Samaygic

By Harsh Dutt Pandey

[The story runs parallel with God's perspective and the perspectives of the two leads.]

The scene opens and we see an ambulance moving. There's a lot of chaos (people are in distress) in the marketplace of the district. There’s rage, mourning, and disturbance everywhere around. We come to know that a truck, on the highway, was stolen by a man who is mentally ill and that he drove the truck around the city and destroyed everything that came his way until the truck got wrecked.

(Scene changes along with the location) Rishabh Sharma is a young man working in the US. There, he is addressed by the name Ree. He has no social life and is a complete loner. The story begins with his voice where he tells us about his life in which there's not much happening. He says he isn't living; rather he is just breathing and waiting for something. [Something: - he had once read that life is full of surprises and the best thing about human life is that it can change completely positively or negatively within minutes, say, 5 minutes.] While having coffee there, (Flashback) he remembers one of his childhood incidents where her mother is handing over a glass of milk to him and we get to see that he loves his mother too much through some instances. (Flashback ends) We see Rishabh enjoying his coffee.

(Scene changes along with the location) We see Nidhi Singh, a young woman, who is sitting at her office in Mumbai. While searching for a paper in her purse, she notices that there is candy inside her purse. (Flashback) She also starts remembering one of her childhood incidents where she, being highly impacted by a T.V. advertisement, goes to her grandfather, who owns a Photostat shop and asks him to get copies of the candy that she has in her hand. (Flashback ends) We see Nidhi in her present and she resumes her work. [Scene changed] We again see Rishabh who is sitting in his flat and is not happy with his work life. He starts watching a T.V. show and he seems to get #much influenced by that show and at that point, he figures out he also wants to work in that business. Some days later, he resigns and comes to Mumbai to learn and explore the field of writing in the film business. He joins a theatre and begins to learn screenwriting through observing great work in the theatres of the city of Mumbai.

Then we see Rishabh reading a book. He doesn't have a habit of putting bookmarks so he always writes the page number up to which he has finished reading at the starting page of his book. Always searching for something, Rishabh dials the numbers (which look like cell phone no.) written on the page. The call gets connected to Nidhi. This is how they meet. They become good friends. When Rishabh tells Nidhi about his fondness for screenwriting she gets happy and tells him that she also likes this field and has been highly impacted by cinema since childhood but says that she doesn't think she is gifted enough to go after these things.

Rishabh and Nidhi are standing at a bus stop. He asks her to join him in the writing business, to which, she refuses and says that there's too much competition and she doesn't think that she can do well in this. And at this point, an old man with white hair and a beard, wearing a grey shawl and old-fashioned glasses comes to them and asks Nidhi what the time is. She tells him that it's 6 p.m. As the man is looking very old, she generously asks him where he is headed and if she can be of any help. The man refuses her help and while smiling a little, he says that he believes in himself and everybody should do the same. He leaves. Nidhi still refuses for joining Rishabh in his writing work.

Next, we see Nidhi working in her office. Somehow her encounter with the old man stays in her mind. She also decides to believe in herself and join Rishabh to explore the writing world herself. Nidhi joins him and they start working together in his apartment. During this, they also start liking each other. One night, while they were lying in bed, Rishabh asks her if she believes in destiny. She says she isn't sure. They work hard together and create a screenplay of their own. They submit it to some production houses. Then, they decide to take a break and visit their respective hometowns while expecting a call from production houses.

Nidhi leaves first for Dehradun. While leaving the city, Rishabh is not feeling good but he leaves anyway for Satna, a small district in Madhya Pradesh. We see Rishabh sitting in his home at night. He is remembering his late mother and wishes to reach such great heights that even his mother can witness his achievements from heaven.

The next morning, he gets a call from the production team and they say they want to meet him and Nidhi in person for the film discussion. Rishabh gets very excited. He calls Nidhi but there seems to be some network problem. So, he goes outside and tells Nidhi about the call from Mumbai. She also gets very happy. While talking to her, he reaches the crossroad (Location- Satna; Date- 6th Aug 2013; Time - 6 p.m.) and tells her that now their life is going to get changed and maybe this is the moment for which he has waited all his life. In the next moment, we see Rishabh and everything around him being crushed by a speedy truck. The same truck about which information has been given in the starting scene. Then we hear Rishabh’s voice where he says that he was right, life does get changed in minutes.

Nidhi reads about the news of the accident in Satna and comes to know about Rishabh. She seems to be drowning in grief. She goes to Satna for Rishabh's last rites. Then, she comes back to Mumbai. Then, we see her meeting the production team. She feels very bad as she knows that she is in this place because of Rishabh and he could not live this moment himself.

5 years later. We see Nidhi, who is now a successful screenwriter in Mumbai, walking on a beach in the evening time. There she sees the same old man whom she once met at the bus stop. She is shocked to see that the man is looking exactly the same even though so much time has passed. This time she goes to him and asks him what's the time. The man says it's 6 p.m. Nidhi's astonished as she notices that the man is neither wearing a watch nor he has checked the time on any of the devices but has answered the correct time. The man begins to walk toward the sunset. Nidhi asks him what his name is. He turns back and reveals that his name is Waqt (the time itself) and tells her that just like theirs, he's a part of everyone's life in one way or the other and tells Nidhi that yes, everything that happens in this world is always destined. He resumes walking and gets disappeared in the visual of sunset.

By Harsh Dutt Pandey