THE SITCOM

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the sitcom

Episode 8: "Rangu Ekkuva, Helmet Ledu"

== Cold Open - Mugguru ==

5 panels engine: the Honda Shine, overloaded

greater than

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Night

[C.1] 8 a.m. The lane. Three men on one Honda Shine, going

nowhere fast - Anudeep driving, because he is the only one

anybody trusts to; Kicha wedged forward on the fuel tank

rod, knees up round his ears; Suraj on the pillion, taking

up two men's worth of space and entirely unbothered by that

fact.

No helmets. Not one.

[C.2] Kicha, crushed, jabs backwards with an elbow into

Suraj's ribs.

KICHA

Rey. Mundhuku jaru.

[C.3] And Suraj - a man nobody has ever discovered this

about - jackknifes. Entire body. Enormous, undignified,

involuntary.

S.F.X: Hyaa-

Beat. Kicha's head turns very slowly. He has just been

handed something.

[C.4] He does it again. With intent. With both hands.

Suraj folds in half, shrieking, at eight in the morning, on

a moving vehicle, in a residential lane.

Anudeep

Rey- Rey-

[C.5] Ninety kilos of Suraj goes sideways and the scooter

goes with it.

S.F.X: THMP - skrrrt - clang

Wide. The Honda Shine on its side in the lane. Anudeep

standing over it, absolutely still, looking down at the two

of them with the face of a man who has just understood his

life.

And on the ground - Suraj and Kicha, flat on their backs,

laughing so hard neither can speak. Kicha with one long

scratch down his forearm, bleeding slightly, which he has

not noticed and will not notice for another four hours.

Narrator (V.O.)

Rangu Ekkuva, Helmet Ledu

I.N.T. Boys H.Q - Morning

[1] Boys H.Q, morning, the day after the cold open. The

recurring wide. Kicha and Suraj already dressed and

vibrating. Anudeep at the table with a coffee and both feet

planted, wearing the specific face of a man who is about to

say no.

[2]

Suraj

Bandi ekku.

Anudeep

Ledu.

KICHA

Enduku ledu?

Anudeep

(one word, and it is the whole of yesterday)

Ninna.

[3] Suraj opens his mouth to argue and cannot, because he

was there, on the ground, laughing, and it was his ribs

that did it.

[4] Kicha, undeterred, produces a phone and calls the one

person who can make a plan happen.

KICHA

Aish ki call chey.

I.N.T./E.X.T. the Balcony - Night

[5] Aishwarya over the rail thirty seconds later, already

suspicious, holding her own coffee.

Aishwarya

Enti plan?

Suraj

Plan ledu. Just… bayataki veldam.

Aishwarya

(not buying a word of it) Sare. Paatha

battalu veskondi.

[6] A beat. Three men look at each other.

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Day

[7] And it lands on all of them at once - the water drums

in the lane yesterday, the paper packets, Padma Aunty's

suspicion.

KICHA

…ee roju Holi ra.

Suraj

Holi Ra-

[8] Anudeep, quietly, already regretting being awake:

Anudeep

Nenu radhu.

Everyone

(not even looking at him) Vasthav.

[9] The lane. The four of them heading out, Suraj with a

bag of colour, Kicha with a bag of water balloons,

Aishwarya with the expression of a chaperone.

[10] the Plan - Kicha's, announced with full ceremony:

KICHA

Pinky intiki veldam. Daanini kindaki

pilustamu. Prathi okkariki oka balloon.

Suraj

Enduku Pinky?

KICHA

Endukante adi manalni roju office ki

teesukelthundi. Ee roju manam daanini

thadupudam.

[11] (⭐ The rivalry and the carpool, in one line. She

drives them to work because their shifts are odd and she

has a car. Today they are going to get her back for the

privilege.)

[12] Anudeep, trailing, holding his one assigned water

balloon at arm's length like it is a live thing.

[13] Pinky's building. The four of them below her window.

Kicha cups his hands.

KICHA

Pinky! Kindaki ra!

[14] A pause. Then Pinky at the window - and she does not

look annoyed. She looks delighted, which should worry them

and does not.

Pinky

Vasthunna!

[15] The four of them fan out below, balloons ready, a

firing squad in old clothes, absurdly pleased with

themselves.

[16] She comes out of the door. She is completely dry,

completely calm, and she does not break stride.

I.N.T./E.X.T. the Building - Day

[17] the Ambush - reversed. As Pinky steps clear, eight

colony kids rise from behind the parked cars, the compound

wall, the stairwell, every one of them armed.

[18] Pinky, walking calmly through the middle of her own

trap:

Pinky

Pillalu. Ippudu.

[19] Wide. All four of them - Suraj, Kicha, Aishwarya and

Anudeep - drenched from eight directions at once. Colour,

water, powder, the works. Total, comprehensive,

pre-arranged annihilation.

S.F.X: Spladoosh

[20] Pinky, dry, in the eye of it, to Kicha specifically:

Pinky

Nenu ninna plan chesanu ra. Meeru ee roju

plan chesaru.

Pinky

Adi difference.

[21] And Anudeep - hit, dripping, pink and green and

furious - does the one thing he has been threatening to do

since he woke up. He steps out of it.

[22]

Anudeep

Naaku face I.D undi ra.

Suraj

Enti?

Anudeep

Biometrics. Interview mundu. Naaku rangu

vaddu. Naa mukham clean ga undali.

[23] Nobody believes a word of it, because it is being said

by a man covered head to toe in colour, which undercuts the

argument somewhat.

KICHA

Vaadu drama chesthunnadu.

Suraj

Vaadi mukham anni roju la ne untundi ra.

Anudeep

(with enormous dignity, dripping) Adi

biometric vishayam. Meeku ardham kaadu.

[24] He turns to walk away. Clean exit. The moral high

ground, retreating.

[25] ⭐ the Mistake. The kids - who were briefed by Pinky,

who were shown a photo, who have one special instruction -

see a tall figure walking away and match it to the picture.

Kid

Suraj Anna Ippudu-

[26] (⭐ The special instruction was for Suraj. They have

the wrong man. Anudeep is exactly Suraj's height from

behind and they cannot see the specs from here.)

[27] the Special Payload. Not balloons. Two full buckets,

held between four kids each, saved for one target, deployed

on the wrong one.

S.F.X: Sploosh

[28] Anudeep. Completely. Utterly. From the crown of his

head down. More colour than the other three combined. He

does not move for one full panel.

[29] He turns around, very slowly, and finds Pinky.

[30] ⭐ And he gives her a look of pure, articulate disgust

- the single most expressive thing this careful, polite man

does in the entire season, and he does it wearing four

kilos of blue.

Pinky, for the first time all morning, looks slightly less

pleased with herself.

[31] Aishwarya cuts in, all business, grabbing Anudeep by a

dripping sleeve.

Aishwarya

Randi. Ee rangu ventane teeyali, lekapothe

week untundi.

Aishwarya

Naa intiki kaadu - Jay intiki. Adi daggara.

[32] And she hauls him away, up toward the building, toward

the top floor.

the Split. From here the episode runs two rooms.

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Day

[33] Room One - the lane. Pinky, Suraj and Kicha, the three

of them left behind, and the mood curdles from ambush into

something warmer, because getting soaked together is the

fastest friendship there is.

Suraj

Idi nee plan ninna nunche undi kada.

Pinky

(finally admitting it, delighted) Moodu

vaaralu nunchi.

[34] Kicha, examining his own balloon, which is heavier

than a water balloon should be.

KICHA

Idi enti ra. Idi baruvu.

[35] He bites the knot off. It is not water. The three of

them look into it, then at each other.

[36] They cut all three balloons open into one steel

tumbler and share it, sitting on the compound wall, at nine

in the morning, and the day tilts sideways from here -

drawn, never stated.

I.N.T. Boys H.Q - Day

[37] Room Two - Jay's penthouse. Anudeep at the bathroom

tap, blue to the elbows, scrubbing, getting nowhere. Jay in

the doorway with two coffees, having asked no questions.

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Day

[38] Wide, still, quiet - the contrast with the lane should

be total. Cool tile, running water, one calm man.

Jay

Adi vaaram untundi.

Anudeep

(scrubbing harder) Naaku biometrics undi ra.

Jay

(beat) Eppudu?

Anudeep

(pause - because he does not actually know

the date yet) …tarvata.

Jay

Appudu parledu.

[39] ⭐ And Jay says the only real thing anyone says all

episode, sideways, not looking at him, exactly as he will

in Ep 10:

Jay

Rangu poddi. Nuvvu bhayapadedi rangu kaadu

ra.

Jay

Nuvvu bhayapadedi - idi antha temporary ani

nuvve nammali anukuntunnav. Adi poddi.

[40] Anudeep stops scrubbing for one panel.

[41] Room One, escalating. The three on the wall are now,

unmistakably and unstatedly, altered. Suraj is negotiating

with a stray dog. Kicha is filming the sky.

[42] And Pinky - the sober one, the planner, watching her

two colleagues come apart - gets an idea that is a terrible

idea and is going to be very funny.

[43] She produces the last of her own colour. Blue. All of

it.

Pinky

Rendu monkeys. Meeru naaku roju trouble

istaru.

Pinky

Ee roju - nenu.

[44] She paints them. Both. Comprehensively. They let her,

because they are in no condition to prevent anything and

they think it is the funniest thing that has ever happened,

which, to be fair, it is.

[45] Suraj and Kicha, now evenly and completely blue - the

Avatar-blue from the header photo - decide, with the

confidence of the truly gone, to ride home.

[46] There are two helmets on the bike. They leave both on

the wall. (⭐ The cold open, paid: three men, no helmets, on

the ground by eight. Now two blue men, no helmets, at ten.)

[47] And Pinky, watching them wobble off, does the

responsible thing and the funny thing at the same time -

she takes out her phone.

[48] ⭐ (⭐ Per canon: no real arrest, no antagonist. She

calls the local constable she knows from the crime beat - a

professional contact - and reports "two blue men, no

helmets" as a prank tip, the way colleagues wind each other

up. She is not trying to get them arrested. She is trying

to get them stopped, which is the responsible read, dressed

as the funny one.)

Pinky

(on the phone, entirely sweet) Constable

garu. Rendu neela rangu manushulu. Helmet

ledu. Meeku research kavali anukunta.

[49] the Stop. A junction. The constable - nineteen years,

a receipt book, no interest in anything - steps out and

raises one hand at two blue men on a helmetless bike.

Constable

Helmet ledu.

[50] Neither of them hears the offence. Because both,

independently, in the same half-second, have concluded they

are being arrested for what is in the tumbler.

Suraj

Sir- sir nenu rendu matrame-

KICHA

Naaku telusu sir, tappu, vaadu ichadu naaku-

Suraj

Nenu Ichana?!

[51] The constable, who has no idea what they are

confessing to and does not want to know, waits nineteen

years' worth of a beat.

Constable

Vey nooru. Helmet ki.

[52]

Suraj

(very small) …helmet ki aa?

Constable

(tearing the challan) Ekkuva kavala?

I.N.T./E.X.T. the Building - Day

[53] Room Two, resolving. Jay's balcony. Anudeep, mostly

clean now, one blue ear he cannot reach, wrapped in a

borrowed towel, drinking the coffee.

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Day

[54] He looks down over the rail - and sees, in the lane

below, two blue men coming home on foot pushing a bike, and

a challan.

[55] He does not go down. He watches. For the first time

all day he is not the most ridiculous person in the frame,

and something in him settles.

Anudeep

(to Jay, quietly) Vaallu neela ga unnaru.

Jay

Haan.

Anudeep

Enduku?

Jay

Adi… ala ne untundi ra. Holi.

I.N.T. Boys H.Q - Evening

[56] The flat, evening. All of them, cleaned up as much as

anyone can be. Suraj and Kicha still faintly, permanently

blue. Anudeep with the one blue ear.

[57] the Face Massage. Somebody's aunty remedy - cucumber,

curd, something green - and the three of them flat on the

floor in a row while Aishwarya supervises with total

contempt.

[58]

KICHA

Idi poddha?

Aishwarya

Rangu aa? Poddi.

KICHA

Face pack.

Aishwarya

Adi kuda poddi. Nuvvu chala apply chesav.

[59] Anudeep, in the row, calm now, the careful man

restored, entirely reassured by his own logic:

Anudeep

Naaku parledu. Rangu poddi le. Vaaram lo.

Anudeep

Biometrics tarvata undi kada.

[60] (⭐ He is right. He is completely right. He is right in

exactly the way Jay warned him about - the colour will go,

the way everything he refuses to hold onto goes. He does

not hear the echo. The reader does.)

[61] Night. Kicha props the phone against the pickle

tumbler and sets a timer for the photograph.

E.X.T. Hyderahbad / on the Road - Day

[62] the Photograph. Full panel: Suraj and Kicha,

comprehensively blue, either side of the Honda Shine like

two Avatar characters at a wedding. Both grinning. Both

destroyed. And in the corner of the frame, unplanned -

Anudeep, one blue ear, refusing to smile, which makes it

the best photograph anyone takes all season.

S.F.X: click.

[63] Kicha wedges it into the bottom corner of the frame on

the wall, half over this week's film poster, where it will

stay through every Friday change for the rest of the

season.

I.N.T./E.X.T. the Building - Night

[64] Wide, from the dark lane. The building. One lit window

on the second floor. One lit window on the top floor. Blue

handprints on the rail, on the doorframe, on the stairs.

Narrator (V.O.)

The colour came off everything in about a

week.

Narrator (V.O.)

Almost everything.

== End Gag - Premium Photo ==

5 panels engine: the challan ⭐ the last end gag of the

season

[G.1] The challan, flat on the table. Officially printed.

₹1,000.

[G.2] The photograph beside it. Both men looking at both

objects.

[G.3]

KICHA

Idi naa life lo best photo ra.

Suraj

Pakka.

[G.4]

KICHA

Dheeniki vey nooru ayindi.

Suraj

(with real satisfaction) Government sponsor

chesindi ra.

[G.5] Wide. The two of them sitting on the floor looking up

at the frame - this week's film, one blue photograph wedged

in the corner, and the challan taped to the wall beside it

like a certificate of authenticity.

== Post-credit Stinger - Handprint ==

4 panels not a joke

I.N.T. Boys H.Q - Night

[S.1] Three days later. Bathroom mirror. Suraj, still

faintly blue at the hairline and the knuckles.

E.X.T. Kopitam - Day

[S.2] Kopitam. Kicha on the bench, still faintly blue. Seth

ji looks at him from behind the counter for exactly one

beat and writes something in the ledger. We do not see the

page.

I.N.T. Boys H.Q - Day

[S.3] The flat. Anudeep at the doorframe with a cloth,

working at a single blue handprint. It is not coming off.

[S.4] Wide. Empty flat. The doorframe. One blue handprint.

Permanent.

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