SCENE 9. INT/EXT/PHALKE STUDIO GODHRA/FULL MOON NIGHT/1896
SCENE 9 / IN / EX / PHALKE STUDIO /GODHRA
FULL MOON NIGHT / 1896
Phalke and Kamala are asleep.
Suddenly, the silence is broken by a sound.
Phalke awakes. The noise seems to be coming from the upper floor. He picks up the
lantern and makes his way up the stairs. He comes to a closed door, and pushes it. It
creaks open slowly, and in the light of his lamp he sees that his books have vanished.
In the lamp’s light, a rat looks up at him mockingly, wiping its whiskers, burping after his
feast of books.
Tiny fragments of paper with letters on them are caught up in a whirlwind. The tiny
shards fuse together into a whole book, and fly out the window.
Phalke is mesmerized.
SCENE 10 / IN/EX / SPACE STUDIO FROM PHALKE FOOTAGE
DAY / 1917
Phalke dips his fountain pen into an ink pot with a picture of a swan on it.
He releases the tank and the pen sucks up the black ink.
Phalke sits with his pen poised over the paper, thinks for a while, and then starts writing.
PHALKE
I had already taken the advance for the books from some British customers, and they
wanted their deliveries, but the books had vanished. Why would anybody steal the books,
and who would believe me when I said that a rat had devoured them?
So to be on safe side I went to the police
SCENE 11 / IN / POLICE STATION / GODHRA
DAY / 1896
A lion-like policeman with a red beard seems unsympathetic to Phalke’s plight
POLICEMAN
We have checked every literate person. We can’t trace your so-called stolen books. And
we can’t raid the English.
By the way, do you recognize these photos?
PHALKE
I took them.
POLICE MAN
These boys went missing shortly after, and your photographs helped us to trace them.
Here is your prize money.
There is a murmur, like that of angry bees, from behind him.
He turns and sees that a crowd is gathering.
At the front of the hissing crowd stand the missing boys, staring at him like zombies with
their blind, white, pupil-less eyes.
POLICE MAN (CONT’D)
But these people think that you’re a sorcerer, Mr. Kelpha, and that your camera is the evil
eye.
By the way, what does Kelpha mean, Mr. Phalke?
PHALKE
It is the negative of my own name
Phalke walks out without a backward glance. The crowd watches him go, their eyes
boring into his receding back.
SCENE 12 / IN/EX / PHOTO STUDIO / GODHRA
DAY / 1896
Kamala is unpacking the glass bottles of developing chemicals that her husband had
ordered, waiting for him to come home.
Someone raps on the door.
KAMALA
Who is it?
PHALKE
Open up. It’s me
Kamala unbolts the door from inside.
Phalke enters and sits. She brings in water, and helps him wash his feet and face.
KAMALA
Did they find the thief?
PHALKE
No, instead, they turned on me.
KAMALA
Why?
Phalke sits to eat. She serves him.
PHALKE
Some boys had run away from home. My photographs helped in tracing them.
KAMALA
Then your magic came in handy, after all
PHALKE
You don’t understand.
They are accusing me of having unnatural powers
They went looking for the actual places of the back drops against which I had
photographed the boys, and found them still frozen in the same pose in which I had
snapped them, as though under a spell.... you are right, let’s go from here. Start packing.
KAMALA
Don’t be disheartened. Here’s a letter for you, from Nadkarni in Bombay, and a parcel.
Kamala finishes unpacking the parcel, examining the bottles of hypo, silver nitrate,
potassium nitrate, instruction booklets, addresses, Kodak labels, and Eastman’s face on
other products.
Phalke reads the letter.
LETTER
Your post cards are selling like crackers, especially the sexy poses of the white women.
Rail shail bhool jao. Sapere ki photo dekh kar been baj gai. Tumhare sher aur panditji ka
kissa shandar tha. Tum kya mujhe itna bevakoof samajhte ho?
Bechari Kamala bhabhi tumhari kalpana shakti ke samne, bechari. Thhad thada rahi hogi.
Tumhare chemicals aur film bhej raha hoon.
Ravi Varma ka Nal Damayanti dekha, ek videshi painting ki nakal hai. Khud milaker
dekh lo. Farq sirf itna hai vahan kapde utarti hai, yahan hum unhe kapde pehnate hain.
Vah raja saheb sach kaha, hindusthani nakal ka vaner shresht hai aur akbaar padhte ho ki
nahin? Tumhare raja sahib ke preyasi angoothi chaat kar chali gayi. Raja sahab ne inn
dinon painting chhod rakhi hai.
Phalke and Kamala compare the two versions of the Nal painting.
SCENE 13 / IN /EX / DARK ROOM / PHOTO STUDIO / GODHRA
NIGHT / 1896
Reading the instructions by candlelight, Phalke mixes photo chemicals in the tray.
One by one the photos emerge, ghost-like.
Sometimes, a photograph from the camera indica comes alive, and talks to him.
Phalke listens, head buried beneath a large black cloth, bent over the camera on a tripod.
He wipes his hands, comes out and shuts the door behind him, waiting for the prints to
dry.
Outside, Kamala is asleep, dreaming like a fairy.
He looks at her, a smile flickers on her face.
After a moment of absolute silence, he hears a sound from the direction of the dark room.
He goes to the door and stands there, listening.
Then, through a crack in the door, he peeps inside.
A little rat is licking the melted wax of the burning candle.
Then, like an acrobat, the rat jumps and lands with his feet on the rim of the hypo tray.
He starts drinking the chemicals of the tray, guzzling greedily to his heart’s content.
Phalke waits, holding his breath, watching.....his eyes curious.
After drinking a stomach full of hypo, the rat somersaults and lands on the table facing
the door.
Then he starts breathing in and out like in a yogic exercise.
Then Phalke sees something strange.
With every breath the rat takes, golden whiskers, like slender needles, begin to sprout
beneath his nose.
When he breathes out, the delicate needles of gold splinter and scatter across the table
top.
Then the rat notices Phalke watching him through the door. He stops, and runs away,
crashing into the candle which stands like a lamp post on the landscape of the table top.
The rat rights himself and skitters away.
Phalke enters the room, and touches the needles of golden hair. He smiles.
SCENE 14 / IN / EX / MARKET / GOLDSMITH’S SHOP / DAY
Phalke makes his way through a marketplace crowded with artisans and craftsmen
displaying their wares – silver ware, paintings, colorful wooden toys for children, and
wall hangings of embroidered cloth.
Finally, Phalke finds what he is looking for - a goldsmith’s shop.
Phalke takes out a cloth pouch from inside his shirt and empties it onto the glass topped
counter.
The rat’s golden whiskers tinkle delicately as they land.
The goldsmith lights a flame and fires the slender golden threads to check for purity.
The whiskers are pure gold.
The smith gathers all of them, and weighs them on a pair of tiny scales.
Then, the goldsmith pays Phalke, and he leaves.
SCENE 15 / IN / PHALKE PHOTO STUDIO / NIGHT
Phalke peeps into the darkroom through the gap in the door.
The rat is drinking from the tray of chemicals again.
He breathes in, and whiskers begin to sprout beneath his nose.
The tip of a single whisker begins to turn to liquid gold that drips onto the table top.
The molten metal swirls and fuses to form the shape of Ganapati.
It is a wonderful likeness of the elephant-headed god.
Phalke opens the door, and the rat scuttles away.
Wonder-struck, Phalke enters the room, picks up the sculpture and looks at it closely.
Phalke looks around, searching for the rat.
PHALKE
My lord, you seem to be the living embodiment of the divine sculptor himself
Suddenly, there is a noise from outside.
Frightened, the rat scampers up Phalke’s back and perches on his shoulder.
The knocking on the door becomes more aggressive, and in a flash, the rat disappears
inside Phalke’s coat.
Finding a tear in the lining, he wriggles frantically inside, scurrying into the small of
Phalke’s back.
The sensation causes Phalke to twist this way and that.
The knocking intensifies further; Phalke blows out the candle and goes out.
Petrified, Kamala is standing in the center of the room.
Three government officials have pushed their way into the house.
When Phalke comes out, Kamala takes shelter behind his back, as the officials begin to
up-end the contents of the room with their batons.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kamala notices a wriggling movement inside her husband’s
coat.
PHALKE
Is everything okay?
One of the officials, who seems to be a doctor, begins to examine Phalke. Then he turns
to Kamala. Phalke steps between them.
PHALKE (CONT'D)
Who are you?
OFFICIAL
We’re checking for plague. Do you have rats here? There’s a reward for every captured
rat.
The outlined shape on Phalke’s back begins to tremble.
PHALKE
No, there are no rats here, and nor is anybody ill
OFFICIAL
I’m sorry, but we’re just doing our duty. Watch out, we’re living in bad times
The officials leave.
Phalke re-enters the darkroom and picks up the statue of Ganapati.
Kamala sees it, and is astounded.
PHALKE
This is for you, to keep you safe when I am gone
SCENE 16 / EX / HILL VIEW OF THE GOLD CITY / GODHRA
EVENING / 1896
Sitting on Phalke’s shoulder, the rat is giving a discourse on the science of miracles.
At the foot of the hill, a golden city glitters. Phalke listens like a devotee.
RAT
Anybody can perform miracles who understands that the reality of the world is light. A
realized soul can restructure atoms of light in any shape. The tangible appearance of the
light atoms depends upon the desire and will power of he who conjures it, like long-dead
people appearing in his dream. I have clearly seen the absolute one-ness of the light
behind the painful multiplicity of the illusory world
A faint howling and screaming reaches us from the golden city below.
Slowly, a cloud of vultures start appearing in sky, swooping down towards the city
SCENE 17 / EX / TOWN SQUARE / GODHRA / DAY
A man hangs upside down in the view finder.
A hand outside the camera’s black cloth cover tells him to stay steady.
Inside the camera the man is upside down. Phalke snaps the shutter.
The lens opens like an eye and the plate moves upward.
The man in the frame feels dizzy, and falls down as if he has been flung aside.
He is dead.
Two men enter the frame and pull away the body.
Phalke emerges from beneath the black camera cloth and looks out.
The photographed man is being dragged away. The next man has taken his place.
People are being indexed and classified through their thumb prints, face measurement,
and recordings of voices for the Great India Project.
Suddenly, in a split second, a kite dives down towards the camera, lifts it up with its
claws, and flies away.
Phalke, balancing against the force of attack, looks up. He runs to follow the kite.
SCENE 19 / EX / TOWN SQUARE / GODHRA / DAY
People are running for their life, in all directions.
Things are being thrown out of houses marked by the sign of the Black Death.
Policemen on horseback are trying to control the situation.
Plague patients are being segregated, more houses are being marked, and polluted things
are being burnt.
Holding a Bible in one hand, a priest is shouting a sermon in front of a newly built
church.
He begins to attack the crowd of devotees in ringing tones.
PRIEST
The plague has come to your homes, my brethren, and you well deserved it
The crowd gapes at him, thunder-struck. Using the tricks of oratory, the priest slaps his
congregation in the face with the essence of his sermon, which is that they deserve what
they have got.
PRIEST (CONT’D)
We have seen in history that when such a disaster struck, it was to punish the enemies of
the Lord. When Pharaoh acted against the will of God, the scourge of plague brought him
to his knees. Kneel down now.
In the crowd, people begin to fall to their knees before the preacher.
PRIEST (CONT’D)
The pure of heart have nothing to fear, but evildoers will tremble. Plague is the pestle of
the Almighty, and the world is the floor on which the Lord threshes the grain mercilessly
until it is removed from its husk. Losing patience with our sins, the Lord has taken the
light away, and the world is plunged in darkness.
The messenger of the Devil, bearing his long sickle, must be giving the order to destroy
your homes. Each blow rained upon you will claim a life each.
To reinforce his words, he starts a magic lantern show that illustrates his sermon.
PRIEST (CONT’D)
His left hand is stretched out over your homes. His finger is probably pointing to your
house. His long red sickle is turned towards your courtyard.
Perhaps Plague has entered into your bedroom like a deadly bride, and is waiting for you
to return home...
And in this blood-soaked soil, the seeds of Truth will be sown. Perhaps this is the road to
your salvation.
Once, those untouched by Plague wrapped themselves in the robes of the dead, and
invited Death to a feast. This path reveals impatience and arrogance.
SCENE 20 / EX / LANDSCAPE / GODHRA / DAY
Phalke is running for his life.
In the distance, a train cuts through the empty landscape, waving its plume of smoke.
Hordes of screaming people are running behind Phalke with stones in their hands,
flinging them at his back.
SCENE 21 / IN / EX / PHALKE’S STUDIO / GODHRA / TWILIGHT
The rat is resting on a comfortable bed in a nest that Phalke has built for it inside a
jewelry box. All the furniture is made of gold.
Light streams in through the key hole, projecting the outside scene onto the wall above
the bed, upside down shadows playing like the image inside a camera obscura.
He sees a train with its wheels in the air passing over his head, like a centipede
overturned.
Kamala’s shadow passes, combing her hair.
She pauses, and approaches the box. The jewelry box room goes dark.
Suddenly, there is a commotion outside and Phalke’s urgent voice announces his arrival.
PHALKE
Pack up! We have to leave at once!
He is in a panic, flinging their belongings together, ready to flee.
KAMALA
Why? What happened?
PHALKE
The townspeople are after us!
Kamala runs after him, and light floods the box once again.
The rat sees Phalke throw a final glance at him, before they flee, leaving the door open.
Abandoned, the rat runs around his tiny room in consternation, seeking a way out of his
prison.
The wooden box loses its balance and falls to the floor.
The box is still shaking when, a few seconds later, the crowd pours in through the door,
hunting for Phalke.
They tear the place apart, before someone spots the jewelry box.
The crowd descends on it and tries to force it open.
Inside the box, the rat slides from side to side with the shaking.
He can hear the enraged crowd screaming.
Terrified, he presses against the far wall, below the hinges of the lid.
Somebody slams the box down on the floor.
Blows rain down on the lid, and the rat cowers in a corner, looking up at the destruction.
Somebody slams the box down again and again.
The box begins to splinter, and light streams in through the cracks in the wood.
Now the rat can see enormous black eyes, their pupils dilated with rage.
Shaking fingers try to tear the box apart, the delicate whorls on the skin showing clearly
in the increasing light inside.
The lid splinters with a final crash and an enormous hand enters the ruined box and stops
on seeing the rat.
The rat cowers in the corner as the hand moves forward again and picks him up.
As the hand touches the rat, it turns to solid gold.
The hand turns to lift it up. They open to show the gold turned to balls of hair.
All at once, hissing smoke turns the hair to dark grey ash.
At that instant, everything that is gold in the room turns to ash – the furniture in the rat’s
nest, the gold-rimmed eyeglasses on faces, the gold in people’s teeth, the gold paintings
on the wall.
SCENE 22 / EX / GOLDEN CITY / GODHRA / NIGHT
Phalke is dragging Kamala by the hand, stumbling and running up the hill as far as they
can get, their breath catching in their throats.
When they reach the top, Phalke finally stops and they look back at the scene below.
The beautiful minarets, domes and gold-painted walls of the city are turning to hair,
transforming into ash, and are scattered on the air.
Phalke looks at the full golden moon hanging low in the night sky.
As he watches, it turns in a knitting ball of hair, before exploding into ash.
Utter darkness descends.
SCENE 23 / IN / EX / PHALKE’S SPACE STUDIO / NIGHT
SCENE 24 / IN / EX / TRAIN / DAY
Wheels piston forward in a regular motion, striking sparks from the rails.
Coals are fed into a golden fire in an enormous stove.
Smoke and golden embers spew out of vents into the clear air above.
A train makes its way across the land.
Phalke and Kamal are sitting in a sea of despairing human faces.
SCENE 25 / IN / EX / VT STATION / BOMBAY / DAY
The VT station terminus yawns like a giant cave.
The train chugs into the darkness, as though entering into the camera obscura again.
The train comes to a halt, and people begin to disembark in a rush.
They are met on the platform outside the compartment doors by a medical team who
begin to check the travelers one by one.
Depending on their findings, people are separated into two groups and led away.
Phalke and Kamala are checked.
As he walks away after his examination, he looks behind him for Kamala and sees her
being led away in the opposite direction, her head turned to him in a final glance for help.
He makes a movement towards her, but she disappears into the crowd before his very
eyes.
It begins to rain.
The crowds melt away, and Phalke is left alone in a deserted Victoria station, stupefied
by the carvings of gargoyles, lizards, lions, tigers, flora and fauna, like some fantastic
fairyland.
Streams of water pour out of the mouths of mythical monsters, frothing at the jaws.
Phalke sits shaking, shivering with cold, leaning against carvings of rats in the wall.
SCENE 26 / EX / FORT / BOMBAY / NIGHT
Coarse white cloth fills the frame. A hand enters and lifts the cloth to reveal the face of a
young woman.
The hand covers the dead face and moves to the next shroud.
Making his way through grounds littered with shrouds, Phalke roams from camp to camp,
looking for his wife’s corpse.
His mouth is parched; his brain throbs with a rapid pulse - he touches his own wrist (for
he dare not ask counsel of any man lest he be deserted), and feels his frightened blood go
galloping out of his heart. There is nothing but the fatal swelling left to make his
conviction complete; immediately, he has an odd feel under the arm - no pain, but a little
straining of the skin; he touches the gland, and finds the skin sane and sound but under
the cuticle there lies a small lump like a pistol-bullet, that moves as he pushes it.
He looks around.
The shops are deserted, he has pierced deep into the native quarter and is threading
through its narrow dim lanes.
He has to go carefully, for men are stretched asleep all about and there is hardly room to
drive between them.
And every now and then a swarm of rats scampers across past the horses' feet in the
vague light.
White plaster of Paris statues of Ganapati stand sentinel at street corners.
The forbears of the rats that are carrying the plague from house to house are in Bombay
now. The shops are but sheds, little booths open to the street; and the goods have been
removed, and on the counters families are sleeping, usually with an oil lamp present.
But at last he turns a corner and sees a great glare of light ahead.
It is the home of a bride, wrapped in a perfect conflagration of illuminations, - mainly
gas-work designs, gotten up especially for the occasion.
Within is an abundance of Brilliancy - flames, costumes, colors, decorations, mirrors - it
is another Aladdin show.
The bride is a trim and comely little thing, dressed as we would dress a boy. She moves
about very much at her ease, and stops and talks with the guests and allows her wedding
jewelry to be examined. It is very fine, particularly a rope of great diamonds, a lovely
thing to look at and handle. It has a great Emerald hanging from it.
SCENE 27 / EX / FLORA FOUNTAIN / BOMBAY / NIGHT / FLASHBACK
SCENE 28 / EX / FLORA FOUNTAIN / NIGHT
Phalke is sitting alone on the site of the balloon launch, hunched over in thought.
He gets up and slowly walks away.
In the background, the clock on Rajabai Tower chimes the hour.
SCENE 29 / MAGIC SHOW / BOMBAY / NIGHT
A large mirror in a carved frame is on the stage.
Phalke walks onto the stage, where a man wearing the tall Mandrake cap of the magician
asks him to walk around the mirror and examine it to his satisfaction.
The magician then asks him to don a hooded red robe.
He positions him some ten feet from the mirror, where the vivid red reflection is clearly
visible to the audience.
The theatre is darkened, except for a brightening light that comes from within the mirror
itself.
As Phalke waves his robed arms around and bows to his bowing reflection, his reflection
begins to show signs of disobedience.
It crosses its arms over its chest and starts waving them about.
Suddenly, the reflection grimaces, removes a knife and stabs itself in the chest.
The reflection collapses onto the reflected floor - it is he himself.
Now a ghost-like white form rises from the dead reflection and hovers in the mirror all at
once, a ghost emerges from the glass.
It looks towards the startled, terrified spectators.
The masterful illusion mystifies some policemen in the audience, who begin to discuss
the phenomenon between them.
POLICEMAN 1
The mirror is probably a trick cabinet with black lined doors in the rear and an assistant
hidden inside.
POLICEMAN 2
There must be lights concealed between the glass and the silver back.
POLICEMAN 3
Did you notice, as the lights grew brighter, the mirror grew transparent, and a red-robed
assistant showed himself in the glass?
POLICEMAN 1
Concealed magic lanterns probably produced the phantom, but I’ve never seen another
magician do that before. There is something uncanny about the illusions.
Suddenly a man in the audience comes to life, pointing to the magician and shouting
hysterically.
MAN
He’s not a showman at all, but has sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his unholy
powers.
SCENE 30 / IN / SPACE STUDIO / BOMBAY / 1896
Phalke is writing his memoirs, his voice reading out the text.
PHALKE
We had to run away from that venue that day. I became the magician’s apprentice, and
we traveled all over the country with our performances. It was he who christened me
Kelpha. I remained with him for quite a while, until, one day, the police arrived and
arrested him for disturbing the peace. After that, I was on my own once more.
SCENE 31 / IN / WATSON’S HOTEL / BOMBAY / 1896
In the hall, a painting exhibition is in progress.
All the important people of the time have gathered, alongside young art students, to view
the works of the master artist, Raja Ravi Verma.
The hall is abuzz with comments and banter as groups move around the exhibition.
Ravi Verma stands surrounded by students, engrossed in discussion with them.
RAVI VERMA
An artist must be able to control the flow of watercolors precisely. You can’t make
corrections in watercolors like you can in oils. Watercolors are alright, but there’s no
peace in them. Real peace is found only in charcoal. It’s more realistic. Watercolors run
too much. Oils are slow, difficult and laborious to execute.
OFFICIAL (clapping)
Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata contain the most inexhaustible stories for pictorial
representation which any country possesses.
Phalke enters the gallery and stops just inside the door. He looks around the crowded
room, and begins to make his way across. As he walks, men in the gallery, old classmates
and colleagues, recognize Phalke and accost him. He is diffident in the extreme, painfully
conscious of his worn clothes and obvious lack of success. He quickly passes on, looking
for somebody in the great hall.
OFFICIAL (CONT’D)
All that is needed is to promote their beauty and complete their fame in their pure and
noble passage with the powers of European art. They should engage the service of the
national pencil as they have fastened on the national memory, and animated the national
voice.
Applause greets his words.
The official then drapes a silver medal from the Chicago Exhibition of World Art around
Raja Ravi Verma’s neck.
The assembly turns expectantly towards a large canvas on a stand, covered with a cloth
drape.
At this moment, Phalke is trying to pick his way unobtrusively through the crowd, but his
appearance draws people’s attention, and they make way for him with some distaste.
The ripple in the audience draws Raja Ravi Verma’s attention.
He turns and sees Phalke, who is looking up at him, smiling.
Ravi Verma smiles back in recognition.
At that moment, Diwan Madhavrao, advisor to the princely state of Baroda and later
Phalke’s benefactor, addresses Ravi Verma.
DIWAN MADHAVRAO
Raja sahib, you only have two hands. How many copies of your paintings can you and
your students make? Why don’t you send them to Germany and have oleograph prints
made instead? That way, they’ll reach every home. There is an insatiable demand for
your pictures, as you know.
Ravi Verma smiles, and looks at Phalke.
Phalke is consumed with tension, and looking at the enormous cloth-covered canvas.
A hand unveils the painting called “The Galaxy of Women”, a representation of women
from across India, playing various musical instruments.
There is pin-drop silence. The crowd drinks in the image.
Phalke stares intently at it.
Softly, the sound of music begins to grow, as though coming from the painted
instruments themselves, and the women musicians slowly begin to come to life.
As the picture unfreezes, Phalke’s intent face starts to glow.
Ravi Verma notices what Phalke is doing, and smiles.
Applause erupts among the crowd.
