SAVING SHANTI

4 X 60 TV Mini-Series

DRAMA

Based on a true story

A British Asian family. A misdiagnosed autistic child.
The British care and educational systems.
What could possibly go wrong?...

Written by
Judy Sandra
Creator / Co-Writer
Krishan Naidoo
Krishan Naidoo
London
+44 7449 169991
krishynaidoo@gmail.com

Judy Sandra
Los Angeles
+1 (323) 839-6517
judysandra7@gmail.com
 Saving Shanti
A Four-Part Mini-Series
Based On A True Story
TREATMENT

Overview
Saving Shanti is a real life drama of how the Patels lose the authority over their autistic daughter
Shanti to the care system—through no fault of their own—and how they save Shanti and get her
back.

An average middle-class British Asian family residing in West London, the Patels experience
much trauma and tragedy because of the experiences and circumstances surrounding the
treatment of Shanti. From 2006 through 2016, between the ages of nine and 19, Shanti is
misdiagnosed and mishandled by the Social Care system and some of its personnel who are
often incompetent, neglectful, and even criminal in their behaviour. Over and over again, and at
great emotional and financial cost, the Patels have to fight to regain control of their daughter’s
care and save her from a pernicious system that is determined to take her away from them. In
the process, they lose their money, their home, their careers and their mental well-being. Deeply
religious and devoted to each other, their story shows how one family’s faith, love, strength,
persistence, and determination overcome a situation that they are not prepared for or even
know how to manage.

The Pilot Episode: It’s A Girl!

It’s 2012 and Shanti’s parents Mira and Shaan Patel are in family court, fighting a battle over the
care of their daughter Shanti (at this time 15) that was orchestrated by social services. Having
been incorrectly diagnosed with a psychosis, the local authorities now want to place Shanti as
an inpatient in the adolescent wing of the Priory mental hospital. The Patels have been fighting
this move and have hired a lawyer to stop the legal action against them. When they arrive in
court, they think they are at a pre-trial hearing, but as it turns out, this is the actual hearing.
Because of their incompetent lawyer (whom they fire on the spot), the local authorities who
viciously fabricate evidence of child-abuse by the Patels, and an unreasonable judge, who
refuses to postpone the hearing so that the Patels can gather their evidence, they lose their
case, and Shanti is to be turned over to the authorities immediately.

Reacting to this ultimate abuse of power by the authorities and out of desperation, the Patels
run from the courthouse to their home. Along with their 25-year-old son Rohan, they abscond
with Shanti in a dramatic escape out the back door of their house and drive off in their car, as a
bevy of police arrive to break down the front door and take her away—possibly forever. Finding
no one there, the police go from room to room in the Patel house, destroying everything in sight.
Meanwhile, the Patels, with Shanti in tow, are on the motorway heading north. While driving,
Shaan has a moment of self-reflection and asks his wife “How did we get here?”

As if to answer Shaan’s question, we go back to the beginning of Shanti’s saga, to October,

2006 where we encounter the Patels at the moment just before all the troubles start. Living in a
modest two-story detached house in West London, the Patels are a loving, close-knit, religious,
and happy family. Shanti is in year four at primary school; father Shaan is a professor of
international relations at a nearby small university; mother Mira is a highly regarded pediatric
nurse in a hospital; and son Rohan, at this point 19, attends his father’s university studying law.
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SavingShanti – Treatment

It’s Shanti’s ninth birthday, and the Patels with Mira’s mother Grandma Joti, celebrate it with a
family party. Now that Shanti is growing up physically, it’s becoming clear that her mental and
emotional development is not commensurate with her age. She’s having serious problems
keeping up in her year four class and has developed phobias and obsessions. At night, she
experiences frequent nightmares about witches taking her away. While this may in fact be
prophetic for what will happen to her later, it’s clear that Shanti’s constant behavioural issues
are becoming hard to ignore or make excuses for, which the family has done in the past.

Up to now, Mira has been pretending even to Grandma Joti that Shanti is fine, not telling her
about Shanti’s problems at school or at home. She also tries to save face with her women
friends at the Hindu temple she belongs to, for fear of the community discovering that her child
is less than perfect.

But the façade of normalcy is starting to crack even for Mira. As a mother, she only sees
Shanti’s delightful qualities—sweet, loving, affectionate, and outgoing. But as a well-trained and
highly regarded pediatric nurse, Mira is waking up to the idea that something is not right with her
daughter. Shanti has been merely deemed as learning disabled by the school authorities, but
Mira is becoming increasingly aware that Shanti’s current issues go far beyond schoolwork.

Shanti’s latest emotional outburst at school has driven her teacher and the school Principal to
make the fateful decision to transfer her to a special needs school. The primary school teacher
does not have the training or the resources to deal with Shanti, who is failing in her classwork.
As Shanti has not been diagnosed as autistic--even though various professionals have
evaluated her--the Principal takes their recommendations and assigns her to the special needs
school, effective in a matter of weeks. When Mira asks if she and Shanti can at least see the
new school before she’s assigned, he denies her request, as this is not the school policy. Mira
promises to fight this decision.

Meanwhile, Shaan gets some good news for his career. A popular, highly valued professor, he
learns that he is being considered for tenure at his university, a promotion that he has wanted
for a long time. And Rohan, who is on a path to becoming in his mind a legal “social justice
warrior”, finds himself unexpectedly falling for the lovely Kate, a fellow student at his school.

A week before Shanti’s school change, Rohan walks home late one night after a date with Kate
and takes a shortcut through an alley. There he is attacked by three racist thugs, who call him
“Paki scum” and such while they beat him unconscious. He ends up in hospital but fortunately is
only badly bruised. The incident is a sign of what’s to come, as the fortunes of the family—both
personal and professional—disintegrate in direct proportion to Shanti’s growing entanglement
with the education and social care systems.

Arriving the first day at Clarion Manor, the special needs school that Shanti has been assigned
to, Shanti and her parents are shocked to discover that this school is for severely disabled and
incapacitated children, most of whom are in wheelchairs and cannot speak. Angry and bereft at
having to leave their terrified daughter at this school, Mira vows to fight for Shanti, to fight the
system, little knowing that this will become her life for the next ten years.

Standing by their car outside the school building, Shaan holds tearful Mira in a close embrace,
as she asks him the fateful question: “What is happening to our family?”
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Saving Shanti – Treatment

Continuing the story

A year has passed. It’s now 2007 and Shanti continues to attend Clarion Manor primary school,
the special needs school to which she had been assigned, where all the children are severely
disabled—physically, verbally, and mentally.

From her first day at the school, Shanti is traumatized and scared by the physical and verbal
attributes of the other children. There are only two other girls in her class of which only one can
speak. A very outgoing and verbal child, Shanti has not adjusted well to her new surroundings
and studies.

Up to this point in her life, Shanti had only moderate learning difficulties and no serious social or
mental issues. Not understanding why she’s been taken from her old school and with no friends
at the new one, Shanti quickly becomes very depressed. As she can’t physically play with the
other children in the way she knows or even communicate with them, she plays with and talks to
her imaginary friend Deepa, much to the dismay of her family and the school authorities.

At home, Shanti throws tantrums, cries, and does everything in her power not to go to school.
She hides the house keys, the car keys, or her school uniform. Sometimes, Shaan has to carry
her out of the house to get her to go to school.

Now, Shanti is not only depressed but is so angered that she starts acting out at Clarion Manor.
One day she draws black crosses on the walls of the school. Her mental state is clearly
deteriorating.

Mira and Shaan are becoming increasingly concerned about Shanti’s behaviour and mental
health. They decide to take Shanti out of the school, but the local authorities threaten them with
an action. Shanti must stay at Clarion Manor, so the Patels file a Tribunal appeal.

Because the Patels believe Shanti to be suffering from depression, they take her to see a
psychiatrist at Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). After meeting with
Shanti for ten minutes, the psychiatrist makes an absurd diagnosis: in his professional opinion,
he claims that Shanti has no mental health problems and that she merely has a stigma against
special needs children and the family does also.

Not knowing where to turn, the Patels try to engage Social Care, but they do not intervene in
defense of the Patels or take any action, even though they are well aware of the issues with
Shanti and Clarion Manor.

At their own expense, the Patels seek out the opinions of outside professionals to assess
Shanti’s placement situation. All the independent professionals conclude that Shanti is wrongly
placed at Clarion Manor.

Finally, in 2009 the Tribunal hands down the decision that Shanti has been wrongly placed in
Clarion Manor. Shanti leaves Clarion Manor and is admitted to an appropriate and more
moderate special needs school. But the damage has been done. She is now insecure in
communicating with people and still clings to Deepa, her imaginary friend.
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SavingShanti – Treatment

Because of her continuing attachment to Deepa, the new school refers her to a child
assessment program. There she is prescribed the anti-psychotic drug Rispiridone to assist in
decreasing Shanti's thoughts about her imaginary friend. Of course, this doesn’t work.

In 2010, after nine months at the assessment center, Shanti returns to the school. She is
assigned a teaching assistant at school and a social care worker at home for three hours a day,
although it takes them a while before social services complies and send them the help they
need at home.

Over the years, as Shanti’s condition worsens and worsens, the Patel family also suffers the
pain and trauma of watching someone they love disintegrate while having to be strong and fight
for the control over their daughter’s life and care. This costs them time, money that they don’t
have, and their emotional well-being. They lose their jobs, their house, and their energy. In this
scenario, everyone suffers and everyone’s life is depleted.

Another year passes. Shanti’s mental health deteriorates, and she has a complete personality
change. Because of the continued use of the drug Rispiridone, Shanti gains weight rapidly and
is continually tired. She becomes glassy-eyed, experiences severe memory loss, tremors, and
muscle pains. She giggles a lot inappropriately and has hallucinations. Now Shanti’s imaginary
friend Deepa becomes real to her, as she is no longer able to separate fantasy from reality.

By 2012, Shanti’s symptoms are only getting worse. That fall, an unfortunate incident occurs.
Shanti’s doctor should have given her another prescription for Rispiridone, but he goes on
vacation out of the country, leaving Shanti without her medication, which has a disastrous result.
Rispiridone is a drug whose withdrawal symptoms resemble those of withdrawing from heroin.
Off her meds, Shanti starts to hallucinate and she cuts her hand open, causing her to be rushed
to the A&E.

Learning of this situation, Social Care steps in and along with all the other professionals
involved in Shanti’s welfare, they issue a child protection action against the Patels. Under the
category of neglect, they accuse the Patels of deliberately taking Shanti off her medications and
physically harming her.

The authorities issue an order of interim care to admit Shanti as an inpatient in the adolescent
wing of the Priory. The Patels hire a lawyer to fight this action in court to keep Shanti from being
admitted to the Priory and prove their innocence of the false accusations of neglect and abuse.

At this point, we circle back to the opening scenes of the pilot, just as the Patels lose their
court case because of the incompetence of their lawyer and they abscond with Shanti.

The Patels head north to Grandma Joti’s house, but as they are soon recognized in town, they
realize they are putting Joti in danger of being party to their illegal situation. They leave Joti’s
and hold up in a hotel in another town.

Meanwhile, the authorities are after them, putting a hold on their passports and watching points
of exit of the country, as they know the Patels often travel to India to see family.

This goes on for weeks, until Shanti has an episode in the hotel room, smashing up the place
and being generally out of control. Meanwhile, the Patel’s lawyer is calling them incessantly,
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SavingShanti – Treatment

trying to help the authorities find them. Finally, Mira realises that she and Shaan cannot help
Shanti from a prison cell, that it’s time to bring Shanti to the authorities and turn themselves in.

Shanti is turned over to Social Care and the Patels answer to the court for their behaviour.
Fortunately, the judge is sympathetic to their situation and takes no action against them.

Shanti is admitted to the Priory as an inpatient and from the beginning has a difficult time there.
Some girls who are self-harming goad Shanti into cutting her wrists. Ten days into her stay, she
is dispatched to A&E when the health care assistant gives her the wrong drugs.

Eventually the Patels and Social Care agree to place Shanti in a residential specialty school,
200 miles from London, where she will live Monday through Friday and visit her family on
weekends and holidays. In the mind of the authorities, they are hoping to separate Shanti from
her family. But the Patels decide to move to a town near the school to be closer to Shanti.

Now 16, Shanti goes to live at Northridge College, in the rural north of England. It’s a specialty
school, giving practical skills and therapeutic education for coed students from 16 to 25 with
learning, mental health, and behavioural problems. From the beginning, Shanti is not happy with
the placement and being separated from her family. She has never spent a day apart from
them, and she is not adjusting to the new environment.

It doesn’t take long before Shanti starts smashing things. She throws rocks at the windows,
breaks china in the kitchen. She doesn’t want to be there and constantly asks to go home. After
she physically assaults a teacher at the school, they start to fear her. The school decides that
perhaps Shanti would benefit from more one-on-one attention. So they shift her to a cottage
with two care workers. She smashes that place also and runs away—twice.

Northridge College is now rather fed up with Shanti, considering her a danger to the property
and to staff. They want her to leave.

At this juncture, the authorities call for a new assessment of Shanti’s condition. Enter Dr. Kelly
Murphy, a Scottish psychiatrist who works in the care system. Dr. Murphy takes over Shanti’s
case, giving her a proper diagnosis of being autistic, and strives to get Shanti proper care.

Dr. Murhpy agrees with the Patels that Shanti belongs with them and that Shanti will not stop
fighting to be restored to her family. As she so aptly states, “I don’t care where you try to put
Shanti, she will smash it to smithereens. You can put her in Buckingham Palace, and I assure
you, she will smash it. Shanti belongs at home.”

With the support of Dr. Murphy and the truth on their side, the Patels embark on an
unprecedented legal battle that restores the custody and care of Shanti to her parents. After the
Patels win their custody case, Shanti returns to her mother, her family, and her home.

But things don’t end just yet. For the next two years, a social worker, sent by the local
authorities, drives 200 miles to the Patel house, sits in his car that is parked across the street,
and spies on the Patels.

Shanti continues to have regular nightmares about being taken away from her family. Her brain
will never recover from the damage that was caused by the drugs she was given. Consequently,
Shanti will be on medications for the rest of her life.
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SavingShanti – Treatment

About the Real “Patel” Family

Saving Shanti is based on the true story of actor Krishan Naidoo’s sister and his family.
While the real “Patels” are enthusiastic about having their story portrayed for this episodic
series, we have fictionalized and dramatized the people and events with different names and
even different family particulars to maintain their privacy.

The real life “Shanti” is now in her early twenties, lives at home, and is content. She receives
home care and is also looked after by her mother and her family. Her family has been forever
changed and have lost much, financially and emotionally. As the real “Mrs. Patel” has said, “We
were all traumatized.” But they never lost their faith or the love that they share for each other.

About Judy Sandra and Krishan Naidoo

Judy Sandra is an American writer-director, producer, and singer-songwriter.

As a writer-director, Judy has received 13 award nominations, including five
best screenplay nominations from competitions and numerous film festivals in
the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, and Belgium. She has
recently created the musical feature film Falling Like Stars, for which she
wrote the screenplay and all of the songs--music and lyrics.

Judy has had a lifelong interest in Indian culture, learning yoga at a young age and later living
and working in India as a designer of hand-knit garments. She is one of only a handful of
western members of the non-denominational ashram and meditation center Adhyatmic Sadhna
Sangh (Regd.) in New Delhi, India.

Judy wrote the pilot episode “It’s a Girl!” and the treatment for Saving Shanti.

Krishan Naidoo is a British actor who appears in UK and US productions.

Born in London in 1995 to parents of Gujrati Indian descent, Krishan began
acting when he was 11, attending the illustrious Barbara Speake Stage
School. After graduating at the age of 16, Krishan pursued his passion for
martial arts. He studied and taught Tae Kwon Do in Malaysia, winning a gold
medal at the Asian championships. He then moved to Russia where he again
taught martial arts, competing and winning another championship.
Krishan won his third Tae Kwon Do championship in London in 2019, and during the pandemic
he reunited with acting. In 2021 Krishan booked a mainstream TV role on an Amazon Prime
series that will be released at the end of summer. He was recently seen in an episode of the
Apple + TV series Silo.

Krishan is the creator of Saving Shanti and co-wrote the pilot episode “It’s a Girl!”