Mumbai Knight - A Short Script

Fade In

EXT. WESTERN EXPRESS HIGHWAY – NIGHT
It’s past midnight. There’s a slight drizzle falling. We are on the stretch between Kalanagar Junction and T Junction. Cars are zooming towards the southern part of the city. A silhouette of a young man as he walks hurriedly in the same direction to reach home, a bag slung over his shoulder. There are cars too going in the opposite direction.

A car looses control. Bang! It knocks into the silhouette. A shrill scream fills the air. Out of the blue a few people appear running on the scene and look in the direction of the sound.

MAN #1
Lagta hai accident hua.

MAN #2
Are woh waha pada hai.

4-5 people, young and old run towards a body now lying on the side of the road in a shaded spot away from the glares of the street lamp.

MAN #1
Marr gaya kya?

MAN #2
Nahi ab bhi jaan hai.

MAN #1
Zyada umar nahi lagti uski.

MAN #3
Chalo police ko khabar karte hai.

BOY (OS)
Ha jaldi police ko khabar karte hai.
Woh use aspatal lekar jayegi…

Man #1 turns around to face us. A close up of his face.

MAN #1
Are jaane de bhai. Kaye ko police ke
lafde mein padta hai. Woh car wala
bhi bhaag gaya. Apun bhi nikal lete
hai nahi toh lene ke dene pad jayege.

The 4-5 men all walk away in different directions leaving a young BOY hardly 14 or 15, looking at their retreating back in surprise.

BOY
Ajib log hai. Insaaniyat naam ki cheez
nahin. (loudly) Police nahi toh kam se
kam ise aspatal toh lekar chalte hai.

The men just turn around to look back as they continue walking. The Boy looks at them and then looks down. He then looks up as the headlight of a car falls on him. His POV:

A car is coming down the road at a speed.

The boy runs in its path, flailing his hands in the air to stop the car.

BOY (yelling)
Rukko rukko. Meri madat karo. Yahan
accident hua hai.

The car zips past the boy. He looks at it and then turns around to see another car. He waves out again.

BOY
Please saab rukko. Yahan accident hua hai.
Please saab ruko warna yeh mar jayega.

The car doesn’t stop. The boy turns to look back at the victim which is more of a silhouette lying on a road. Its body is twitching.

BOY (whispers)
Nahin. Marna nahi. Main gaadi rokta
hu. Please marna nahi…

The boy sees another car and runs towards it waving out his hand. The car zooms past. The boy looks at it in disgust. The car has passed the victim and then the sounds of the screeching of the breaks as it comes to a stop. The car reverses. A smile appears on the face of the boy as he walks and then runs towards the car.

DRIVER (VO)
Lagta hai accident hua hai.

WOMAN (VO)
Chalo na darling, mujhse dekha
nahin jaa raha.

DRIVER (VO)
Ek minute na. Lagta hai zinda hai…

WOMAN (VO)
Off fo. Sara nasha uttar diya. Ab
chalte ho ya tumhe raat akele bitani
hai?

A woman’s head peeps out from the window of the car and looks back at the Boy running towards the car. A car is coming down the road behind the Boy.

WOMAN
Chalo jaldi karo warna hum par yeh
accident ka ilzam padega.

The boy is about to reach the car when it zooms away.

BOY (shouts)
Oh saab thero. Main aapki madat karta
hu ise aspatal leke jaane… Oh thero
saab…

The boy sits down dejectedly on the pavement under the street lamp.

BOY
Mumbai bhi ajib shaher hai. Koii kisi
ki parwah nahi karta. Bus bade haadse
hote hai toh aa padte hai maddat karne
ko. Bumb blast ho ya baarish ka kehar ho…
(pause) Pur (indicating in the direction
of the body) aise haadse mein koii kisiko
madat nahin karta. Kyon?

The Boy watches the cars zoom past. Nobody bothers to stop. One or two does slow down and the Boy’s eyes shine with apprehension but soon fades as the cars keep moving.

BOY
Hey bhagwan please marne mut dena.
Ghar par log intezar karte hoge…

The cars are now less on the highway. The boy with a dejected look on his face shudders a bit. He looks back where the body of the victim is lying. He painfully gets up and walks towards it with heavy steps.

BOY (tearfully)
Kuch der aur intezar karte hai. Subah ho
jayegi. Koii na koii madat karega…

The victim still shaded in darkness gives one big shudder and then twitches a bit.
The boy looks down at it tearfully and then around him with dying hope. He gives a loud scream……

BOY
Koii madat karo iskiiiiii

The boy’s breath is now coming with breaks in between. Behind him a car slowly approaches and in the headlight we pan down to see the face of the victim momentarily lit in the headlight. He looks same as the boy with identical clothes. The boy with one long breath slowly collapses next to the victim. He then crawls with difficulty to lie on top of the victim’s body. We see the two bodies merge into one. The victim gives one big shudder and then is still. We realize that the Boy was the spirit of the victim.

The first rays of the morning sun sets on the victim as a hand pulls a white sheet to cover its face. Lot of legs of people are visible standing around the body. We pan to see the lower portion of a police van parked nearby. A few pairs of khaki trouser wearing people are walking around.

Fade out.