Wake up - Screenplay

By
Saravanakumar Venkatesan

Studio Shades, Virtual

Realities Production

INT. HALL, DUSK - PHONE CAMERA

The DOCTOR is sharing his patients and his experience of a
contagious dream to RAGHU who is researching peoples
different dreams for his new book. Film opens with RAGHU
watching the phone camera shot video of the conversation.
DOCTOR
Where do you think dreams normally
happen?
RAGHU
Enga venumnaalum, oru Fantasy world
mathiri. Thidir nu beach-side la
elunthoppom. Nammaku
munnadi alingittu vara buildings
irukkum. Like in inception.
DOCTOR
(SMILES) Why not in the very bed
where you sleeping? Some of my
patients have experienced a
peculiar dream. Namma normal-ah bed
la paduthutrika mathiri than
irukum, aana ethuvume panna
mudiyathu. Your senses would be
dead. Paralyse aana mathiri irukum.
Bed la irunthu elunthukkalam nu
paatha, elunthukka ve mudiyathu.
Yaaro namma mela paduthutu irukka
mathiri irukkum and it feels as if
you are lying immovable for hours
together.
RAGHU
Nagarave mudiyathu and it happens
right where you are sleeping?
(TYPING)
DOCTOR
Aama, paduthute irupom kannala room
ah paakka mudiyum. Sila patients
bed apdiye ilukara mathiri iruku nu
solvaanga. But, i think its a
contagious dream. Naan kuda antha
dream ah sometimes experience
pannirukkan. Its Intermittent. You
Know?
DOCTOR
(PAUSES)Its a dream loop. But
remember, antha kanavu vandha, u
will have to find a way out of it
yourself.
(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

2.

RAGHU
Thanks for your inputs Doctor.
INT. HALL, DUSJ - RAGHU
RAGHU is watching the recorded video of the above
conversation. He gets a phone call. It is his friend,
THANIGAI.
THANIGAI
veetla irukiya? innaiku vara late
aagum.
RAGHU
hmm.. veetla than irukan vaa.. en
late?
THANIGAI
inga meeting-la vachi
adikkaranunga.. antha psycho doctor
enna sonnan? pei kadha edhavathu
kedachutha?
RAGHU
dei.. avaru psychiatrist da..
psycho doctor illa..
THANIGAI
etho onnu.. nee oru thappu
pannita.. psycho doctor ku bathil,
sex doctor kitta poi iruntha, super
matter kedachirukkum.
RAGHU
dei..
THANIGAI
matter-na pei kadha da.. sari enna
achu?
RAGHU
eluthitu irukkan.. nee vaa solren.
Cursor blinks on the empty page. He looks tired. He goes to
sleep. TIME LAPSE.

3.

INT. BED ROOM, NIGHT - WAKE UP

CALLING BELL. RAGHU wakes up from his bed. He turns the
lights on. He cannot feel one of his legs. He reaches the
ground floor and checks the door with his one eye closed.
There is no one. He sits on a chair with his fingers
clutching the roof of his eye ball socket. In front of him
is a table with a laptop with an empty page. He gazes his
dark bed room. He replays the video. He skips to the end
where the doctor says "antha kanavu vandha, u will have to
find a way out of it yourself". He writes,
NARRATION
Imagine a dream in your bed where
all you can do is, just move your
one eye and cannot wake up.
He writes the TITLE - Wake up
INT. BED ROOM, DUSK - FIRST DREAM
It is 5 pm in the evening. The RAGHU is lying on that bed
room with one eye opened. He is still and all he can do is
see the ceiling and fan. His red open eyes is trying to look
around the room. He looks at the attic and his legs covered
with bed sheet (there is a black shadow trace on the attic).
His heart beat raises. He tries to zoom in. There was
nothing. His heart beat slows. TIME LAPSE. It is 8 pm.
Slowly, a hand comes out of the bed sheet and closes the
eye. It was not really his legs.
RAGHU was recollecting the dream. He writes,
"Again..."
NARRATION
If you can move your one hand, it
gets worse.
INT. BED ROOM, DUSK - SECOND DREAM
RAGHU is lying on that bed room with one eye opened. He is
still. There was nothing with his legs. He tries to do reach
the floor of the bed room with the working hand but in vain.
He tries his lift his body with the working hand and tilts
his body and reaches the floor. Half of his body is on the
edge of the bed. He begins to slip away from the bed. And
eventually falls on the pillow with his dorsal upwards. With
his nose and mouth being covered in the fallen pillow, he
suffocates. He tries to move, but the pillow drags along. If
he moves forward, pillow drags. He tries to lift up. But his
body is paralysed. If he moves backward, pillow still drags
(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

along. He gets out of the bed room with a lot of effort and
comes to the edge of the stair case and loses the pillow. He
feels a sigh of relief. But the GHOST walks up the stairs
upto him. It takes a look at him and closes his open eye.
BLACK OUT
In the hall, RAGHU writes,
"Again..."
NARRATION
If you can move both your hands,
INT. BED ROOM/HALL, DUSK - THIRD DREAM
RAGHU is lying on that bed room with one eye opened. He is
still. He tries to take the bed sheet out of him but he was
not able to. He finds something strange inside the sheet. It
can grab hold of a bunch of something. It was a girls hair.
He throws it away and tries to get the bed sheet out.
Suddenly he was able to open the bed sheet as if someone was
holding it underneath. He checks under the bed. There was
nothing. He moves himself with his legs still on the bed and
one eye open. He uses his hands and crawls himself out of
the room and reaches the threshold of the room and comes
upto the stairs. He tries to get down the stairs. Suddenly,
TV turns on. He checks the hall. There was noone. He then
realizes that the GHOST is sitting on the hall doorway and
was watching the TV. Out of fear, he turns back. He then
turns back to check on it. It was watching RAGHU and it
checks the time. RAGHU crawls back to the room, reaches the
window and tries to open it. There is no way out. He uses
his one hand and crawls himself out of the room and reaches
the threshold of the room watches the TV. He again crawls
himself out of the room and reaches the threshold of the
room. A big wind blows inside the room and the door slams
and bashes his head which locks his head outside the room
with his body inside. The GHOST comes up the stairs and
closes his open eyes.
INT. HALL - FRIEND IS HOME
Calling Bell. RAGHU comes near the door and checks with one
eye. There is no one outside. He then opens the door and
checks outside. He turns back and the GHOST stands. RAGHU
stuns and falls back. It was THANIGAI.
THANIGAI
eh! naan thaan da.. pei katha
eluthi eluthi payithiyama thaan po
pora..

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

5.

RAGHU
dei loose..
THANIGAI
sari enna samaikalam?
RAGHU
innaiku nee thaan samaikanum
THANIGAI
(he sees the unclean dishes and
backs off). machi enna order
panlam? naan poi kulichitu
vandura..
THANIGAI shouts. RAGHU runs to check on THANIGAI. There was
no one. TV starts playing downstairs. He comes near the hall
and checks himself in the mirror. His still has one eye
closed. Out comes the GHOST. He suddenly closes his open eye
himself.
INT. HALL - STORY FOUND
RAGHU wakes up normally on his bed. He runs to check on his
eyes. He walks downstairs to the hall. THANIGAI and DOCTOR
were surprised to seem him come down.
THANIGAI
dei.. veeta theranthu pottutu enda
ipdiya thoonguva? evlo eluppunalum
elunthukka mattiya? enna than da
aachu?
DOCTOR
(smiles) he has found his way of
the dream loop.
RAGHU
athan moongila thanni lam
uthinniya? (wipes the water in his
face)
THANIGAI
dei, tension ethitu comedy panriya?
coma stage, gima stage poitiyo-nu
bayanthu intha psycho doctor-lam
phone panniten.. enna da aachu
RAGHU
pei kadha kedachidichu..