Old Monk - A Short Film

A story between two friends, one alive and one dead, yet brought to life by the sharing of a bond, a rum called Old Monk, that has lasted the test of time.

Language - Multilingual, Hindi and English
Subtitles - English

[Staccato sounds followed by mechanical
sounds as part of Production Company Logo]

[Footsteps of a man who is
seen approaching]

[Sound of traffic and chirping crickets
can be heard in the backdrop]

[Crickets continue chirping]

[The man opens a small door]

[The man fixes a bulb and switches it on]

[Melancholic Indian music starts to play
in the background]

[The melancholic music continues]

[The man cleans a bowl, lays out a tray
and places the bowl on it]

[The same music continues in the backdrop]

[The man starts humming
to the tune]

[Rustling sound as the man takes a pack
of Indian snacks out from his pocket]

[Rustling sound continues as the man
opens the pack with his teeth]

[The man continues humming
and the same tune continues]

[Rustling sound continues as the man
pours the snack into the bowl]

[The man continues humming
and the same tune continues]

[The man takes a bottle of Old Monk Rum
out of his pocket and places it on the tray]

[A small clinking sound as he places
a glass on the tray]

[Three loud thumps as he thumps the bottom
of the bottle of rum to release the vacuum]

[A cranking sound as he uncorks the
bottle of rum by hand]

[A loud clink as he pours the rum into
the glass with extreme care]

[Melancholic music continues in the backdrop
with a ladies voice swaying over it]

[The sound of water being poured into
the glass as he adds water to the rum]

[The man continues humming
and the same tune continues]

[The man brushes his hands together in
satisfaction that he can start drinking now]

[The man stands up and starts to sing
loudly to himself with his arms spread out]

[The man continues drinking and humming to
the same tune which continues in backdrop]

[Melancholic music continues in the backdrop
with a ladies voice swaying over it]

[The man continues to hum as he eats the
snacks along with the rum]

[A voice is heard in the backdrop]
Hey Pinto!

Again, you are drinking alone, aren't you?

Welcome, welcome!

[Slight clinking sound as the man
lifts the tray up]

Finally the king of Samantwadi has arrived.

Didn't I say it right?

Tell me.

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely right!

[Clinking sound as the man puts
the tray down on a table]

Is this the time to come?
It's so late already.

I have been waiting so long for you.

I just made my drink.
I can see that.

Tell me, should I make you one?

Small.

[The man pours into a glass]
Small.

[The man keeps pouring]
A little bit smaller.

[The man keeps pouring]
A little bit smaller than that.

[The man keeps pouring]
A little bit smaller than that as well.

[The rum bottle clinks as it is kept down]
Do one thing, keep the entire bottle.

This is the perfect small
I wanted to have.

[The man pours water into the glass
for the other man]

[He pours much more than the glass can
hold and water spills out]

What the hell are you doing?

I am bit blown. You see I had a couple of
drinks myself already.

[The other man starts laughing hard]

Cheers! Cheers!
They both laugh out loud.

[The other man continues laughing
and takes a drag from his cigarette]

What man? Why are you smoking?
Why don't you stop it?

[The man pretends to blow out
cigarette smoke]

What are you going to get out of this?

The cigarette won't leave me until I leave her.

And what about your drinking habit?
Old Monk!

[The bottle of rum clinks as the man
lifts it up]

[The man utters with an expression of
happiness on his face] Nana!

What?

Naaaanaaaaa!

Is it Nana Patekar?

[The man laughs out in ecstasy]

[The other man with surprised look
on his face]

Shivaji Mandir

Dadar

1978

Hamida Baai Chi Kothi
[A well known Marathi play then]

[Both the men laugh out together
in sheer nostalgic ecstacy]

What an amazing play it was!
Oh yes, it was!

I saw it twice.

I saw it once with you.
[The other man laughs]

The best part was when the play ended.
We went backstage and...

[Oink, oink, oink - pretending to open a
bottle of rum and taking a sip]

Old Monk!
[The man laughs out loud again]

He said "Come here. Have a drink."

[The man starts to laugh loudly again,
claps his hand in the jolly mood]

[The other man joins in]

Here, have the snacks (Chakhna) as well.

Chakhna!
[The other man continues his laughter]

Do you remember Sterling?

Oh, Sterling!

Oh, Cliff, Cliffhanger!

[Both men moving their hands to indicate
the mountain climbing theme of the movie]

They try to climb that cliff.

[The man is nearly out of breath
since he has been laughing so hard]

And you bought two tickets
in the front row.

The screen was so huge!

Felt like we were watching a
lawn tennis match.

Takk, takk, takk, takk!
[Imitating a lawn tennis match]

[The other man starts laughing at
the funny imitation]

[Both men are delirious now due to
nostalgia brought on by the drinking]

Who was the actress in that film?

That fair and beautiful actress?
What are you going to do with her?

[Both men look at each other and
break into another bout of laughter]

What was her name?

Mitchell, Mitchell..

Abbey Chutiya [Indian slang for fool]
Mitchell, Mitchell [imitating his friend]

It's M-i-c-h-e-l-l-e.
[Pronounces with expanding hands]

Mitchell!

[The man is irritated by his friend's
crude pronunciation] Michelle.....

Yes, yes. It's Mitchell man.

[The other man tries to correct his friend]
M-i-c-h-e-l-l-e.

Mitchell.

No, it is Michelle!

Okay, it's Michelle!

You remember the first scene.

Where your Michelle is
falling off the cliff?

And you went, "Ohhhh, Ffffffff.........."

I said, "Hey Sawant, your Michelle fell down,
but your fuck didn't fall!"

[The man imitates Ffffffff....ucckkkkkkkk
with moving hands]

Pinto, you are crazy!

Here, finish this!

What a friend you are man!

Who was that friend of yours
whose name started with an F?

His name was Pedro.

Pedro Fernandez from Bangkok! [The man
imitates Pedro's style of saying his name]

You remember how he was showing off his
bottle of Scotch?

[Both men break out into another
bout of laughter]

[The background music kicks in..
a Goan tune, in Portuguese language]

[Both men continue laughing]

[The music continues and both men imitate
their old Scotch drinking friend]

[Music continues as we see both friends
continue chatting]

[Music continues as both friends
keep chatting and drinking]

[The background music stops]

[The man imitates a female figure and
makes a chirping sound] Who was that girl?

No, no, I don't remember?

Her name was Gitanjali, right?

Padmalaya right?

[The man laughingly]
Tell me her name?

Shuddhi!

You tried to con her many times,
that Shuddhi!

You presented her brass earrings and
told her they were golden.

This is gold earring for you!

Don't talk nonsense, man!

You can dupe everyone!

Mother's promise, I won't do such things!

No need to swear! Me and your mother both
know how big a con-artist you are.

[Both break out into laughter again]

Shhhh! Shhhh!

Shuddhi! [Both men start laughing again]

Oh, Shuddhi!

Ssshhhhhh!

There's an eerie silence between
the two friends.

Hey Pinto!

Hey Pinto! Looks like the booze is over.

Pinto!

Oh! You are still here!
Don't worry! I will get more booze!

You are here. I am here.

[Suddenly the sound of crickets chirping
intensifies]

[Faint traffic noise in the backdrop]

[Melancholic music starts playing again,
sound of a train moving along the tracks]

[The man starts to hum again]

[In an echoing voice]
Hey Pinto!

You are drinking again, all by yourself!
[Sound of rum pouring into a glass]

[Sound of glasses clinking]

[End Credits]