COINCIDENCE?

The story starts with a lot of chaos and commotion at a railway crossing 200km from Bangalore city. There has been a severe bomb blast in which many have lost their own lives and their loved ones’ lives too. People are in state of shock and are unable to give any positive reactions. There we see two men carrying two severely wounded bodies on their shoulder. Only a shoe of one dead body is seen and a torn chappal of another is seen. They both walk together towards the tents where medications are being provided. On their way there, they look at each other not knowing what to say. They give a look to each other thanking god that they are alive. The story now shifts to what happened earlier during the day.

A typical bachelor’s house with two rooms. The guy is working in a reputed BPO as a customer care executive. His day starts with getting up in the morning and checking his mobile phone. He gets off his bed and puts on loud music.

The next scene is of a poorly constructed house with just one small room accommodating a family of five. A lady is preparing food for her husband to carry to work after sending her kids off to a municipality school nearby. A 1 year old baby is sleeping in the room when her father gets up and gives her a morning kiss. He smiles and admires how beautiful his little daughter is and then gets up from his mat to go for a shower.

Now the both stories will run in parallel comparing the two lives, living in the same city but with different mottos and backgrounds. The BPO guy takes his shower and comes out and increases the volume of his music player. The man on the other end comes out of his shower and hums prayers to the god and performs rituals that cater to his religion. The BPO guy puts on his branded shirt, the man puts on his vest that is a little torn here and there. The guy puts on his branded jeans, the man puts on his dhoti. The guy applies gel in his hair and sets it in a funky look, the man applies coconut oil in his hair and ties a red towel around his head. There is a sound of “ting” in the guy’s apartment. It indicated that his toast is ready. Here, in the man’s house, his wife calls him to indicate that his chapatti is ready. The next scene is on a split screen where both of them eat their own breakfast, thinking about their individual tasks for today. Both of them finish their breakfast and put on their foot wears. The guy wears his branded shoes and the man wears his chappals.

There is loud honk next to the guy’s apartment and he looks out from his balcony and then rushes down to board his office cab. The man on the other end leaves his house silently so his daughter wouldn’t wake up from her deep sleep. Both of them reach their respective workplace, the guy to his BPO and the man to his railway station where he works as a coolie.

The guy starts his work by taking calls from international clients, solving their queries and speaking in a highly US accent and the man waits for a long time until he gets some luggage to carry off the station. After a long wait he gets to begin his work by carrying two large suitcases on his head and two air bags on his either hands. Both their days are spent doing their own work at their own spaces. One sitting in an air-conditioned office, talking to foreign clients and the other one slogging in the heat lifting weights and pleading for a little more money for him and his family.

The guy usually leaves his office during late evening, but today he has to go for a meeting to a place called Yejipura. He leaves his work place at around 4pm to board a 5.30 train there. The man also has to go to Yejipura to bring his mother to his village to make her stay with him for a few days. The guy reaches the station a little late, so he runs making his way to the train and he accidentally bumps into the man and trips. He gets up and is almost about to hit him when the train starts moving. So, he pushes him and runs towards the train and gets in. The man also boards the same train from another compartment.

Everything is running smoothly. People are busy doing their own things like reading the paper, eating, talking or chatting, playing cards, etc. He plugs onto his earpiece and starts listening to music.

Suddenly, the train stops. Everyone wonders what is the problem and there is a lot of chaos. Then a loud sound of an explosion hits everyone’s ears. Everyone starts running here and there, a lot of confusion arises as to what to do, where to go. The guy is in a state of shock and doesn’t move from his seat. Then he sees a little baby on a seat crying out loud, with his mother’s dead body next to him. He suddenly realises his importance in other’s lives even if he doesn’t know them at all. He runs to that little kid, picks him up and jumps out of the train and passes on that kid to someone who was looking for that kid.

The man on the other end, as soon as he hears the loud sound he immediately breaks the window and starts helping people to jump out of the train through the broken window. The evening turns into night with the rescue party coming to take charge of the dead and the wounded ones.

Now, the first scene comes into the picture again, when both of them are walking together. The silence between them finally breaks when the guy asks the name his name. He tells him that his name is Ali and asks the guy for his name, he gives him his name as Rahul. Both of them just keep on looking at each other thinking about the fate that made them meet before and that made them meet now. The story fades away with both their backs shown as the visual walking towards the rescue tents.