mala surprised. Muthu convices her to take the mon-ey. Mala leaves

Thenmozhi climbing the stairs-entering the house

Muthu finds no one outside but the bag with money is kept outside. He sees Mala walking off from there.

SCENE NO. PAGE NO. SCENE DESCRIPTION

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

Mill-Indoor

House-Outdoor

House-Outdoor

House-Outdoor

House-Outdoor

House-Outdoor

House-Outdoor

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

EXT

EXT

INT

EXT

EXT

EXT

DAY-EVE-NING

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

DAY

DAY

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

INT/EXTLOCATIONS D/N ARTIST PROPS

Mala, Muthu

Muthu, Mala

Muthu, Mala

Muthu, Mala

Mala

Muthu, House Owner

Muthu

Muthu,Thenmozhi

Muthu, MalaThenmozhi

Muthu, Mala

Muthu,Thenmozhi

broom stick, bucket & baby photo stuck on it.

WWWNewspapers, Old motor, few parts & tools, Lantern, Tiff-en Carrier, Banana Leaf.

Newspapers,Tiffin box, Lanternsmall diary, Green Baby shirt, Baby pic-tures, small toys..newspaper, Kasi thundu, Plastic Ko-dam, Scooter

(2B)Thenmozhi introduction. Muthu - Then-mozhi talks about doctor and treatment, (2F) Thenmozhi near mirror - notices a kid picture and adores it

Muthu leaves early next day- Thenmozhi again bring treatment topic-Muthu ignores

Muthu comes home - Thenmozhi sleeping

Muthu and Thenmozhi eats dinner-sleeping - cold relationship

House-Muthu packing snacks for Mala. Then-mozhi and Muthu argues about treatment.

Muthu having dinner at home. Thenmozhi gives Magalsutra to him and asks to do another mar-riage. They having argument

Muthu enterring house- Kitchen-Searches for money in different boxes. Finds a yellow bag in a box. Places all boxes back.

Muthu sits in darkeness inside the house-Then-mozhi switches on the light. She tells Muthu, that doctor asked her to bring Husband next time and there is a chance of them having a baby. Muthu wants to say something to Then-mozhi

Muthu and Thenmozhi lying on bed. Muthu is awake and worried..Someone knocks the door. Muthu gets up and opens the door.

Muthu comes back to bed. Thenmozhi enquires who was it. Muthu says it was the house owner and he wants to tell her something.

Thenmozhi in terrace - seeing a mother feeding her baby

Hospital - Muthu and Thenmozhi waiting in the row of chairs in the hospital

Muthu enters EB office. Wishes collegues- no-tices pandi in his khakhi uniform- talk with EB officer

(2B)3 , (2F) 4

11

11

4

19

23

29

30

32

32

4

33

5

Scene 2B,Scene 2F

Scene 9

Scene 8

Scene 3

Scene 17

Scene 21A

Scene 27B

Scene 28B

Scene 30A

Scene 30C

Scene 2E

Scene 31

Scene 5A

SCENE NO. PAGE NO. SCENE DESCRIPTION

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House-Indoor

House Terrace

Hospital-waiting area

EB office-Indoor

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

INT

EXT

INT

INT

DAY

DAY

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

NIGHT

DAY

DAY

DAY

INT/EXTLOCATIONS D/N ARTIST PROPS

Muthu,Thenmozhi

Muthu,Thenmozhi

Muthu, ThenmozhiMuthu, Thenmozhi

Muthu, Thenmozhi

Muthu

Muthu, Thenmozhi

Muthu, Thenmozhi

Muthu, Thenmozhi

Thenmozhi

Muthu, Thenmozhi

Muthu, Pandi, EB office

Muthu, Pandi

pillow and matmanja pai with cash

sewing machine, finshed baby dress, other finished blouse and bits, baby stickers, saami padam- [ other fillers ]

shaving kit, plastic comb, Mirror

food parcel, Dustbin, bed, table clock.packing snacks, poly

bag, tiffenbox, new baby shirt, manja pai.dinner set, mat, thali

washed clothes and bucket

office files etc, regis-ter book, Tea Biscuit. carton boxes, other EB storeroom ma-terials

Guidance from my guide

The structure is like a butterfly, too hard to grab and deconstruct at once. It needs to be en-joyed from a distance without an intention of grasping it, and I guess that is what is beautiful about life. Sometimes it is about living it to the fullest without trying too much and too hard to understand it. Comprehensibility is what is chal-lenging in this story. It is interesting to see how Sekar [Bank officer] is juxtaposed with Mala and Muthu is juxtaposed with his wife ... it is kind of you need Sekar and Thenmozhi to have an idea about Mala and Muthu respectively and basical-ly Thenmozhi and Sekar are kind of two wheels that keep the plot rolling and Muthu and Mala are kind of grinding in this plot ... kind of strug-gling against it ... or maybe just living through it ... Thenmozhi wants a baby and Sekar wants his money, simple and straight . But then we have Muthu and Mala who are kind of complex char-

acters and know that they can’t have what they might be secretly wishing for - a life together probably - or just a companion to share the life with ... I really don’t know ... and probably I don’t need to know …There are two factors that are playing well defined role ... the finance (Mala is to pay back to Sekari) and the family (Muthu is supposed to live his whole life with Thenmozhi and have a baby with her and get old with and all that) ...you can’t escape the debt in both the cases ... in the case of Mala she is tied up with the law and in the case of Muthu he is tied up with the tradition ... but I don’t think that Muthu doesn’t love Thenmozhi ... I guess he loves her and as we know things become mundane when people live through enough years of married life ... so probably Muthu doesn’t know or prob-ably can’t figure our what he is going through ... he is behaving in a very peculiar way in the

story, especially after arrival of Mala in his life (and in the story) ... and I think we as audience can’t figure out that “peculiarity” in Muthu’s be-havior ... we just keep wondering what is going on between Mala and Muthu … or if I rephrase it I wonder what is going on within Muthu be-cause we are seeing most of the time at this relationship (Mala Muthu) from Muthu’s point of view because I feel that (probably because I am a man and am able to relate to a male charac-ter much more easily) Muthu looks like a more transparent and open (porous is a better term) character as compared to Mala who seems to be little distant, too mature or probably she is too good an actor and is great in hiding her true feelings and this prevents us to have any access to her point of view on the relationship between Muthu and Mala and that is why I sometimes feel that this whole thing is one sid-

ed affair (from the side of Muthu) ... is that true? Is that what you have designed the relation like in this story? ... I don’t know what is Mala’s role in this story ... I can’t see her character’s softer side ... a side that more feminine ... and more human side ... a side that melts ... breaks down ... and longs for something that is too grand and too unachievable ... when is the moment when I see her connecting to herself with a lot of trans-parency ... even if it happens at a time when she is totally alone ... and isolated ... what does she want from Muthu? And how this “want” changes over the time ... I remember the dia-logue where towards the end of the film we see Muthu seeing a prospective wife in Mala (the dialogue ... my wife met an astrologer thing ...) and she gets “shocked!” I mean this a very much intense moment in their interaction throughout the story ... I think it is a very important turn

in the story as well as in the journey of Mala’s character ... what Mala does after this moment will decide who is she as a person (or the way you have designed her to be) ... Muthu is kind of dumb, nice, kindhearted, passive character who is always having a kind of self doubt when it comes to proposing a woman or getting his sperm count checked... (I may be wrong here about Muthu’s character but this is my very per-sonal opinion) ... and he is between two strong willed women ... Mala and Thenmozhi (the lover and the wife) ... what a scenario ... and his des-tiny is more or less shaped by what these two women do to him ... because to me Muthu is not a strong willed character ... he doesn’t seem to have enough courage in terms of holding his life tight in his hands ... which is absolutely alright for a character to do in a story ... as it happens in real life as well ...

In the story Muthu wants Mala to have her mill

and Mala wants Muthu and his wife to have their baby ... Muthu doesn’t care about their baby and gives the savings to Mala ... Mala (realizing that Muthu and his wife need baby and have been saving the money for the baby) returns the money and sacrifices her livelihood ... and then Muthu and Thenmozhi have their baby (the photograph) ... I mean Muthu is such a looser ... he has a baby he didn’t care about in the first place and gave the money to Mala (probably he was thinking that babies can be conceived anytime we want but a Flour Mill is saved only once) and I really don’t seem to be sympathiz-ing with Muthu ... on the other hand look at Mala ... the woman who is facing the financial crunch, wants to be loved and has the courage to han-dle her relationship with maturity and in the end sacrifices her livelihood for a couple to have a baby and thus saves Muthu from his inevita-ble doom ... I think Mala is the protagonist of the film ... because she reflects many sides of a

woman in our society ... a strong willed side and also a side that is maternal and nurturing... the woman who has gone out of the house and still has a side of her that is nurturing and feminine ... I think Mala and Thenmozhi are two aspects of ONE character ... the ONE is the woman and this is a story of the journey of that ONE woman ... in many avatars ... the woman who nurtures (the flour mill ... and she feeds Muthu on various occasions) and who creates (Thenmozhi who wants to have a baby) ... and these two men do nothing but try to snatch these two roles from the woman ... Sekar wants Mala’s flour mill to stop while Muthu in his self doubt is not help-ing Thenmozhi in any way to have her a child ... in the end the “mother” woman wins while the “woman” woman loses ... Mala disappears into the darkness ... with her wishes and her wants ... her desires and her needs ... leaving the nurtur-ing woman to create another life ... the child of Thenmozhi and Muthu … The scenes ... 1. Where

Muthu gives money to Mala and can be better with less dialogues (subtext should be given more emphasis) and 2. The dialogue between Muthu and Thenmozhi can be little more subtle in terms of mentioning about the money and jewellary ...

This is what I think about your script ... I just ex-pressed what are my thoughts on the story and the characters in the story ... I will be glad to hear your thoughts as well...

RegardsAjay

crowd funding

The prime thing to make film apart from a good

script is funds. Production determines the qual-

ity of the film. During NID projects we learnt to

work with limited budget and yet made good

films.

For Diploma I didnt wanted to make an big

budget film, but when I costed out the basic

budget it nearly touched down to Rs 70,000.

The savings which I had made was not enought

to make this project hence I needed support

from friends and family. This concept of crowd

funding was quite new to me. Never thought it

would work well. But when I researched there

were many films which ventured through a

similar method. This gave me confidence to go

ahead. I listed out my close friends who had

faith in me and my film and would be support-

ing me. I mailed them the presentation which

was made.

To my Surprise most of them replied to my mail.

They were very excited to support the project.

And those who couldn’t contribute supported

me with their wishes. I managed to get one

third of my total budget. Rest managed from

my savings and from our family.

budget

STAGEPRE PRODUCTION

TECHNICIANS

ACTORS

SHOOTING EQUIPMENTS

MISCELLANEOUS

Recce

Production Manager

Cinematographer

Sound Engineer

Asst. Director 1

Male Protagonist

Female Protagonist 1

Female Protagonist 2

Sub-Actors 4

Camera & Lens

Light & Accessories

Props

Location - Rice Mill Hire

Location - House Rent

Conveyance

Accommodation

5000

2,500

5,000

10,000

5,000

10,000

3,000

2,000

4,500

10,000

2,500

1,000

5,000

3,000

12,000

12,000

ITEM

GRAND TOTAL

COST (IN Rs.)

COST (IN Rs.) - 1,28,200

casting

Vijay.S.Aiyer - Muthu Bindhu Malini - Thenmozhi

Archana - Mala Murugan - Pandi [ wireman ]

Actors take huge responsibility to translate the script to make it look real. They act as the emo-tional connect to the audience. Compromising on them would make the film look fake.

I called out for actors by posting a POSTER FOR AUDITION and uploaded it on facebook. Also posted on pages which was made for ac-tors, theatre groups, short film. Surprisingly my mailbox was filled with their replies with some photographs.. Some were looking very close to the character which I had imagined. Some even showed interest to assist in the film. But the people who showed interest were in both the extremes. professionals or non - actors who just had some interest. Professionals were too good

but their fee and their expectation was quite high. I was worried whether this would make my budget to shoot to another level. I kept my options wide open, asked few friends and fam-ily members too. Facebook is sometimes very useful for casting. with help of my friend Sarava-nan saw his friends list and shortlisted few, and to our surprise they agreed to act. I was more comfortable with them than those profession-als. One thing was clear in my mind, a skilled actor with attitude is not required for this film but someone who bonds well with the director and crew is what I looking for. I was lucky to get Vijay, Bindhu and Archana who were as close as a good friends and it was easy to direct them.

Rajendran - Sekar [ Bank officer ] Kannan - Anbu [Mill worker]

script

SCENE 1:

EXT – Day [MORNING][Windows machine start up sound]Montage shots of Sunrise, Temples playing loud devotional songs, busy road etc. [Tenkasi is lo-cated near foothills of the western Ghats near Courtralam water falls.] There is power cut and the entire place remains silent.TITLE OF THE FILM “MUTHU MALA MILL”

Cuts to

SCENE 2A:EXT – DAY –MUTHU’S HOUSE[hammering plumbing noise, sewing machine]

Muthu[35] is standing on his house balcony looking outside. On the ground floor where his house owner resides there is some plumbing work happening.

HOUSE OWNEREnna paa Muthu. Pona current eppo tha varum

?

MUTHUInne la irunthu 8 – 10 manineram current iru-

kathu.

HOUSE OWNERNalla vela ippo tha tank thanni ethunen. Seri Bazar la Nalla vaazha Meen maatichu. Venu-

ma?

MUTHUInnaki ki samaipala nu therila. Na ketu sollren.

HOUSE OWNERNeriya vangiten, sikirom ketu sollu.

MUTHUSeri. Illa na meen Kozhambu vetchu konjam

kudunga.

HOUSE OWNERAppdiyeh ooti vidatuma? .. seri namba theruku mattumachu sikirom current varamathiri edha-

chu pannen.

MUTHUKandippa sollren.

SCENE 2B:INT

Muthu comes out of the bathroom. A towel on his shoulder,goes to the room where his wife Then-mozhi[29] stitching clothes in her sewing machine. The room has few babies and god posters. He stands in front of her till she notices him. She finally looks up and shows him a baby dress.

THENMOZHIIntha sattai eppadi iruku ?

Muthu nods his head.MUTHU

Kakoos le thanni varala.

THENMOZHIPoi motor ah podunga.

MUTHU12 mani ku tha current varum.

She looks at the fan.

THENMOZHIInnaki office pola ?

MUTHUHmmm ponum.

THENMOZHI Night velila saaptukonga. Na Navneethan

Doctor ah paaka poren.

MUTHUHmm seri.

Thenmozhi looks at him and he looks at her and stands there. She then continues to stitch again. Cuts –to

SCENE 2C:

Muthu walking up stairs carrying water in two plastic kodams[typical container used to carry & store water] and keeps is outside the toilet. He walks down the stairs with empty kodam.

MUTHUInno 2ndu kodam pudichikatuma?

HOUSE OWNERCurrent pogum nu ne tha sonne. Appo en mo-

tor ah podala? .. Seri poi pudichiko.

Muthu walks inside his house.

Cuts to

SCENE 2D:

Muthu dressed neatly for work dusts his scoot-er.

Cuts to

SCENE 2E:

EXT – DAY – MUTHU HOUSE TERRACEThenmozhi dries all the washed clothes in the terrace. She looks out and sees a mother feed-ing her baby and smiles.

SCENE 2F:

INT – DAY – MUTHU HOUSE

Thenmozhi looks herself in the mirror. She looks herself in the mirror and places a bindhi on her forehead. Then she notices a small baby picture in corner of the mirror and she pinches it.

SCENE 3:

INT – NIGHT – MUTHU’S HOUSE Muthu finishes eating from the parcel. He crush-es the paper and puts it the dustbin and washes his hand.Thenmozhi is sleeping on the bed leaving space for muthu. Muthu stands and look at her and goes and sits on the bed. The beds typical spring sound wakes her up and she shifts and bit leaving space for him and turns and sleeps the other way. She covers herself with a blanket.

SCENE 4A:

EXT – MORNING – OUTSIDE MUTHU’s HOUSEMuthu wipes his scooter with wet cloth. He then dips the cloth in a bucket next to him and wipes a old cycle which is parked and chained to the wall.

SCENE 4B:

EXT – MORNING – VILLAGE ROADSMuthu rides his scooter to his electricity board office. [beautiful morning landscape shots]

SCENE 5:

INT – DAY – EB OFFICEMuthu enters his office. He wishes his office colleagues and notices a young man standing in khaki dress. He raises his hand and wishes Muthu as he opens the register book and signs. He sees the EB officer having tea and biscuit.

MUTHUhmmm... kalailey tea ah? enga Ravi sir innum

varalaya ?

EB OFFICERAvar wife pregnant ah irukangala. Atha hospi-

tal poren nu permission potrukaru.

Muthu remains silent for a min. EB officer intro-duces the newly joined trainee Pandi to Muthu.

EB OFFICERMuthu sir. Ivan peru paandi. Pudusa trainee ah

senthirkan.

Muthu looks at him. Pandi gestures and wishes him.

EB OFFICERSeri intha Aairaperi mill la irunthu kalaila phone

mela Phone, Meter nethu pochan. Edho line prob-

lem.Namba lineman innum varala.

MUTHUYaaru namba beedi thatha mill ah ?

He thinks for a while. Eb officer takes a sip from his tea and nods his head.

MUTHUSeri. Ivana kootitu na poren.

SCENE 6A:

EXT – DAY – OUTSIDE EB OFFICEMuthu and Pandi walk outise the office are to the parking area talking about work.

MUTHUSontha oor ithana?

PANDIIlla sir. Palayamkottai. Itha oor vandhu 5 varsh-

am aadhu.

MUTHULineman Murugesh anne kooda tha ne ponum.

Ippo avarukku romba odambu mudiyala nu leave potrukaru.

Oor thiruvillah kulla ella line yu seri pannanum, complaint vantha register la ezhuthithu. Post line la illa edhachu company la prechana enna

koopdu. Na varen.

PANDISeringa sir.

MUTHUunnaku theriathathu illa oorla padhi veetla cur-

rent thriruduranga. Yosikama pudingi podu..

office la ketu ellaru phone number vaangi ko.Muthu and Pandi reach the vehicle parking

area.

MUTHUIdellam poga kalaila 9 thu maniku inga iruka-

num..

Muthu takes his scooter from the parking.

MUTHUCycle iruka ?

SCENE 6B

EXT-DAY – ROADExtreme Long shot - Muthu riding his scooter and Pandi following him on his cycle.

SCENE 7A

EXT-DAY-MALA’s MILLMuthu reaches the mill and parks his scooter. He stands outside and takes a look then he en-ters. He sees a teenage boy [Anbu] sweeping the mill floor.

MUTHUThambi na EB la irunthu vanthirken.?

ANBU[looks at him and continues to sweep]

Ivlo neram akka irunthu Ippo tha pochu. Seri ukkarunga na poi kootitu varen.

Muthu sits on a dirty old chair. Anbu leaves. Muthu looks around and he spots a poster

stuck on the wall which reads

POSTER[VO MUTHU]Karantuku kaneer anjali. “eh misaramey, Ne

yarudaya samsaram ? dhinasari 100 dhadavai oodugiraye. Ne enna oodugaliya ? Unakenna kattana uyarvamey. Unnai kandikirom. – M.

Samikannu - Nagara seyalalar, tenkasi.He smile and ses the electric meter board. He gets up and goes. Takes out a small Tester and checks the connection. Pandi parks his cycle

and he meets mala outside the mill.

Mala Innaki na ne unga office vanthirpen. Irukura konja nera current la machine ah oota

venama ?

Pandi just remains silent and looks at her.

MALAEnna ? . . .Seri ulla ponga.

SCENE 7B:

All three walk inside the mill. as they walk she talks. But she takes back by surprise when she meets Muthu.

ANBUAkka kalaile 2,3 peru innakum mill odatha ah

nu enna ketanga. Na onnu sollikala.

MALAEnnaku terila. Paapom… eh Muthu. Ne neenga

eppadi inga?.

Muthu just gives her a smile and nods his head.

MUTHUSumma unna paathu romba naal achu.. adhan...

MALAEppidi iruka.. paathu evlo varshom..

Pandi looks at both of them. Muthu gives him the tester

MUTHUPoi meter ah kalatu.

Pandi walks in to remove the meter. Muthu and Mala walk little away as they talk.

MUTHUHmmm ..ne eppadi iruka.?

MALAItho paakriye.. appdiyeh tha iruken.. .

MUTHU[smiles] aama. enna paaru..

Pandi interrupts their conversation.

PANDISir. Edho karuguna vada varuthu.

Muthu and Mala looks at him.

PANDI Meter suthama poichu.

Muthu and Mala take a look at the damaged meter. He then gives it back to pandi. Muthu then checks the condition of the left wires. He then gives a direct power connection to the mill. Pandi shakes the old meter and he hears some particles broken inside.

MUTHUPudhu meter tha podanum. Adhu vara 2ndu naal aagum. Ippo wire ah appadiyeh connec-

tion kuduthirken… Meter illamaley ootiko. Pona masam bill ah vetchu kanaku potupanga.

MALAEnaku Mill oduna seri.

MUTHUSeri ne meter ah office eduthutu po. Na varen.

Pandi leaves immediately with the old electric meter. They both sit on chair facing each other. Anbu runs and comes with two soft drinks bottle. He opens one and gives it to Muthu.

MUTHUEdhuku ippo idhellam.

MALAIrukattum. Veyil ku nalla irukum.

ANBUAntha anne illa?

MALAAvar poitaru. Ne idha kadala kuduthiru. ..hmm

seri ne kudichiko.

SCENE 7C:

Anbu smiles at her and leaves them alone. As he is about to leave the mill he stops looking at a man [SEKAR] wearing formals standing at the entrance. He signs and calls anbu closer. Muthu takes a sip and notices mala that she is looking away. Sekar sits on the bench outside and takes the soft drink from Anbu and he drinks it. Mala looks serious and she gets up from the chair and meets sekar.

SEKAREnnanga romba elachu poitenga.

Mala just remains silent and looks at him.

SEKARenna mudivu pannirukeenga?

Dubai ponavaru varuvaru innum namba soll-rengala?.

SEKARBank la Na evalovo solli paathuten. Inthanga.

Ithan kadasi notice. Solliten.

MALAInnu oru masam.

He changes his look from Mala to Muthu.

SEKARSir yaaru. Namba friend ah.

Mala just remains silent without answering.

SEKARSeri. Innum oru varam tha nu sollitu poga tha vandhen. Na varen. (He gives the bottle to

Anbu and leaves.)

MALANe yen kudikama appdiyeh vetchirka?

MUTHUYaar avaru ? bank officer ah ? edhuvum pre-

chanaya?MALA

Cha adellam onnum illa. Oru china velai baaki iruku. Ne kudi.

Mala makes a fake smile and he smiles at her too.

MALAMeter prachanaya seri pannita. Aana Paadhi

naal current illaye. En tha tha suriyana paathu time solluvaru. Ana ippo na current pathu na

time sollren.

MUTHUEnna pannrathu.. [he looks up] illa na unga tha

tha ta current kekalam.

MALA Ne innum konjam kooda marala. . Avar mat-

tum itha ketrukanum.

She looks at the his photograph kept in the mill.

MUTHUAvaru beedi konjam kammi pannarna. Innaki

irunthirparu.

He finishes his drink. Places the glass bottle on the floor.

MUTHUSeri Mala. Appo na kelambren. Innu konja ner-

athula current vandhudum.

MALA seri muthu santharom mudinja vandhu po. .

approm 7 mani varakum tha ootalam nu notice potrukanga, ne tha konjam paathu sollanum.

MUTHUHmmm seri. Ne ootiko. Yarum EB la vandhu

amatha sonna odeney amathidu.

MALAAan seri.

Muthu takes his scooter and leaves the mill .

SCENE 8:

INT-NIGHT-MUTHU’s HOUSE[clock ticks]Muthu sits next to his wife Thenmozhi while she is sleeping.

SCENE 9:INT-MORNING-MUTHU’s HOUSE[temple songs, sewing machine][montage long shots]Thenmozhi starts her day busy stitching in her sewing machine. Muthu gets up and sits for a while. Then there is a powercut. He shaves his beard and takes a shower. Thenmozhi cuts ve-gitables in the kitchen. She notices her husband getting ready fast. He combs his hair in front of the mirror.

THENMOZHIEnga kalaila ivlo sikirom kelambiteenga?

MUTHUVelaiku tha poren.

THENMOZHISikirom porenga nu sollalam la .. samachirpen.

MUTHUNight uh saaptukuren

THENMOZHISeri. Innaki Navneedhan ungalayum kooptaru. Edho test sonnaru. Sangalam konjam sikirom

vangalen..

He stops combing his hair and gets little an-noyed.

MUTHUEdhuku.. ? na aambala illanu avar certificate kudukrathuka? (He Finishes combing and

moves out.)

THENMOZHIappo ippadiye iruka sollrengala. Yen ungaluku

aasaiye illaya ? Muthu takes his bag and the scooter key and

leaves.

MUTHUna varen

She gets upset that he is not listening. But she remains silent. Muthu starts his scooter and leaves.

SCENE 10:

EXT- DAY – ROAD TO OFFICEFrom his usual route for work he stops and takes diversion and goes to Mala’s Mill. He gets quite disappointed to see the mill locked. SCENE 11:

INT-DAY-EB OFFICEMuthu sits alone and quite in the office. He looks at the ceiling fan which is still and he looks at the time. It shows 9am. [Dissolves] At 4pm Muthu and Pandi shift big carton boxes and few plastic bags containing electrical materials.

MUTHUMotham 20 box iruka paaru.

PANDI2..4..10..15..20..ah ella seri ah iruku ne.

Muthu makes a note in the register book, he then looks at the boxes, which are kept.

MUTHUAdhula onnu eduthu en table la vai.

SCENE 12:

EXT-DAY-ROAD[Temple songs]Long shot - Muthu rides his scooter. As soon the power comes back at 5pm the temple songs are on. He reaches Mala’s mill.

SCENE 13:INT-DUSK-MALA’s MILL[Machine noise]

The mill is filled with people and he is unable to locate Mala. With a box in hand he walks inside the mill. Mala and her workers are busy grinding wheat, rice and other grains. She sees Muthu and gives a smile. She then collects the flour to a plastic bucket and gives it one lady customer.

LADY CUSTOMERNalla nice ah arachingala ?

MALAIthukumela aracha kaathula poidum. She

smiles and looks at Muthu again.

LADY CUSTOMERSeri evlo aachu?

MALAPalasu ella sethu Rs 40

Mala takes the money from her and she moves to a corner of the mill with Muthu where there is less noise. She dusts her face and shoulders.

MALANethu saanthrom unna vara sonnen. Ne ippo

vara.

She looks at him. As he stand quite looking at her.

MALAEnna achu ?

MUTHUNethu oru velai la maatikiten. Athan vara mudi

la.. ella ozhunga oduthula ?

They both smile. Mala notices the box.

MALAOnnum prechana illa. Kai la enna ?

MUTHUSeri na meter innaki eduthutu vandhuten.

Maatirlama ?

The smile on Mala’s face slowly disappears.

ANBUAkka 100 rooba silra iruka ?

Mala walks with Anbu and she gives him the change. Mala notices Muthu taking out a new electric meter from the box. She quickly goes near him and holds his hand moves him to one corner again.

MALAIppo en avasarama meter kondu vantha?

MUTHUNe tha ney sikirom mata sonneh. Athan.

MALAIppo nalla tha oduthu. Ippdiyeh onnu rendu naal odatumey. Itho par Muthu pagal poora current illa. Ippo aracha tha undu. Na vidiy-ira vara arachatha konjam kooduthala paaka

mudiyum.

Muthu is completely silent and doesn’t know what to tell her.

MALAThiruvillah nerathula tha kojam kootam varum. Athan sollren Ne itha eduthutu po. Approm maatikalam Unna yaaru keka pora.

Muthu doesn’t know how to react but he re-mains silent and looks away. He notices a cus-tomer a young boy who stares at him. Muthu gets tensed

MUTHU[Stammers]

seri na velila nikkren ne va.

SCENE 14 :

EXT-LATE EVENING-OUTSIDE MALA’s MILLMuthu walks out of the mill and waits for mala to come. Mala comes out.

MALAEnna achu ?

MUTHUVelila ninnu pesalam. Seri ippo enna panrathu ?

MALA Athan sonneney. Ippo meter illama odatum.

Approm maatikalam.

The boy leaves the mill but has his eyes fixed on muthu.

MUTHUSeri evlo naal. Yen na reading edukura appo

prechana varalam.

MALANe tha irukiye. Edhachu pathu pannu.

MUTHUIlla adhu..

Mala hears noise of the machine as its belt falls off and motor fails to run. She quickly walks in-side the mill to check followed by Muthu.

SCENE 15A:

INT-LATE EVENING-MALA’s MILLAnbu and other workers tries figure out the problem. Mala enters the mill

MALADai enna da aachi ?

ANBUAkka motor avlo tha.. sutha maatenguthu.Mala sits down and examines the motor.

MALANethu oru madhiri satham ketappovey nen-

achen.

MUTHUYarathu mechanic kadala irundhu koopdriya?

ANBUAnne athuku Bazaar varakum poganum.

MALA Ayoo. Onnu irundha onnu iruka matenguthu.

En neramey seri illa.

She wipes her forehead with her saree and looks worried.

MUTHUUnkita spanner tools la irukutha? Na ennanu

paakren.

MALAUnaku edhuku seramam.

MUTHU Ennanu paaka tha poren.

MALASeri. Ana inga tools onnum illayeh.

MUTHUHmmmm……… Matha machine la velaya ootu.

Na poi tools eduthutu varen.

Mala looks very upset. They start the other ma-chines back.[mill machine noise]

SCENE 15B

Long shot of mill [timelapse – from evening to night]Or Muthu leaving in the scooter.

SCENE 16A

INT-NIGHT-MALA’s MILL[machine noise]Muthu sits on the floor with newspaper spread like a carpet repairs the motor. He carefully fixes every part back. While Mala opens a gunny bag and fills the working machine and she starts grinding it. She looks at Muthu.

MALA[talks loud]

Muthu enna achu? Innaki mudinjiruma?

MUTHU

Aaaan. Itho

As Muthu finishes assembling the motor, Anbu walks in with a big Tiffin bag gives it to mala. He leaves after that. Muthu fixes the belt to motor.

MUTHUMala ippo intha motor ah podu.

Mala turns off the other machine which she was using and she turn on this one. As it gets started she gets very excited and smiles. And the pow-er goes off. Mala goes and brings the lantern, which is already lit. she then brings it near him.

MALAMachine oduna current irukathu.. current irun-

tha machine odathu. Seri ukkaru.

MUTHUIlla na kelambren. Romba late aairichu.

MALAEnga pora? Unnaku saapdu vanthirichi. Va

saapdalam.

MUTHUIlla na veetuku. . . seri ne veetuku pola?

MALAVeladriya. Ivlo mootaya yaaru araipa. Current

10 mani ku varum la. Approm .

They both remain silent and look at each other Cuts-to

SCENE 16B:

Mala serves dinner for Muthu and they both sit and eat together.

MUTHUPodhum podhum. Raathiri na romba saapda

maten.

MALAYen veetla poi pondati kaiyala vera saapdanum

nu ara vayir ah gaali ah vetchirkiya ?

MUTHU

[smiles]. Seri Kolamba oothu. Seri neeyum appdiyeh saapda ukkaru.

SCENE 16C

Long shot of the mill.

SCENE 16D

Muthu and Mala sit and they finish eating.

MUTHUYen ella velayum neyeh seira. Innum rendu

pera velaiku vetchuka koodathu?

MALAthatha 6 mill vetchiruthar. Appo 30 peru vela senjanga. Avar ponathuku approm intha onnu tha micham… Kalyathuku approm itha oru mill

yu bank la vetchu avar dubai poitaru.

MUTHUEnna pannraru?

MALAEdtho export company la vela nu ponavru

tha...masathuku oru dhadava phone potaru. Ippo adhuvum illa. Enga enna pannraru nu theriyathu. Intha mill um kai vittu pochu na

romba kashtam aaidum.

MUTHUOh.

Muthu becomes silent and looks at her. He no-tices mala shoulder and her hair is covered with flour.

MALAEnna achu ?

MUTHUHmmm onnum illa. Pesama en velaya vitu-

tu inga velaiku senthirlama nu paakren .. [he smiles]

MALAAama Suthom. Sambalam kooda kudunga illa

Vitu poren nu irukanga. Ithula neeyuma?.

MUTHU

Hmmm Dhenom ippadi nalla saapadu irun-thaley podhum.. na vanthiren velaiku. Hahaha..

sambolam vena.

MALA Nalaikey va. Pechu marakoodathu.

Mala laughs at his joke. Muthu signals her to dust off her shoulder.

MALAIppo parava illa. Kalaila paaru.. mohini pei

madhiri irupen. Appo mill pakkam vanthu-ratha. Haha

Muthu smiles at her.

SCENE 17:

INT NIGHT MUTHU’s HOUSEMuthu is packing something in a newspaper in the kitchen. Thenmozhi enters.

THENMOZHINa anga ella eduthu vetchuten. Saapda vanga.

MUTHUNa velila saapten.

THENMOZHIEnna aachu. Kalailayum saapdala. Night uh

saapdren sonnenga ?

Muthu continues to pack and doesn’t really respond to her.

THENMOZHIsenthu saaptu evlo naal achu theriyuma?

MUTHUSeri nalaiku saapdalam.

Thenmozhi picks a tiffen box and opens it.

THENMOZHIMicha thuni le (she shows the small baby shirt

but Muthu ignores it) inga parunga.(Muthu glances at it for the sake of it)

MUTHUHmmm nalla iruku.

THENMOZHINamaku nu oru kolantha poranthuta evlo nalla

irukum.

THENMOZHI Ihthula evlo iruku nu kooda ennaku theriyathu.

Oru naal enni paakanum.

MUTHU Na unna kasu podum bothu kanaku ezhuthu

nu sonnenla.

THENMOZHIEppdiyum one arai irukum. Neenga seri nu

sonna nama polam.

MUTHU1 laksham 2 laksham la summa illa. Approm

Ennaku intha marundhu matharai la suthama nambikka illa.

THENMOZHIVera etha namba sollrenga. 10thu varsham

aachu.

They both look at each other and there is a odd silence.

MUTHUSeri kalaila pesalam.

SCENE 18A: EXT DAY ROADPandi plays song on his cell phone and climbs on a electric post and he cuts down all the extra wires which is attached. Muthu directs him from the ground.

MUTHUellathayum cut pannu.. antha pakkam 2ndu

iruku paar.

Pandi doesn’t pay attention and he continues his work in his own pace as he couldn’t hear muthu. He has a mobile phone in his pocket which always plays radio in loudspeaker.

MUTHU[shouts]

Dai pandii.. antha paata amathitu velai sei.

He continues his work. And slowly climbs down.

MUTHUDai. Paatu kekama unnala iruka mudiyatha?

PANDIAdhu illa ne. mela bore adikum la .. athan.

SCENE 18B:

Muthu and pandi knocks the door of a house. A lady opens the door.

MUTHUEn ma. Wire potu current ilukathennga ethu-na thadava sollrathu. Poora line un damage ai

kedakuthu.

LADYAyoo nanga podavey illa pa.

MUTHUAppo ithellam enna ? [ he shows the wires ]

LADYpayyan oorla irunthu vanthana. Computer ku padikiran. Athan velatuku edhachu potrupan.

MUTHUAppdiye paralogom poirvan. Ithan modalum kadaisi. Approm na paathen approm intha

veetuku current eh varathu.

LADYathan 10 mani neram amathi poturnenga.

Approm enna pa. sinnadha wire maatnathuku imbuttu satham podra.

MUTHUInnoru thadava maati paarunga.Dai vaada..

Muthu and Pandi leaves the place.

SCENE 19:

INT DAY EB OFFICEMuthu sits in his seat. As there is no electricity even the clock tick is loud. He looks at it. The clock shows the time 4pm.

SCENE 20:

EXT EVENING MALA’s MILLMala watches as workers shift gunny bags in-side the mill. Sekar comes in his bike and stops outside the mill.

SEKARenna mudivu pannirukenga.. ?

MALAAdutha masathulla irunthu thavanai seriya

ketiren.

SEKAR Eppadi. Unga veetukar vathuruvara ?

Muthu enters the mill and he parks his bike. Mala remains silent without answering. Sekar looks at muthu.

SEKARSeri santharom veetuku loan papers eduthutu vanga. Na oru yosana sollren. Unga nalladhu

ku tha.

Sekar leaves the mill. and Muthu walks towards her.

MALAEnna innaki sikiromey vela mudinjatha ?

MUTHUEnna aachu marupadiyum prechanaya.?

MALA Aama. Approm sollren.

Mala then instructs the workers.

MALA.eppa mootaya paathu adukunga. Sarinjirama.

Approm mottham ethuna nu enni sollidi.

WORKERSeri ka.

Mala talks to the worker and looks at him.

MUTHUSeri nanu appdiyeh oru mootaya thookava? ne tha velaiku sethukiren sonne..athan part-time

ah

MALAVeladatha muthu. Kai la enna?

MUTHUUnakutha…

She quickly takes the bag and looks inside.

MUTHUVeetla panna karuvadu, konjam vathalum iruku.

Approm konjam palam.

MALA.. ennaku karuvadu na romba pudikum. Pesama

innakum saapden inga.

MUTHU Haha. Ayoo innoru naal kandipppa.hmmm

nalaiku ?

MALAAppo ne innaki inga velai seiyalaya… ?

They both smile at each other.

MUTHUSeiyalam nu tha vanthirken. Eppo tha meter

maatalam?

The smile on her face fade off.

MALAEnna muthu ippadi ketuta. Ne tha pathela.

Bank kadan vera. Ennaku enna pannrathu nu therila.

MUTHUAvar enna tha sollitu poraru ?.

MALA Avana... Veetuku va yosana sollren nu

koopudran.

Muthu remains silent.

MALASeri ne romba yosikatha. Na pathukiren. Ne

meter ah badharama vetchuko.

MUTHUUnakaga tha intha risk eh.

Mala smiles at him.

SCENE 21A:

INT NIGHT MUTHU’s HOUSEMuthu eating dinner as his wife serves him. She places mangal-sutra in a small plate and gives it to him. Muthu stops eating and looks at her.

MUTHUEnnadhu ithu ?

THENMOZHIThali.Neenga pesama innoru kalyanam pan-

nikonga..

MUTHUUnnakenna paithiyama ? yaara ketu ippadi oru

mudivu edutha?

THENMOZHImaami kooda ponen oru josiyar sonnanga. Unga jathakathuku rendatharam ketna tha

kozhantha porakuma. Athan.

Muthu gets more serious.

MUTHUAdhuku ?

THENMOZHIEnna enna tha panna sollrenga? Na ella yosi-

chu tha sollren.

MUTHUSeri appdiya. Adha vetchutu po. Na innoru

kalyanam pannikiren.

He finishes eating his food. Mala drops the plate with mangal sutra angrily and gets up and goes. Muthu looks at her without answering .. Muthu after eating he goes to the kitchen and washes his plate. Thenmozhi looks at him and she is al-most in tears.

THENMOZHIUngalukku nejamavey en kooda iruka ishtam

ille la?

Muthu stops washing the plate. He looks at her. Leaves the water tap on.

MUTHU Athellam illa thenu. Ne romba yosikkatha.

Kalaila pesikalam. Poi thoongu.

THENMOZHIEppo pathalum intha orey badhil tha. Kalaile

pesalam kalaila pesalam. Oru naal ahchu pesu-reengala?

Muthu just remains silent and looks at her. She looks at him angrily and leaves the kitchen.

Cuts to

SCENE 21B:

He stands and looks at Thenmozhi sleeping. Then he goes and picks up his mat and pillow and sleeps away.

SCENE 22:

EXT DAY ROADMuthu riding his scooter.

SCENE 23:

INT EVENING MALA’s MILLMala sweeps her mill. As she finishes cleaning the mill, Muthu comes in with a bucket. She continues to wipe all the machines.

MALAVa muthu.

MUTHUVeetla arakanum nu kelabna, na tha vangitu

vanthen.

MALAAppdiye koodavey current aiyum kondu van-

thurkanum.

MUTHU5ju mani achula innumo varala?

MALANalla keta po. Unnakey current eppo varum nu

theriyatha.

Muthu leaves his bucket on the floor. Takes out his mobile phone and calls someone. He waits for the person to answer. Mala signals him and points the electric board where the bulb indica-tors are on. He cuts the call.

MUTHUPathiya na phone potavodaney current vand-

hiruchu.

MALAVevevea.

Mala laughs out loud. But notices that muthu is not so happy.

MALAEnna achu muthu. Oru madhiri iruka.

MUTHUOnnu illa. Seri itha arachu tha. Na Kelambren.

Mala goes and turns on the motor. Mala comes close to him and takes the bucket and opens

to see.She notices a photograph of baby stuck outside the bucket.

MALAAiii yaaru intha kutty papa….

MUTHUThenmozhi vetchirpa. Veedu muzhuka photo

tha.

MALAOh. . . seri inaki inkatha saapadu. Solliten.

MUTHUIlla na ...

Without listening to him. Mala moves away. She empties the bucket into the machine and leaves it on the floor. Muthu looks at the bucket.

SCENE 24:

EXT-DAY- OUTSIDE MILLMuthu sits alone with his scooter parked.

SCENE 25:

INT- NIGHT – MILLMuthu and Mala sit on newspaper spread on the floor. She places a lantern in between them and opens the Tiffin box. And she serves him the food.

MALAAaah karuvadu manamo manam. Saaptu pathu sollu. Na un veetukari ah vida nalla samachirke-

na nu?

Muthu gives her a smile. He then mixes the rice and curry and tastes.

MUTHUHmmmm……Neeya samacha. .. aaha.

MALAiipo sollu. Yaar samachadhu nalla iruku.?

MUTHUNa veetla samacha appo saapdavey illa..

MALAEn Saapdala ?.

MUTHUTherila. Ippadi tha poguthu. Romba varshama. Avalukku kozhanthai na romba pudikum. Aana

nanga adhuku kuduthu vekkala. Doctor ah paakalam nu sonna. Ennaku tha ishtam illa.

MALAAdhukunu ippadi rendu perum pesama iru-

peengala?

MUTHUEppdi sollrathu nu therila. Sanda kedayathu. Aana anbum kedayathu. Veetuku pogavey

pudikala.

MALAAnbu illa mala. Seri ne modhella saapdu.

Then they both eat quietly for a while. Mala takes some more rice for him.

MUTHUIlla podhum.

MALANalla saapdu.

MUTHUIlla podhum podhum..

MALAHmmm seri.

Muthu looks at her.

MUTHUUn kitta onnu sollanum.

MALASollu.

MUTHUNethu enaku thenmozhi ku sandai.

MALAYen enna achu.

MUTHUEdho josiyar sonnara. En jadhagathuku reda-vathu manaiviku tha kozhantha porakuma.

Athuku enna innoru kalyanam panna sonna.

MALAKobathula appdi sollirpanga. Ne pesu. Ella seri

aaidum.

Mala adjusts the lanters flame a bit.

MUTHUAana ava appdi sonna appo. Ennaku un gny-

abagam tha vandhuthu.

She is almost in a state of shock. They both look at each other. Entire place is silent. Mala wash her hand in the plate. Mala gets up and picks the plate and walks out of the mill to wash the plates.

SCENE 26:

EXT-NIGHT- OUTSIDE MILLAs she throws the water out from the plate, she notices Sekar standing there. She is shocked by his visit.

SEKARNalla saaptengala. Na appovey vanthiten. Sir un neengalum saaptutu iruntheenga. Athan

disturb panna venamey nu ingayeh.

Mala leaves the plate on the floor and goes near him.

MALASir. Na nalaiku ungala paathu pesalam nu irun-

then.

SEKARAyoo. Vendam ma. Na unga nallathukaga

pesnen. Sir ana [ points at muthu ] poi manag-er kita complaint pannitaru.

MALAEnna sollrenga ennaku purila...

SEKARAyoo na pesa varalenga. Bank oda final notice

inthanga.

He gives her a copy and sticks the other one on the door. Muthu comes near the door and looks at the notice.

SEKARInimey ithu bank oda sothu. Ungalukku vik-kavo, adamanom vekavo urima kedayathu…

adhutha varam ithu elathuku varum.

MALASir. Edho thappu nadanthirichi. [ she takes out money from her purse]. Sir inthanga. Itha ippo pudinga. na dheno vandhu kandippa katren.

SEKAREnnanga neenga. Na sollrathu puriyala? Ithu inimey bank oda sothu. Nalaiku ithey notice

paper la varum.

MALAsir neenga tha. Eppdiyachu

SEKARAppdi neenga kattanum nu virupapatta. Orey thavane la oru lakshathukum mela kattanum. Nalaiku bank manager vanthu paaruna. Sir ah

vena kooda kooti tu vanga.

Sekar takes his bike and leaves. Mala looks at him going and he looks at Muthu. She is

almost in tears.

Mala gets very upset she sits outside her mill. she looks very disappointed. Almost in tears..

MALAMuthu ne veetuku kelambu. Na konja neram

kalichi poikiren.

she tries to be bold and doesn’t look at muthu. He stands next to her worried. At last a tear-drop rolls down her cheek.

SCENE 27A:

EXT- NIGHT- ROADMuthu takes mala in her scooter.[montage shots]. They finally stop near his house. She gets down.

MUTHUNe ingaye nillu. Athan en veedu. Na mela poitu

varen.

MALAHmmm.

Muthu goes and parks near his house. He climbs stairs to his house and finds it locked. He lifts a small flower pot and takes the key.

SCENE 27B:

He opens the door. Goes to the kitchen. He opens all the boxes which she had kept in the loft. He takes out a yellow cloth bag. Takes out and checks the money. He then opens anoth-er box takes a smaller bag puts it together. He then leaves those empty boxes back in place.

SCENE 27C:

He locks his house. Leaves the keys under the flowerpot. He runs down the stairs and reach-es to the street corner where Mala is waiting. Muthu hands over the bag to her.

MUTHUIthula evlo iruku nu theriyathu..ne enniko.. idha

modhal panama kudu.

She directly looks into his eyes and asks

MALANe yen idhellam enakaga seira ?

Muthu remains silent for second

MUTHUNa unaku kadan ah tha kudukren. Ne medhuva

thirupi kudu.

MALAEnnaku vendam. Enna suthi evlo kadan. Un kittayum na kadan kaariya aaga virumbala.

MUTHUAyooo, ne romba yosikira. Mill illama ne enna

pannuva. Modhella po

She takes the bag from him and walks.

MUTHUNa vandhu vidatuma?

MALA Vena na poikiren.

She walks alone in the dark road holding the bag tight.

SCENE 28A:

INT NIGHT MUTHU’s HOUSE Thenmozhi climbs the stairs and she enters the house.

SCENE 28B:Muthu sits alone in his house in the dark. Looks worried. Thenmozhi turns on the light. She is shocked to see his husband sitting like that.

THENMOZHIEn light kooda podama ukkathirkeenga?

MUTHUAhh adhu current vandhatha kavanikkala.

THENMOZHIEnna achu. Oru madhiri irukeenga. Saapdala?

MUTHUHmm illa saapten. Ne ?

She keeps the medical report file and her bag on the table.

THENMOZHIHaan. Akka oda hospital ponen. Namaku kan-dippa kozhantha poraka vaipu iruku nu son-

nanga. Aana. . .

MUTHU[looks at her]

THENMOZHINeenga ithuku samadhichi en kooda varanum.

THENMOZHIDoctor ketanga. En romba naal thalli podrenga

edhachu Panam prechanaya. Na sonnen illa enga veetukar gunam tha prechanai nu. Unga

kita pesanum nu sonnanga.

Muthu still remains silent. He then gets up from the chair and drinks some water.

THENMOZHIApprom orey varshathula intha veedeh maara-poguthu. Namba veetla oru kutty papa irukum.

Nenachaley

Muthu looks very hserious looking at him Then-mozhi is worried.

THENMOZHIEnna achu. Onnu pesa maatrenga.

MUTHUUn kitta onnu sollanum.

THENMOZHIAh sollunga.

Cuts to

SCENE 29A:

INT-NIGHT-MALA MILLMala stands outside the mill holding the bag. She looks at the mill name board.. Then she en-ters.

SCENE 29B:

She sits inside the mill alone. It’s a quite night. She opens the bag and she finds small small covers with money. And a book wrapped with a green baby shirt. She carefully opens that. She looks at the shirt and then opens the diary. She finds few photographs of baby stuck to it. And she finds some writings.

THENMOZHI [VO]Amudha. Illa Amudhan. Adhan un peru. Unna paakrathukaaga na 10thu varsham kaathirken. Innum ne eppa en kai la varuvey nu theriyathu. Oorey enna maladi solldhu. Aana vasala antha pichakaran AMMA nu koopidum podhu Enna-kulla oru sandhosham.oru nambikkaiUn appaku un mela romba ishtam. Aana ne innu varala nu konjam kobam Maranju velandathu podhum. Unna sikirom paakanum. Sikirom oodi va amma kitta. En chella amudhavey.

Mala closes the book… She almost gets in tears.

SCENE 30A:

INT MID NIGHT – MUTHU’s HOUSEMuthu and Thenmozhi sleeping in the bed. Muthu eyes are wide open .. he looks worried. He turns and looks at his wife. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. Muthu gets scared. Then after few seconds there is an another knock. Thenmozhi opens her eyes.

THENMOZHIYaaru intha nerathula.

MUTHUNe padu. Na poi paathukiren.

Muthu slowly gets down from the bed and opens the door.

SCENE 30B:He finds no one out there. He then looks down and sees the bag which he gave mala. He looks out and sees Mala walking in the road without looking back. He raises his hand and almost about to call her. But he doesn’t. Muthu con-tinues to look at her. But she doesn’t turn back.

She fades in to the darkness.

SCENE 30C:He then enters the bedroom and sits on the bed. [spring sound]

THENMOZHIYaaru innerathula ?

MUTHUAah kil veetukaru... ara current tha varuthu

sonnaru. athan

THENMOZHIOh seri. Padunga.

Muthu is still in state of shock. He drinks water and sleeps next to thenmozhi. He thinks for a while.

MUTHUThennu un kiita onnu sollanum.

THENMOZHIHmm sollunga.

Cut to

SCENE 31:

INT – DAY – HOSPITAL Muthu and Thenmozhi walk in frame and sit in the waiting area to meet Doctor.

end credits

Editing is the only time I think I could watch my entire script in one go. I could look

at it as a wholesome piece. I worked with instinct at the edit instead of constantly

referring to the script. The pacing was derived entirely out of the mood of the

outcome of the scenes that were shot. The decision to do sync-sound highly

added to the realistic flavour of the film. The clean studio sounds could be avoided.

credits

castVijay S Aiyer ...MuthuBindhu MaliniA ….ThenmozhiArchana …..MalaMurugan ….. WiremanKannan ….. Mill assistant boyRajendran….. Bank OfficerShajakhan ….. EB officer 1Muthukumar …...EB officer 2Isaki Muthu …... EB officer 3

produced byMohamed Farooq

co-produced bySanthana Krishnan

story, screenplay, &dialoguesMohamed Farooq

assistant directorAnoop SatyanHari Prasad

cinematographerdeepak bhagavath

production designkamarudeen

production assistanthari prasad

editing & sound designmohamed farooq

location sound recordistjamie d silva

location courtesyMs Zeenath Zulaika and Hameeda, - Muthu’s House - Minnagar, Tenkasi.

Mr.M. Shajakhan, Tenkasi - EB Office, BSNL office, Ten-kasi.

Mr. Shanmugamsundaram, Mill owner, Kasimajorpuram.

special thanksAnoodha KunnathAnoop SathyanA R SathishRam BrijeshDivya ChandrasekarArun RagunathanZeenatha ZulaikaHameedaManiyarasanBoopathy SrinivasanDeepikaJothi

SandhyaSwagathaPrabhuSendhilSudhakarRahimAnis FathimaSadiq ManzoorYasminAbdul Ali

My Batchmates My ClassmatesMy Friends&My Parents

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“Mudhal Mariyadhai” -Directed by P. Bharathiraja

“Sindhu Bhairavi” - Directed by K. Balachander

FILMOGRAPHY

My dream was to make a film which will be a mirror reflecting the real life on screen.I took all efforts to achieve this in the script level itself. The simpler it looks the tougher it is to make. Such films make people fail to notice the cinematic elements like camera angles, acting, music, editing etc. The most difficult part is to not make these elements stand out individually but give them ample time during the execution.Its only possible with a good actor and the director who shapes and moulds the person according to the story. This cannot happen overnight. One needs to spend lot of time with the actors, rehearse and extract desirable performances. My dream was make one such film and happy that I have made an attempt. Money is a huge concern. It plays a big role. Compromises eventually cut down lot of

quality, but I have learnt that one should never take these as limitations but work the constraints into value addition. Its not only one person’s dream. When each crew member takes some ownership and responsibility then this big dream of making a film close to reality is possible.