Pagal

Amritakalolsavam- The annual arts fest of my college, the last of my engineering college life, ended yesterday. Below is the script of a 20 min stage play I'd conceived for the event. It was staged yesterday and we received good reviews.....

Pagal
or
In the world of a Madman

Main Characters:
Mad man
School kid

Synopsis:
A three act stage play about a mad man with two parallel storylines. One is his tragic life story and the other is about his comic relationship with a school kid.

The curtains havent parted yet. No lights in the auditorium.

Audio:
The play begins with the sounds of a tension filled maternity ward. The mother exhales loudly followed by a newborns cry….
Doctor: (crying newborn in background) Congratulations, he’s a healthy boy!!
Mother: Our baby….. Rian. (kisses)

Child crying louder…. The sounds subside to music (a..b..c..d.. the song that we learn in kindergarten)

Mother: (animated) Rian!! Rian beta… Nahaalo…. Rian.. come here.. Badmaash!!

Child’s mischievous laughter slowly turning into cacophony of a classroom…

Class teacher: Rahul Nair 85.3 %… Rian Nanda 90.7%… first in class once again… Well done Rian!

Loud cheering and crowd noise…
Commentator: Loyola high school has won the championship thanks to a brilliant half century by young Rian…….


Curtains part as the cheering dies into the background but heard faintly still.. Lights on stage gradually brighten..

Act I

A dirty garbage bin with filth, black polythene bags, banana peels, brown gooey stuff strewn about it, is at the center of the stage. Two dirty legs dressed in rags stick out upwards. It seems like somebody is violently searching the bin for something… The bin moves gently from side to side and tips over. Out comes a rather dirty looking creature dressed in rags with long uncombed hair and a mismanaged bush of a beard, remotely passable as human, sucking on a half eaten rotten apple but savouring its taste nevertheless. Lip-lickingly delicious….

A crazy tune starts playing in the background to which our mad man starts dancing.. he runs all over the stage picking, throwing the garbage around him, picks his nose, chases his own tail, fights with his own shadow, barks loudly at a sleeping dog nearby that scampers away in sheer fright.. The music slows down and ends in a low. The mad man now is sitting in a corner hugging his knees visibly sorrowful… he sobs, cries and wails loudly and hysterically.. “Gogii…. Gogiiii…” he keeps shouting and begins laughing all of a sudden… Hysteria.. While laughing he falls backward into the garbage bin, tips over and stands up with the bin on top of his head…. He removes the bin with one hand to reveal the half eaten apple in the other that he's munching away at…. He sits down finally and drums the floor with his fingers… A few people walk past him, possibly going to work. One throws some coins at him which he looks at quizzically…. Another throws a half eaten burger in his face…. That he accepts gleefully…..

He’s relishing whatever is left of the burger when the sounds of some kids playing cricket fall upon his ears. A ball comes bouncing towards him. He grabs it and stares it the sphere in amusement. Three kids come running behind the ball to find it in the mad man’s hands..

One of the kids, apparently the leader of the trio, points at the ball in his hands and motions him to return it. He refuses and presses the ball closer to his chest…

Kid: Aye Pagal…. Stupid… Give us the ball….

The three snatch the ball from him forcibly.. They kick him, pull his hair, slap his face…. Dust themselves and leave with the ball.. The madman is left drumming the floor with his fingers…..

The lights on stage dim and slowly go out..

Audio:

Rian:(a twenty year old boy now) Mom, Dad….. 98.3%ile HaHA!!
Mom: Shabaash beta…. IIM?!?
Dad: You’ve done us proud!

Pause..
Rian: Mom.. Uh.. Uhh…
Mom: Haan beta
Rian: Th- There is this girl…..(mom's laughter)

Wedding music

Wife’s panting followed by another newborn’s cry
Wife: Our lil baby….. Gauri……

Childs crying slowly subsides as stage brightens..

Act II
Mad man’s snoring away loudly beside his homely garbage bin. He is moving about in his sleep.. Evidently he’s dreaming.. About happy times perhaps. The earlier kid runs onto the stage chased by three bullies. They catch up, bring him down and start abusing and kicking him. They hold him by the collar threateningly. The commotion created irritates our sleeping mad man. He charges at the bullies, looks them head to toe, hollers in their faces, pinches their bums and shoos them away. Too eager to get back to his dream he goes back to his cozy corner only to find the little kid’s sobbing just as disturbing. He looks at the kid disgusted but his face changes quickly when he sees the kid in tears. He feels sorry and offers the kid his prized possession- The previous day’s half eaten burger. The kid laughs at him, momentarily forgetting his tattered clothes and tears, then runs back home…. Mad man shrugs in a manner that says “What’s the matter with that guy? He crazy??”, and returns to his unfinished dream in peace…

The stage blacks out slowly again..

Audio:
Sounds of a busy Saturday household, utensils in the kitchen, a distant humming of a washing machine….
Wife: Jaan…. I’m takin Mama and Papa to the dentist.. then going to buy grocery.. I’m taking Guari along with me.. Put out the clothes before you leave for office. Don’t forget!!
Rian: Ha Baba.. I’ll do it sweetheart….. bubye gogi… bubbye… Muah… Bye honey.. Drive safely…..

Pause..

Frantic sound of horns, followed by shouts, screeching of brakes and a loud bang
Pause..

Newsreader: Four were killed in a car accident on Mount road today. The accident occurred at around 10 this morning when a goods carrier truck collided with a maruti alto head on at a blind turn. All passengers in the car died on the spot. The victims, yet unidentified are an elderly couple, a woman in her mid twenties and a 6 month old girl………..

Sobs.. louder… crying at first in low volume, getting louder…. Weeping uncontrollably…. Wailing… loudly… shouting with rage, “GOGI……GOGIII…………..”.. more crying….. turns slowly into laughter, at first mellow… then hysteric and loud…. Insane… mad…. SHREIK!!!

The stage slowly brightens after a longer pause…

Act III
(A happy slow music background (guitar chords))
Just as in the first scene the mad man is buried head first into his garbage bin with his legs sticking out upwards, digging frantically for something…. The kid, now in a neatly pressed school uniform, carrying a schoolbag, a water bottle hanging from his neck, tiffin box in hand, enters the stage… Moves towards the madman and tugs at his dress-rags a hand sticks out of the bin to scratch its bum… The kid tugs again and the bin tips over.. Out comes our madman again.. munching a banana this time… The kid offers his tiffin box (music reaches a high)… The Mad man and the kid sit and eat the Tiffin together….

(music reaches a crescendo)

Curtain

Credits:

Actors

Mad man- Anand Nair

Main kid- Shivakumar

Second kid- Deependra Singh Hada

Commuter 1- Shreyas

Commuter 2- Akarsh Venugopal

Bully 1- Sarat Sekhar

Bully 2- Akarsh Venugopal

Voices

Rian's Mom- Manisha

Class Teacher- Jayasree

Commentator- Akarsh Venugopal

Rian- Anand Nair

Rian's Wife- Deepthi Ranjith

Newsreader- Sheena

Sound recording and editing

Ranjith Sir (Multimedia)

Music

Guitar- Gayatri Jeaks

Violin- Shankar

Percussion- Manoj

Stage, sets etc.

Vineeth Kumar

Sai Kishore

Titto John

Vipin

Special thanks to

Shyamkumar C. N.

Sruthi

Jithin Prakash