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This is actually the second version of the story, which I had written on the 5th day of the workshop. Anjum liked this too, but he mentioned that the 1st script was much better.
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Manipulation
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Characters
· Ranjani – 40 yr old attractive woman, working in the same company as GM(finance) – Divorcee with no children – Lives alone – Good mannered, Strict & well dressed decent lady.
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Situation
Stake
She is expecting a promotion & a transfer to Mumbai, her beloved city. This scam might spoil everything, including her career.
Scene 1
Office. Day. 5pm
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Ranjani summons Ragavan into her room & reprimands him for doing some mistake in his job. He tries to defend himself & Ranjani gets upset. She takes a file from the drawer, tosses it on the table & asks Ragavan to open it. Ragavan hesitantly opens it to find a ‘porn book’ in between the sheets. It is his book & by mistake he had delivered the file without removing it, it seems. He is shocked, tries to accuse the attender, but Ranjani knows for sure. She throws the book in the dustbin & warns Ragavan severely.
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Ragavan comes out of Ranjani’s cabin cursing her. He wonders aloud abt the file reaching Ranjani without his knowledge & blames his absent-mindedness for that. He is ashamed & leaves for the day.
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Scene 2.
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Dinner. Entire family present. His sons are talking about the current cricket team etc, but Ragavan is not listening. He is still thinking abt the incident at the office. His wife is amused with his lack of concentration.
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Scene 3.
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Ragavan’s bedroom. Night. 10pm
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His wife is sleeping in the bed, while Ragavan slowly gets up, take the porn books from the bag, keep it inside a file, sits in a chair away from the sleeping wife & starts to read. His face is a myriad of expressions - pleasure, pain, anguish, relief etc. He looks longingly at some of the pictures of models dressed in flimsy clothes.
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Scene 4.
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Office. Day. 11am
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Ragavan is summoned into Ranjani’s room & this time she looks ill & worried. She slowly brings out the subject (loan, her personal guarantee etc) & the external auditing. She wants Ragavan to help her by removing her guarantee form from the file. Ragavan refuses. She pleads & begs & tells him that she will do anything for him to do that. He stares at her for a while & asks “anything?”. She nods helplessly. He grins slowly & tells her that he will get back to her shortly. He leaves the room & she looks beaten.
Scene 5.
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Office.11.30am
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Ragavan in his seat. Checks on that particular file. Sees the assurance form, smiles, puts it back in the locker, locks it & pockets the key. Thinking abt the issue & the various possible outcomes. He is certainly aroused now & wants to use this opportunity. He is scared but still formulates a plan. He gets up. Sits down. Dilemma. Finally he makes up his mind, gets up & walks into her room.
Scene 6.
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Office. 12 noon
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Ragavan is very uncomfortable. But gradually tells her the favour that he wants. He wants a sexual favour. She is shocked. He tries to justify. Talks abt his wife, the sexual deprivation etc. She asks him to leave the room. He looks defeated & leaves the room.
Scene 7.
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Office. Ragavan’s seat. 3pm
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He is squirming in his seat. He is sweating. Keeps looking at Ranjani’s room door. Gulps down water. Totally uneasy. He tries to get up, when the intercom buzzes. He picks up.
Scene 8.
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Office. Ranjani’s room. 3.15pm
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Ragavan enters slowly. He looks a mess himself. Ranjani looks a lot composed now. He was abt to open his mouth to apologise, when she speaks “Where & When?”. He is shocked. Realises her decision & is Jubilant. She is expressionless, stone faced. She asks him for assurance abt the file & he promises to remove the form the next day morning first thing. The auditing is in 2 days & she wants things to be done asap. They agree to meet at her house (she lives alone) by 7pm that same day itself & he can leave by 9pm after finishing his business. She pleads him to maintain secrecy, admonishes him for his ruthless demand. He is remorse yet happy. He just could not believe his luck.
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Scene 9.
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He is ecstatic. He cannot believe his luck. He takes permission & leaves the office early by 4pm.
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Scene 10.
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Ragavan’s house. 6pm.
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Ragavan is standing in front of the mirror combing his hair. He is wearing a nice T-shirt & is clean shaven & fresh. When his grand-son enquires about this, Ragavan says that he is going to a function in a colleague’s house. His wife is lying on the bed. She is not well & has fever/head-ache. Ragavan asks her to take rest & she nods with her eyes closed. He looks at her face, hesitates momentarily, but leaves eventually.
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Scene 11.
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Ranjani’s house. 7pm.
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Ragavan rings the bell. Ranjani opens & he enters. He is a little shy & uncomfortable. She is still expressionless. He sits in the couch, asks her for water. He is visibly nervous. She looks indifferent, but not angry anymore. He stands up hesitantly & she leads him to her bedroom. The door closes behind them.
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Scene 12.
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Ranjani’s house. 9pm.
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The bedroom door opens. Ragavan comes out of it slowly. He looks a little ruffled. He pauses by the door, looks back, hesitates & leaves the house.
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Scene 13.
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Ragavan’s house. 9pm
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Ragavan comes out of the bathroom after taking a bath. His wife brings a glass of milk to him. She looks very tired. She walks past him slowly & lies on the bed. She coughs mildly, covers herself with a blanket & turns away from him. He sits on the bed looking straight ahead without any expression.(He is guilty). He closes his eyes slowly & immediately hears a slap sound. He opens his eyes in shock.
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Scene 14.
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Next day. Office. 10.00am.
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Ragavan comes to his seat & sits down. He is quite dull. He settles down, opens the draw, searches for that particular file & finds it missing. He is shocked & tries to search more carefully. His colleague Raju approaches him & enquires abt his restlessness. Ragavan tells him abt the missing file, for which Raju remarks that Ranjani could have taken it with her when she was found searching something in Ragavan’s closet the previous day. When Ragavan says that the key is with him, Raju chuckles & mentions that Ranjani has a bunch of duplicate keys for all the lockers in the finance department. Ragavan is surprised & he expresses doubt abt it. Raju continues by saying that even during the previous week, when Ragavan was absent on a day, Ranjani had opened his draw to refer to an important file. Infact he mentions that she took off some file away with her.
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Ragavan realizes that she could had taken the file with the porn book all by herself. Ragavan is completely shocked. He could not digest the news. He gets up slowly & walks towards the washroom.
Scene 16.
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Office. Washroom.
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Ragavan is standing in front of the washbasin mirror & is staring at it. He bents down to splash water from the tap onto his face. As he wipes his face with hand-kerchief, he notices something at the corner near the wash basin. A spider spinning a web meticulously.
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He stares at it for a while. Turns back slowly, walks out of the washroom. The door closes…
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