Adhura S1E3
Now: Episode 3 "If You Make Trouble You Will Be Punished"
Language of Origin: हिन्दी (Hindi)
It's just any normal day in class. Mr. Iyer briefly excuses himself and literally at the drop of a hat the class gets out of their seats to socialize. The lonesome Vedant continues to keep to himself. Meanwhile a few seats over Kabir and Dhruv nudge Sarthak but he gives them the cold shoulder. His shit is still shook and they all give Vedant the stink eye and continue to gossip calling that adorable young boy a psycho. Dhruv gets an idea and takes his pen and does that thing people do with a knife and quickly tap in between the space of their fingers.
They taunt Vedant in hopes of pissing him off. The hard clanking of the pen on the desk is absolutely like nails on a chalkboard but Vedant is taking the high road at the moment and is just vibin'. Sarthak on the other hand, due to the facial expression on his face, he has a feeling something is about to happen. There's just something about Vedant's demeanor that is foreshadowing.
Turns out he is right.
Without warning, Dhruv's hand gets impaled by his own pen as he swiftly didn't have control over his dominating hand. Eek! Vedant is definitely a force to be reckoned with. The one and only time he lifts his head up, he makes eye contact with Sarthak who immediately regrets even looking in his direction and snaps back at his own desk.
Little does everyone know that this whole time Vedant was writing in his notebook "If you make trouble you will be punished." Hey! That's the name of this episode!
In the hallways Chandra Prakash is talking to himself in the hallway wondering WTF is up with that boy. That boy ain't right. First the puppies (allegedly!!!) and now this? A student accidentally bumps into him and he snaps at the student but holy fuck...it's actually Vedant which spooks the curry out of him. Vedant just stays there he's at and gives Prakash the scary stink eye as he continues walking down the stairs. This part was...something. Because due to the spooky music and the zoom in on Prakash's shoes as he is stepping down the stairs, the scene is set up for you to think he finna gonna make 4 eyes face plant. Alas, no. Good one, bois.
Now we are in the dining hall where the alumni is at (I suppose in India, they refer to the graduates as Old Boys)
Rajat is pissing Parth off by keep calling him "musician" like an annoying little brother. Parth snaps at him to STFU. But he was joking, bro! Rajat takes his seat at the table with his amigos while Malvika is telling them they need to rehearse the play and shit because that is like totally important!
Things obviously don't get too far because here come Adhiraj coming out for blood and slams the book that materialized in his room the night before. Ninad's Shadow Boy graphic novel. He slams it on the table and asks WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?! Rajat has no clue and went to pick up the book and it sizzles upon contact. The rest of the table poke fun at him that can't even handle a dang nabbit book. He's like "I'm fo real! No fo fake! See touch it!" One of them proceeds to touch the graphic novel and facetiously makes fun of it acting as if he got electrocuted. Much to everyone's laughter.
Adhiraj is like "Ah, fuck it." There's no answers here.
He steps outside and calls up his doctor and shares the fuckery that he has to put up with lately. From seing things to hearing voices. The Doctor voices obvious concern that he should maybe fly back home. Adhiraj is frustrated because he thought that closure from his BFF, Ninad, would aid in his attempt to allieviate his mental anguish was in vain since he didn't even show up to the reunion. The doctor poses the option that Ninad is not the answer to his absolution, it was within him all along. Cheesy answer but it's the truth, I suppose. Apparently Adhiraj thought it was corny as fuck too and he hangs up on the doctor.
Malvika appears from the darkness and apologizes for being such ninja AF. She tries to console him after piecing together that he is getting anxiety attacks. He shows her the graphic novel and is confuzzled who put who up to this. Malvika just says "It's just a prank, bro."
Not too long later there is a faculty meeting where Mr. Prakash is talking about reincarnation or at least something like it that when we die our souls live on. Supriya seems a bit miffed so she voices her nihilistic heart out "When we die, we die." They have a civil but brief debate on that matter but he seems to get the last word in and Supriya walks off as the bell has signaled. He ends it by saying they are upsetting the late Vyas' spirit by not doing any kind of sacred ritual.
Adhiraj visits the secretary (I think) to ask to look up any information on Ninad. Funny thing is, there is no record of his name! WTF! She just chucks it up to technology fuck up and due to the bell, she heads home for the day but before she does she informs him that there are some records that may be available in the archive room.
He meets up with Supriya to share his dilemma. He also confesses that when he talked with Vedant, he reminded him so much of young Ninad. He tries the most guiltiest guilt trip he could muster to ask for her help in tracking down Ninad so he can have closure before he flies back home.
Being the empathetic person she is, did not need that heavy of a guilt trip but she agrees anyway. He still finessed his way so yay!
Outside in the courtyard, Kabir catches up with Sarthak and says that Dhruv is in the infirmatory being bandaged up. Once he reaches the room, he immediately tries to tell the doctor that Dhruv did not stab himself on his own volition buuuuuut maybe he should have looked to see who was in the room because well...Vedant. IS. IN. THERE. TOO! He stares daggers at him and Sarthak stops dead in his tracks (which convendiently the doctor did not seem to witness even though she is literally 2 feet from him. The death glare was enough to end up running out of there.
Back inside the building, Rajat is still reeling in the WTFuckery with his hand. While walking down the hallway, he hears footsteps and automatically assumes it's his missing friend, Suyash so he calls for him.
As he turns the corner, he bumps into none other than Parth who accuses him of intentionally trying to spook him. And he ain't about that life anymore. Poor Parth can never catch a break, eh?
Rajat reaches and tries to knock on Suyash's door and I think he saw some movement but ultimately not the one he is looking for so he just walks away.
Sucks that they couldn't track him down because that dude is literally the star of the play that Malvika was putting together and it's literally about to be presented to DAFUQ is going on here?!?!
Malvika is waiting with Dev, her husband while patiently waiting for Rajat to come back but of course he is the bearer of bad news. Malvika is like a tea kettle at this point because it seemed she really was into putting together this nice project. Dev tries to call Suyash but he finds out eerily that the network is out which is the same exact time Rajat's hand injury is getting progressively worse as he is still wincing in pain. Meanwhile, Dev is asking Malvika if there is anyone that could possibly replace Suyash in the place.
Cue to Adhiraj's phone buzzing lol. He immediately ignores the call as he has more important things to do. He's currently in the archives with Supriya. The archive kind of sucks because everyone is so disorganized and has low priority as staff does fuck all to want to do more about it.
They both get started. He then asks her why isn't she involved in the play. Supriya implies she hates their fucking guts. Okay, she did not say that at all but she did say being around the staff more than she should would drive her bananas. She has a tough time socializing with them because they clearly have different beliefs than her when it comes to ghosts, spirits and all that mumbo jumbo.
For some reason, while she is talking, Adhiraj disappears and Supriya freaks when she thinks something happened to him so she keeps calling for him while cautiously walking around this dimly lit archival room. OOGA BOOGA! He ninja's behind her to troll her about the ghosts.
Things drastically changes in topic from Supriya saying pranks like this is the reason why school counselors like hers exist to Adhiraj saying he lost both of his parents when he was 10, if we're going to go there about childhood traumas!
Adhiraj here is trying to flip the script by asking what brings her to this part of the world (I guess she dropped that info earlier). Supriya confesses the heartfelt but brief tragic snippet about herself being her failed marriage and due to her not proving financial stability, she lost custody of her 5 year old son, Abhi. Things are getting pretty deep here, eh? Well, to cut the sad tension, they continue to look in the files.
Eventually he actually finds Ninad's folder with his name!!! While he is flipping through his folder, he finds a handwritten letter that he for some reason conceals from Supriya and even hides the letter in his pocket. Mission is over and he got what he wanted. I NOW I finally get the importance of that Cafe he first stopped by!!! It was owned by Ninad's family. However, he finds a lead as his grandparents' address is on file.
However, he has to travel over an hour away in Kotagiri.
Panning over to the play, everything has concluded. Malvika doesn't look too pleased at all. Malvika is sulking on stairs outside while everyone is exiting the auditorium. Her husband tries to console and says it is just a silly play but she takes it personally. Dev being a pacifist, ain't one to argue so he takes the high road and lets her be so she can calm down.
Here she is all alone now after everyone has cleared the area. She hears footsteps and assumes it's Dev so she tells him to fuck off. Except it is not him. No, no. She continue to hears footsteps but right when she snaps to turn around to bitch him out some more, turns out no one is around. But literally at that second, an unseen force pulls on her scarf to strangle her and her back is backwards on the rail, nearly falling over but luckily, she no die.
When the unseen dark force releases its grip, she hears the footsteps again. Gradually it picks up pace and it sounds like it is coming from upstairs. Holy shit now it sounds like it is running down the stairs and getting louder!!!!! She flees the room only to immediately come bump into Adhiraj. He detects her being white as a ghost but Malvika doesn't share exactly what happens and surmises that she is yet another victim of a prank.
But hey! While she is there right in front of him, he actually whips out that letter and shares with her that according to the letter in Ninad's handwritting that due to his grandfather being ill, his parents request that the school let him leave for Kotagiri and Coach Vyas would drive him to the bus stop.
Huh. Weird.
This puzzles him because Ninad never told him about his grandfather's illness at all. Malvika says that maybe is was due to their last argument so why would he tell him? Things aren't exactly adding up because their 2 families were close so how come no one told his grandfather? Malvika continues to try to play devil advocate saying maybe they didn't want to seem to want to ask a favor from the high ranking officer that is Adhiraj's grandfather. Nah, he won't hear of it!
There's definitely something more to it and he wants to get to the bottom of it despite Malvika's refusal to believe in a potential sinister scenario.
Funny thing is, she says that in a weird way, that is his pseudo karma for standing her up on a date on their last day of school. She even says that this is the very spot they were standing in when she broke up with him.
He parts ways with her after telling her his intentions. Off he goes all by himself to the trip out to Kotagiri. He reunites with Ninad's father in the field who happily welcome him. He cuts to the chase and says he is here to speak with Ninad himself. The father's face is immediate sadness when he breaks the news to him that Ninad never made it home. In fact, he has been missing for 15 years.
Once they are all inside and sit down, he is ready to share his story, at least from their perspective.
On that last day of school, they were waiting for both of them to come back but once they couldn't find Ninad, they contacted the school. Once they were told about the contents of the letter, needless to say, it was all bullshit. His grandfather was never ill and they would never grant Coach Vyas any sort of authoritive over Ninad for that kind of thing anyway.
Upon digging further to search for their son, they filed a missing person's report, hung up missing posters, they even spoke to the driver on the bus he boarded. The bus driver said that Ninad actually got off a few steps before reaching Kotagiri and got belligerent when they tries to prevent him.
SSP Anil Joshi was currently investigating the missing person's case and eventually made his way to have a chat with the school officials. Once he got to Coach Vyas, he just showed the aforementioned letter to him in which the cops considered this a closed case. Parent's instincts was that there was more to this but cops being buttholes about it didn't want to dig any deeper and closed this case and considered it a job well done.
In disarray, they ended up selling the Raman Cafe and poured their money, hearts and souls into finding answers that would never come.
After Adhiraj left, he is now finding himself standing right in front of an amusement park ruminating on the events that happened that day....
Timeline: 2007: The Last Day of School
Young Ninad and Adhiraj are in front of a photo booth where Adhiraj wanted to take one last picture with him. Ninad hastily wants to steer away from him because he didn't want him to be late with his date with Malvika and spills the beans that she was planning a surprise for him. Oh shit. Now the monkey is out of the box. Well, just act surprised, okay? Adhiraj confesses that he doesn't seem to share the same sadness leaving to another country away from her and she does for him? He feels bad that he doesn't feel...bad? Ninad tries to cheer him up and ends up entering that photo booth with him.
Adhiraj says more friendly words to him and it is clear at this point that Ninad is struggling with his feelings as he is about to enter the photo booth but he tries his best to put on his BFF face for the cameras.
As he inserts the coins for the pic, he platonicly places his hand on Ninad's leg in which he obviously heightens his feelings but still trying to bottle it up. However the more that time goes on, the tension just keeps rising and rising until he can no longer hold it in any longer and goes in to kiss Adhiraj. He jolts back.
Right when the timed camera flashes, shows his immediate reaction of anger while Ninad is embarrassing and humiliated that he misinterpreted those signals.
He storms out of the photo booth and yells how he had the audacity to try to kiss him in front of literally the whole school. Ninad is immediately apologetic and follows Adhiraj when he stomps back on campus. Great, now everyone is laughing and jeering at him.
Unbeknownst to him, Malvika is sitting happily impatiently for her lover to meet up at the date. Adhiraj crosses paths with her but he is just too filled with anger to say anything to her and continues to storm off. Ninad apologizes to her and promises to make it up to her and continues to try to make amends with him. Things doesn't make it any better with Suyash and Rajat laughing menacingly at them.
They are both now inside the building where more guys are snickering at him quickly piecing together the context of the situation. Adhiraj makes his second outburst in front of his class mates asking what the fuck is wrong with him and that he thought that he was his best friend.
Adhiraj is in the sleeping quarters now where he is expressing how dare he lay that shit on him right before he is about to give his speech in front of the entire school and how this shit is discombobulating him. Now he can't find his speech and is searching frantically for it. Ninad says that the reason why he told him because he legit thought he would never see him again and he couldn't keep his feelings to himself any longer. But the more he talks, the more it angers Adhiraj and it got to the point where he said "Stay away from me, you homo!" Out loud.
Poor Ninad. He feels extremely betrayed that he would never think he would ever use that word and says that he is just like the rest of them. And he hopes to never see him again.
Adhiraj is like "Fine!" and walks the fuck out of there.
Timeline: Current time
Adult Adhiraj still looking at the merry go round and most importantly that photo booth. The photo booth that started it all. He just looks so...guilt ridden as it all is coming together.
The Old Boys (alumni) are now all outside sitting down while another ceremony is taking place with a young boy choir singing the school song. While they are singing Dev tries to make it up to Malvika (not sure why???) but Malvika is saying fuggetaboutit she's ride or die for him.
As the boys choir commences, everyone claps. That is, except for Vedant who is staring eerily out of the window. During this joyus occassion, a statue is unveiled in rememorance of Coach Vyas which looks lovely.
Malvika's happiness comes to an eerie dead ass stop when she notices an emotionless Suyash standing on the ledge of the clock tower with a noose around his neck. It catches every one's attention. Yes, even the young children are in attendance. Suyash's head snaps towards Vedant before stepping off that ledge to his immediate death. Suyash has committed suicide by hanging.
Children are rushed out and the Old Boys stare in horror. Vedant is immovable.
It is not nighttime when Adhiraj comes back into town and joins the group where he finds out what happened. Once he found out about the clock tower, Adhiraj remembers on their first day there that he actually did get a key to the clock tower to go drink his ass off. Parth shares his regret and didn't realize he was saying all those mean things to Suyash when he was clearly already struggling mentally with depression.
The coroners come wheeling out Suyash's body when Adhiraj is shocked when he sees on his corpse are the torn out letters "homo" due to that flashback the previous episode when him and his friends were bullying Ninad.
Adhiraj enters the building by himself when he realizes he is having an anxiety attack and is struggling to open his meds when in comes Vedant stomping his heavy shoes along the floor slowly. He recognizes and calls out for Vedant. But it is not Vedant as when he opens his mouth in a creepy but totally not demonic voice that says "Adu, I am fighting back." This is when is FINALLY dawns on him that the final goddamn confirmation that Vedant is indeed possessed by Ninad's spirit. And he loses consciousness and falls to the ground.
Episode 4 is next.