MAM
Qalam 2001 : Shibani Banerjee
A series of fast, flash cuts. A sepia-tinted photograph -you see a father, mother & young son about 5 years old. A separate photo -same father, mother and a two year-old daughter. But the faces change…until the photo dissolves altogether. Now the voices start and the camera is at the head of a giant ferris-wheel, plunging down, down. ..steeply, while voices scream and shout in excitement. All at once the screams turn into those of fear. Freeze frame on mid-shot of prostrate man, again sepia-toned, but with a bright gash of red blood dividing his neck from his torso. A clear, firm male voice says:
“Tum mera zariya ho, aur mein tumhara annt. ”
The next photo is that of a woman, her shoulders bowed by her intense grief. A male silhouette walks into the picture and gathers her dose, murnurs words of consolation. The camera is now on the inside of a car as it takes a curve fast. There is a screech and the camera stops at the bottom of stairs, then; moves up to a group of youngsters. A handsome young boy plucks at the strings of his guitar and his deep voice recites a soulful line:
“Kis badal par baith kar boonti ho yeh khayal, Jaane kahan se todd laati ho yeh sawaal. ”
A young woman wearing the clothes of a typical Hindi film village belle, leans out of the door of a railway coach. She is playfully flipping the colourful pompoms at the end of her braid. A voice asks softly, soulfully:
“Basanti, o Basanti, coolie chahiye kya ? Coolie chahiye kya ? Coolie. …”
A different young girl, smartly and tastefully dressed in blue denims and pretty checked shirt wakes up with a start, inside an empty, stationery railway coach. At the window is a wizened old coolie who looks like a friendly old Bugs Bunny, with prominent front teeth. He is saying:
“Coolie chahiye kya?”
The girls blinks and smiles, nods ‘yes’. She follows the coolie out of the tiny station, as he asks her questions with the easy familiarity of a small-town old-timer:
“Pehli baar?(Then looking at her city clothes, he repeats as insurance..) Phaastt taim?”
She nods, an enthusiastic yes. Encouraged, he asks:
“Kiske yahaan jaana hai? Rishtedaar hai? Koi lene aayega ?”
They have reached outside the station and you see the back of an rickety, back-firing six- seater rickshaw, barreling down the kuchcha roads as the young girl looks around her and the camera pans in wide sweeps across a landscape that almost robs breath with its beauty . A voice-over begins, youthful, tender and you hear the young girl’s voice for the first time, saying:
“Haan kissi ke yahan jaa rahi hoon. ..par woh nahin aa sakten. ..unhen toh shayaad pataa bhi nahin hai ki mein aa rahi hoon. Jaante ho unke liye mein kya tohfa laayi hoon? Ek kahani… ek ladki ki kahani. Meri tareh shaher ki maina…Phir achanak ek din uski maa ki saheli ne usse ek bohut kimti tohfa diya .Kya tohfa? Ek ajeeb zindagi…bilkul bemisaal, jaise navras ki katha ho. Raghav Pandit ka role bhi yahin se shuroo hua. Woh door nazar aate huye ghar mein akela reh raha thha. Tanhaaiyaan thhi, par akelapan nahin. Rishtedaar thhe. ..haan. Apne thhe. Meri maa thhi woh ladki.
A long silence, then the rickshawallah’s voice saying: “Lo, aa gaayen. ..” , ..
The richshaw stops and a sophisticated young woman ,wearing a saree and hitching her sunglasses to the top of her head gets out and looks at the beauty around her in wonder
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This was concieved as a versatile opening scene that would be able to move across genres as well as being suitable to a mini/multi episode TV series or a film.It aims to move from intriguing opening into heightened pace.
MAM
Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
