JOY

A 53-year-old farmer turned businessman who lives in the hill

town of Kumily in central Kerala. He is one of the many
tourism business owners in the region. He left farming for
starting a homestay and a farm-visit, seeing easier money
flowing in the developing tourist destination. He is married
to Suja and has two children with her, who are both working
in two different cities.

SUJA

She is 52 years old. She runs the business along with her
husband and also has started taking an active part in
community activities like Self-Help Groups for women.

KAPYARACHEN

A 65-year-old farmer, who is also the sextant at a local

church. He is migrated to and settled in Kumily along with
his parents as a child. He lives with his wife and their
eldest son and his family.

KRISHNAMMA

Krishnamma is 61 years old. She migrated to Kumily from

Tamilnadu along with her husband. She now works as a sweeper
for the village administration. The lockdown has forced her
daughter who was working in Tamilnadu to come back to Kumily
and her husband too has stopped working. Now, with the
pending loan repayments and risen family expenses, she had to
take up two extra jobs, one, going for sorting cardamom at a
cardamom dealer and the other to get partly involved with
selling dosa batter at shops with her neighbourhood Self-Help
Group.

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 2.

INT. SUJA'S HOME NIGHT

VO of TV in the background.

Two plates of rice, one in the foreground and other in back;

Foreground one gets taken away.

A vessel of water on the stove. Suja takes a glass of water

out and checks the temperature, pours a little back, leaves;
Vessel and an empty glass remain on the stove.

TV channels change in the VO.

Vessels lying in the washtub.

Kitchen; Suja takes a sweet out of a [jacket and arranges it

in a plate. She takes another plate and starts serving rice
in it for her.

A glass of water, a plate of rice, and bowls of curries on

the table; Joy is sitting in front of it but facing TV
changing channels, his head not visible.

JOY
korach upp ingu eduthe Suje

//get some salt while you come

Suja crosses in the foreground with her plate.

SUJA
aa 2 on vechenne

//please turn on the channel 2

Joy changes channel back and keep the remote down and adjust
himself in the chair to start eating.

(loud cry from outside)

Wide of both of them pause to listen to figure out what the

cry was. There are more sounds of people rushing and calling.

JOY
Enthaann nokike suje

// check what it is Suja

Suja gets up, keeps her plate and moves towards the door; The
calling bell rings and also bangs on the door. Joy rushes to
and gets out of the door. There is a woman standing outside,

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 3.

panting from running.

WOMAN A
Joyiye dhe Raju avde veettil veenu
kedakkunnu, Attack aanenn thonnunnu.
odi va.

//Raju is lying unconscious there, I

think he had a heart attack

She turns back and runs back out; Joy starts to run.

(PAUSES FOR A MOMENT)

JOY
Aa torchingeduthe

//get the torch

He gets back inside, gets the torch from Suja and runs out;
Suja stares out of the door; Torch going towards a house,
many torches going towards the same house.

PASSERBY WOMAN
sujechi, enthannario

hey, do you know what happened

SUJA
Ariyilledi, Rajunu attack aanenn
thonnunnu.

don't know, seems Raju had a heart

attack

Suja gets back in, goes in for a moment and returns to the
door and reaches for the key from inside the door, gets out
and closes the door.

Lights in a hill town from far.

EXT. KAPYARACHEN'S HOUSE DAY

Kapyarachen is sitting on a chair in front of his house,

facing the camera.

KAPYARACHEN
The single most significant experience
during corona was of Raju's death. It

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 4.

was on first of chingam(month) that it

happened. He used to be drunk all the
days and all and he picked up issues
with many and fought almost regularly
with his wife. That day we heard them
calling and we, me and my son ran
there and he was lying there.

He points in the direction

We thought at first that he had had

chest pain or so and my son checked
his pulse and all. He had gotten
inside the bathroom had not come back
out. When they pushed in, he was
standing leaning towards the bathroom
wall and had this black string
strangling his neck. they, scared had
cut it off. We rushed him to the
hospital, but then they said he was
already dead.

Children play about in the background, they peep at the

camera.

Cutaway: the goats in the yard, and other animals.

It's then that this news reporter guy

who lives nearby told us that he had
corona. He had restarted some
revamping at his homestay a few days
before and we thought he was holding
up well. Anyways with that, 20
families around here including us had
to go into quarantine. My son was
working in a resort and had been
called in for work after so long on
that day and then he couldn't go.
After the quarantine also we were
keeping pretty much in.

His wife distributes coffee and goes back inside.

I have started going to the church now

and my wife goes to kudumbasree for
some time now. We can't keep not doing
anything.

One child wanders on one side of the frame with a few guavas
turns quick and run back as the other one chases

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 5.

one woman brings a half-sack of cardamom on one corner of the

frame.

Some loans are there also, from the

bank and from kudumbasree, but it
would get better once the resorts
reopen and my son can go to work
again. Things would hopefully get
better in a few weeks more. Anyways we
all got to spend some time together at
home and play cards and all due to the
quarantine.

A view from his house to the road. Him tending to the

animals.

EXT. EARLY MORNING

Hill road at night. Vehicles coming up the windy road.

Montage at the check post; people arriving at check-post,

lights of vehicles piercing the dark. Labourers coming for
work sit about the check post; they drink chai; they do they
covid protocol process for crossing border; we look at women
and men in groups. A Man brings chai to a woman.

Kapyarachen walking near the check post early morning. Him

opening up the church.

Closer look of people dispersing from the check post.

Suja washing rice early morning.

A person going with milk can; small stream; wind on leaves;

wind on the grass.

INT. SUJA'S HOME EARLY MORN

Dark hall room with bare light from outside.

JOY
Sujee!!

Suja enters the room with the candle. The room has a framed
landscape picture, trophies, plastic flower vase. Joy starts
reciting a prayer as Suja rushes to call the son up and rush
back to get a cloth to cover her head for prayer; She joins
recital; Joy's book has flickering light on it. He snatches
the candle from her and keeps on a table/platform/shelf; The
book and their faces are dark now; Suja stops reciting.

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 6.

INT. SUJA'S HOME EARLY MORN

(Grinder sound is running)

Joy stands still staring out of the window, hands ties at

back. He goes out and comes back in and comes back inside
with a newspaper in hand. He starts looking at the paper,
then folds it and turns on the TV.

Suja rushes in.

SUJA
Enne vilicho

//Did you call me?

Joy turns once and ignores her.

SUJA
Eh! Enthina viliche cha.

//Huh! Why did you call me?

JOY
Njanengum vilichilla.

//I did not call anyone.

News on TV continues. Grinder turns on again.

Joy gets irritated with the sound. He increases the volume of

the TV. (Close of face and remote)

JOY
Sujee

He changes the channel.

EXT. MORNING

Krishnamma is sweeping the streets.

People are walking to cardamom and tea plantations. tea

pickers. Plantation hills.

INT. SUJA'S HOME MORN

Suja grinds and pours batter in a large vessel; She pours

batter into packets. Grinder starts. Suja throws a stone at
birds, picks fruit and goes inside the house with a bunch of
spinach leaves inspecting the fruit.

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 7.

INT. SUJA'S HOME MORN

Joy sitting in a closed room. The sweet box lying empty.

Newspapers.

JOY
Mine and Rajus Dads were buddies and
they came up here when they were very
young. I was born here. My dad had 11
siblings and this house was originally
made for all of them. Later most of
them went out to the gulf and their
kids moved to Europe and all. Only two
of us from the family are here
anymore. Dad had a dairy farm. Raju's
dad started a plantation. I later
started this homestay and farm visit
after my father died, shifting myself
to one portion of the house. And it
was going good also. I was actually
doing quite good and then I invested
more in this. I built more.

Joy looking and scrolling into the phone. Him lying down and
playing video on phone.

That's how it works no, the more we

get the more we put in to get more.
And with more investment, I took loans
and got many debts. We never expected
such a sudden stoppage. This wasn't
even in our farthest dreams. The debts
did not matter until this shutdown. It
would easily get paid back. When this
stopped so sudden. We did not have any
income at all and the debt kept adding
up. It was so fast that it added up to
a huge amount. Actually, it happens to
everyone. We have to invest more to
get returns right?. So we can only
depend on bank loans, right? Actually,
most people around here run there
businesses on loans. That's how it
works no? Actually, this adding up
debt is what is affecting more than
the whole other deal of corona. It is
not like the floods and all no, that
is fine, it affects only these parts
and it happens only for a couple of
weeks. This has affected the whole
world no. Worst of all it has affected

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 8.

UK, France, Germany and all. We used

to get most tourists from there.
China, Japan and all is just fine, we
don't get many guests from there
anyway. At the start, everyone was
saying we are lucky because it
affected us only economically while
people in Italy and all were dying.
Maybe they were right also. Maybe
things will get better soon. Maybe it
will get better as soon as they open
Tamilnadu borders.

OTS, him looking out of the window.

EXT. MORNING

Town; Women working at cardamom sorting. Shop boards with

women. Tourist shops; Spice shops.

Suja and Krishnamma selling batter at a shop with the board '
Dosa batter available' written in three languages. Shop owner
gives back two packets out of a bunch. They try to give ti
back to him but he doesn't budge. They get outside and walk
with a bag of batter packets to an auto-rickshaw.

Shop keepers looking out. Boards of shops, running shot.

Shrine.

INT. KUDUMBASREE MEETING

Suja and few other women are sorting batter packets nad two
are filling up an accounts book.

KRISHNAMMA
I go to work at 6.30. I will get up
around 4 in the morning, and finish up
all housework and make rice for noon
and breakfast and leave by 6.30. Since
my son has to go to work too, I will
pack his food also. I start sweeping
the town by 7.00 and finish up by 10,
or maybe around 9.30. I will then go
for the cardamom sorting job. That
goes on till 5. I will come back after
that and then do the housework and
then will make dinner.

INTERVIEWER
Do you make dinner fresh then

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 9.

KRISHNAMMA
Yea, Sometimes I use leftover from
noon, but I eat that. Have to make
fresh anyway. What I make in the
morning, they will say its waste at
noon, they don't like it. Then again I
will heat it sometimes and tell that I
made it freshly then.

THRID WOMAN
You can heat it in the oven if you
have. It will really look fresh if you
heat in the oven.

SUJA
chechi, loan paisa?

// Chechi, the loan money?

Counting cash. Suja leaves and walks.

KRISHNAMMA
I was doing only one job before, now
that my Joy doesn't have a job and my
daughter also can't get a pass to go
back to work, I have to take the extra
job.

Otherwise, it is very difficult. It is

difficult to find the time. Also, the
cardamom sorting is very stressful,
the shops have cameras installed to
see if we talk to each other or pick
up phone or so.

THIRD WOMAN
It involves sitting all that time
without a break, that gives a severe
backache. They also check the amount
we amount each of us has sorted.

EXT. DAY

Suja walks back through village road.

Construction; Structures for tourists; Mobile towers on

hills; Birds on hills; Crosses on hills; People on the hill
road, milk can on the roadside.

Suja gets into a shop on way. She buys a sweet. Suja sits on
a hillside and looks far.

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 10.

Wind on leaves. Wind on the grass. Cow grazing.

EXT. SUJA'S HOME DAY

Suja reaches home. Joy is waiting outside, looking at the

homestay board. He looks at Suja as she comes in.

JOY
ethra nerayi Suje, pettenn
choredukk,veshakkunnu.

//How long do you take to return, give

me some lunch already, I am starving.

Kash kittiyo?

//Did you get the money?

They both enter the dark door of the house.

EXT. EVENING

People walk through plantation; Kapyarachen gives his tea

glass to his wife and goes outside and walks down the road.

Some women enter a shop and buy sweets and biscuits. One man
stands with a lit beedi.

People walking on a distant hill.

Construction sounds.

Feet of people walking.

JCB scraping down a hillside.

People walking.

Hills and clouds.

INT. SUJA'S HOME NIGHT

Suja opens the door and gets inside, Joy follows.

JOY
Ichiri choodu vellam veche Suje

// Heat some water Suja. I should take

a bath.

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 11.

SUJA
kulikkano? ipo vekkam

//Are you going to bath? I'll get it

now.

JOY
neeyum onnu kulicho, aalokke
koodiyathalle

//You also take a bath, it was quite a

crowd there.

Joy takes bath.

Rice heating on the stove, Suja takes and shakes it once and
keeps on stove back.

Suja takes and keeps the sweet beck inside a box and on the
kitchen shelf.

She puts out the fire on the fireplace.

Joy sitting at the table, Suja enters, keeps his plate of

rice in front and goes back into the kitchen, comes back and
places a glass of steamy water. Move close to Joy's face as
he starts to eat.

Suja crosses in the foreground with her plate.

JOY
TV on onakkikke Suje

// Can you please switch on the TV.

Suja switches on TV as Joy continues to eat. TV starts

playing in VO.

He eats hurriedly.

Close of him eating.

He bites on a stone. It hurts.

SUJA
Entha icha, kall veran
sadhyathaillallo, njan ari rand
pravashyamkazhukitha.
//What is it? There's no chance there
would be a stone in it, I had sieved

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 12.

it twice.

JOY
Sadhyatha undonnenikkariyilla,
entepallu poi

//I don't know if there is any chance,

but I got my teeth cracked I think.

SUJA
payarinn enganum aarikkum, athang
eduth matti vechitt kazhicho

//Maybe it came from the pulses, keep

it aside away and eat the rest.
(apologetically)

While this, he takes out the rice he had in mouth and takes
another handful in the mouth. He gets to about to vomit. He
pauses for a moment and takes out that rice from his mouth
also and throws his plate down and leaves.

Rice plate on the ground. Suja's feet cross it and follow

Joy.

Outside wide.

INT. SUJA'S HOME EARLY MORN

Close of the prayer book, there is no light on it.

(Joy continues to recite, Suja stays silent, Joy makes a

mistake, forgets further and stalls, he pauses and tries to
recite again but he can't remember. They both burst into
laughter)

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