(...Continued...)
Heavy rain, Vilas' house, it's eight o'clock at night.
A half-empty bottle of alcohol and a half-filled glass are on the tea table... The house is in disarray... Behind the glass cupboard, there are many books... He is talking to Sayali on an antique stylish landline phone. It seems they are talking for a long time.
Sayali says, "You know how good a poet, and author you were in college? I liked your stories and all your creations."
Vilas is upset, he is 'under the wine', "I know, but you elope with Nilesh. 'We left, even our shadows didn't stay with us...'"
Sayali replies, "Yep, you thirsty Majnu ... every year..."
She takes a long pause.
"You start with this poetry, but to be honest, I like it."
Vilas drinks intermittently and becomes judicious, "Are your kids around?..."
"No."
"Good. Tell me..."
Sayali, "Because you were stingy. Nilesh used to spend so much on me."
Vilas, "You were my first and the last hope. This desire will last until my last breath. I was in deep love with you. I remember those college days..."
Vilas and Sayali both are in the flashback.
The 90s decade...
A poetry competition in the college, and young Vilas is presenting a ghazal. Sayali is sitting in the front row, lost in his poetry.
"When I stepped out of her street, it started to rain."
"Drop by drop, moment by moment, memories started pouring."
"In every single drop, several nights were contained."
"The unexpected rains that used to come and go."
"Time is erasing the lines of my hand."
"I'm searching for a few drops of dew."
"I had hidden the drops somewhere here."
wonder where they went, melting into the sky."
Vilas's voice was getting lower as Nilesh entered the gathering and took Sayali away.
Vilas's eyes filled with tears.
....
Sayali, in a playful mood,
"Yes, and sir, when did you say it? Remember.. you dropped me on your bike in court.. for the wedding.."
She is serious, and with a heavy heart, " How quaint are you!"
There's a lightning bolt in the sky...
The clouds thunder.
"..and on top of that, you recited a couplet, 'If thy remember the promise to meet when thy had already prepared wedding gown.. applied henna on thy feet'...
Tell me, what could be my worst condition? My father was hunting for me with five hundred private army men.. he had put Nilesh's father behind the bar.. He would have either killed me or Nilesh at any moment...
I remember a few moments when I was ten, twelve years old?"
Ten-year-old Sayali and twelve-year-old Nilesh are in different situations,
- Nilesh is on a fishing boat with his father, they are putting fish on the dock. Sayali and her mother have come to buy fish. Nilesh quietly hands Sayali a big bag of fish. She laughs, but Nilesh's father scolds him with his eyes.
- Nilesh is climbing a mango tree in a mango orchard and throwing raw mangoes down to the ground where Sayali is standing. A gardener comes and catches Nilesh while Sayali runs away. Nilesh gets a sprained knee. The gardener holds Nilesh.
- Sayali is sitting in a small boat by the seashore, with half the boat in the water and half on land. In the shade of the boat, Sayali is applying turmeric paste on Nilesh's knee.
- Nilesh and his parents are standing in their courtyard, facing Sayali and her parents who are surrounded by the villagers. There is a heated argument going on and a fight breaks out. Everyone has sticks and clubs in their hands. The police jeep arrives.
- Sayali and her parents are leaving in a car, carrying household items loaded in three or four-tempo vans. Nilesh is watching them from a secret place, trying to follow them. Nilesh's father scolds him with his eyes.
- Nilesh's mother puts beetle leaves in such a way that it feels like a blessing.
- In Mumbai's junior college, there is a kabaddi competition, and Nilesh's school has won the cup. He is the captain, and he watches Sayali from afar. During the cup-winning ceremony, they both want to meet but are separated by the crowd. They only communicate through gestures. Vilas is standing a little far away, watching.
- At the college gathering, Vilas is performing ghazal.. in his signature style, and Sayali is lost in the ghazal. Nilesh comes in between and takes her away before the ghazal ends. Vilas is watching with wet eyes.
- Sayali 's father has gathered fifty people around, showing them Nilesh's photo. They are all holding hockey sticks, stamps, and swords.
- Year 1996, Michael Jackson performed for the first time in India, in Mumbai. The crowd is massive, and the Shiv Sena political party's saffron flags are hanging on every electricity pole.
Young Raj Thackeray, Balasaheb Thackeray's nephew, has put up self-hoardings all over Mumbai. There is a crowd dancing with drums, dhol in Bandra. The pandal is overcrowded.
The public is ecstatic to hear Michael Jackson's voice live. Tickets for the show were sold out for two lakh rupees in the black market, while normal tickets cost as much as a manager's monthly salary, four thousand Rs.
The massive loudspeakers, screens, and lighting were a spectacle that Mumbaikars had never seen before. Fireworks lit up the sky as Jackson made his entry in his glittering astral suit... Thousands of youngsters screamed as the sound waves inundated them for ten minutes.
Amidst the loud noise, Nilesh, Vilas, and their friends were rushing to get into the program... Massive traffic jam.
- Meanwhile, there was a terrible brawl between Sayali 's father's goons and Nilesh, Vilas, and their friends on the street... The brawl continued among the public in the pandal...
On the stage, Michael Jackson was singing "Billie Jean" and dancing feverishly... The girls had gone crazy... Nilesh beat up the goons and came to the stage,.. the fighting on stage... Chaos ensued. .. young Raj Thackeray, came on stage to calm the crowd and inform them. Michael Jackson hides behind the massive loudspeaker, afraid. The police arrived and the situation escalated even more..
-- Nilesh, who is injured, is with friends near the marriage registration office.
-- Sayali is sitting on Vilas's bike... She is scared and holding onto him tightly. She has put on as much maximum gold as possible.
-- Sayali's father and some other goons are following Vilas and Sayali on their bike... One of the goons throws a stick from behind, which hits Sayali and she screams.
-- Sayali's father fights on the face of the goon, who falls, and the jeep overturns when it goes over him.
- Nilesh and his friends are waiting for Sayali... asks him, "Hey Nilesh, did that bastard Vilas elope with your fiancée?"
Nilesh, in pain, cries out, "What are you saying, man? He's my best friend."
Another friend, Deepak says, "Best friends often screws your lady."
Nilesh feels disturbed by these thoughts but still manages to say, "Are you guys here to help me or to give me more stress, you motherfuckers?"
-- Another car with goons is chasing Sayali and Vilas' bike, Sayali's father is sitting in it. The chase continues.
-- Vilas takes Sayali ahead on the speedy bike, Sayali is sitting in front of him, and she is stuck to him. Death is chasing, but still, Vilas feels calm and peaceful with Sayali's close tight hug. He is enjoying it. Sayali is very scared.
-- Sayali's father sees this closeness and in anger, he throws a big knife.
-- The thrown knife plucks into Vilas' back.
-- Andheri overhead train bridge ahead is under construction.. workers are working on it, and Vilas runs his bike on it.
-- The goons' car stops just below the bridge. They are unable to believe that Vilas has taken the bike on the bridge. Sayali's father believes that they will die now.
--At the same moment, the Rajdhani Express train is passing by on the track .. and above it, Vilas throws his bike in the air.. it's a fierce ride of Sayali and Vilas.. There are explosions in the high voltage wires of the train...
-- On the other side of the bridge, there is a railway yard with illegal shanties... Lawless alcohol factories are operating in slum areas.. the liquor is stocked in many boxes and bags. Bike land from the air on it causing chaos among the workers.
-- Sayali is getting off near the marriage register office. Vilas is rambling on, 'If thy remember the promise to meet when they had already prepared wedding gown.. applied henna on thy feet'
Sayali hugs Nilesh.
- Vilas gets startled by a knife on his back... The darkness for Vilas..
The sequence of memories ends.
The fuddle Vilas drinks more, "I never dared to open my heart to you.."
Sayali says "Let me tell you the truth, Vilas, you are a Gem of a person. I never want to lose you..." with sadness.. "it was my fate to get married to Nilesh...."
"When everyone had broken off relations with me, you were the only support I had... whenever I had fought with Nilesh, I cried on your shoulders for hours.
I have a lot of respect for you in my heart...
I know you have no lust for me.. your touch is also pure. ..I feel safe with you. I don't know why, but there is some past life connection between us." Pause..
"For Nilesh, I have given my entire life, but perhaps I can die for you... I don't know why?"
Tears rush down Vilas' cheeks as he hugs the old college group photo, tightly. He hangs up the phone and begins to sob uncontrollably.
The thunder rumbles outside as the rain begins to pour.
The bell rings, and Sayali opens the door... Sushmita enters the house, wet and scared... Holding a gift packet in her hand... Sayali looks at the packet and remains silent.
Sushmita takes a deep breath and asks, "Did Vilas's uncle call?"
Sayali asks "Yep, why?"
Sushmita responds, "No.. nothing...if it is only crying and fussing on the phone.. then only you don't scold me.. even after late.. I know.."
Sayali changes the subject and asks, "Did you bring a gift for 'D'?"
She takes out the gift and is happy to see the dress.
"This might be very expensive.. who gave it?"
Sushmita replied, "Someone who supports me like Vilas uncle..."
Sayali didn't understand how to react. Should she scold the child and yell in her frustration?
(...What happened next?...)