Trivia: Written as a screenplay for an indie short film.
A young man in his late 20s waiting on the bench with the cake for the girl to appear…
Background voice playing:
“You always forget my birthday, this is not done. Do you even care about me, or do you just care about your work?”
Flashback:
“If I will not do the work, how will I earn, how will we bare the living expenses shooting the roof…”
“Oh really? Or all this is just for another promotion? you are pleasing your boss.”
“What’s bad in it? If I am aiming for that. You know, if I become manager, we will be having a better life…”
“That’s what you said when you were in line for the last promotion, but we have already seen the result, first you forgot our anniversary, now birthday, what’s next? You would forget I am waiting for you as well, someday, yes?”
“Oh… you and your exaggerations… What if I forgot a simple date… why does it matter so much?
We are celebrating aren’t we?”
“What’s the point of doing something when the right time has passed up?”
“I don’t have time for this… I have to go…”
He moves out of the house for office…
By the time he returns (late at night), the girl is not there, he sees the letter…
She has broken up with him.
The letter reads: “We’re done Karim, please don’t try to contact me again! – K”
Closeup of his face…
Present:
Closeup of his face… He’s still on the bench waiting.
The conversation – that argument plays in his head, his eyes like he has played it hundreds of times before.
Closeup of Cake… “It has written ‘Kiran‘ over it.”
The girl he awaits appears…
They have a small conversation…
He tells her how he misses her, and kind of remembers small details and all…
And apologized for how last year he missed her birthday…
She’s upset but he tries to convince her…
They cut the cake together…
Closeup: The cake is half split.
Both make each other eat the cake. A small slice.
And then suddenly a call comes, he’s like all serious…
As soon as he’s done with the phone.
The girl guesses… “Office… right?”
He says nothing.
Girl: “Boss is calling?”
His eyes tell that she’s right in guessing it…
“I told them I can’t come…” he says…
“No no, it’s okay… you go… I don’t want to take you from yourself…”
He doesn’t want to go… But she lets him go this time.
“Are you sure?” he asks…
“Yes, very sure. Go I will see you later. And yeah thanks for the cake.”
We see the young man sitting in the car, and the chauffeur that drives him opens the door for him.
Looks like an Audi – the company has given him a car with the driver…
We read his employment card: It reads: “Senior Manager”.
He checks his email and reads one where it says…
From: Boss
Subject: “Congratulations!”
Body: “Congratulations! Mr. Karim, you are promoted to Vice President.
Please enjoy and celebrate with your family!”
We watch the car leaving the Cemetery.
Flashback:
As soon as his girlfriend left the home. She died in an accident.
Present:
We see the cake, it’s untouched, uneaten. Actually placed on the burial ground, where she finally rests in peace.
The young man looks at the side seat of his car, where of course no one is sitting…
He has a tear in his eye… He has no one to celebrate his joy with.
Credits: Original story is co-written with Samit Amin Charania.
Serenades of a dreamer... 