City of Joy Page #15

EXT. CITY OF JOY - DAY

Aloka comes TOWARD us leading a group of lepers. And

stops. Her hand goes to her mouth.

THEIR POV - CLINIC - FROM DISTANCE

Two hundred normal people lined up outside the gaily bedecked

dispensary -- many mothers with small children intheir arms. Shanta sees Aloka, gestures to indicate theincredible turn-out. The normals at the end of the line

turn to look at the approaching LEPERS.

LEPER WOMAN:

It is too beautiful to believe.

(CONTINUED)

78.

CONTINUED:

As if indeed she were right, their path is suddenly cutoff by the Goonda and a commando of thugs, armed withsticks and iron bars, backed up by a group carryingbanners with slogans proclaiming in Hindi, Urdu, English:

"We Don't Want Lepers Here!" There's a sudden uneasysilence. Behind the thugs a short distance is thepoliceman who harassed Max earlier and another cop.

Joan hurries forward.

GOONDA:

Good morning, Sister to the poor.

JOAN:

Yes, Mr. Bhose?

GOONDA:

Those people aren't coming intothis neighborhood.

JOAN:

They are going to be treated atthe dispensary. You have no

right to stop them.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

Hasari arrives with Max, Anouar, and Meeta.

JOAN:

Go ahead, Aloka, take them inside.

The Goonda puts his hand on Aloka. The policeman in the

b.g. keep their distance.

JOAN:

Take your hands off her, youwaster!

Joan is seized by a sudden fury and grabs the Goonda.

He grabs her much harder. Said growls and pushesforward. Several thugs turn, step in to neutralize him.

Joan elbows the Goonda and tires to westle free of him.

As a reflex he raises his hand. And as he does, it's

seized.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

Max (with Hasari in the b.g., confused, conficted). Max

slings the Goonda against the side of a truck.

GOONDA:

That was a mistake, Doctor.

(CONTINUED)

79.

CONTINUED:

MAX:

The mistake's yours, putz.

(to Aloka)

Get these people inside.

Aloka starts forward, leading the lepers. She's stoppedby a sudden blow from the Goonda's stick across hershoulders, knocking her to the ground, bleeding from theneck.

Hasari bolts for his wife, gets caught up in the melee.

Max swings around on the Goonda and for the first time werealize how strong he is, and that he knows how to box.

The Goonda goes down and violence erupts. Anouar is

chopping at the legs of one of the thugs working on Said.

The massive Said tears free and starts to beat the crapout of the two thugs holding him.

The noise brings everyone out of the square, those linedup at the clinic, the children from the school.

Sunil comes flying out of the clinic.

A stampede of those waiting outside the dispensary andthose normally in the crowded alley ensues. Shanta runs

inside for help. Shopkeepers barricade their shopwindows.

One of the thugs pours gasoline over Anouar and lights amatch. Hasari kneels beside Aloka when he sees the

match ignite the tiny leper. Without thinking, Hasarihurls himself on top of Anouar, rolling him in the dirtand against his own body to put out the flames.

Joan shouts, demanding the violence stop. She's hit

from behind; she decides talk isn't going to do it. She

grabs a piece of lumber and starts to fight.

ANGLE ON DISPENSARY

An EXPLOSION in the doorway, scattering anyone who remainsin the area of the dispensary doorway, badly woundingMehboub.

More people with sticks. Hasari goes down under severalbodies. Max reaches Aloka, helps her up, sends her towardthe clinic. He tears an attacker off of Hasari and theyfight back to back a moment. A SECOND EXPLOSION near

them... and through the smoke Max sees...

80.

ANOTHER ANGLE:

Ashoka astride his motorcycle, behind his dark glasses,

with more thugs, these with Molotov cocktails and pickaxes,

ready to raze the clinic and school and the

surrounding neighborhood.

Sunil drags Mehboub inside.

People chant:
"White Monkeys, go home! White Monkeys,

go home! No lepers here! No lepers here!" The thugs

cock their iron bars and bricks and Molotov cocktails.

Max picks up an iron bar of his own and starts for

Ashoka. Suddenly, there's a DETONATION followed by a

BLAST of air so fierce, Max is thrown to the ground.

A bottle of GASOLINE has EXPLODED just behind him. He's

enveloped in smoke.

An assailant bears down on Joan with a cutlass. As the

assailant is about to strike, Hasari seizes the attacker

and hurls him backward. Ashish steps in and slashes the

assailant with his own weapon, startling, even repelling

Hasari.

From all over the lane, young fighters have come and joined

the fray, not bothering to choose sides but merely enjoying

the release. Hasari lunges for a woman under attack by a

boy, arriving too late to stop the boy from plunging his

knife into the woman's belly. Hasari fights his way to

the woman, but she staggers into the mob.

Max knocks down one of the thugs only to have another hand

grasp his shoulder. He turns, fist cocked to find Poomina,

her hands holding her face together. Slowly, she takes

hands away. The sides of her face have been laid open.

Max sweeps her up in his arms, heads for the clinic.

MAX:

Oh, little girl, little girl...

Joan is suddenly beside Ashoka.

JOAN:

We'll pay! All right then, so byall means, protect us!

Ashoka raises a hand, The Goonda blows a whistle, and

the fighting stops as suddenly as it began. The combatants

are breathing heavily. There is silence but for

the groans and cries of the wounded and grieving.

ASHOKA:

In a world such as ours, everyone

needs protection. For the fee we

discussed, from this day forward,

I can assure you nothing like this

will happen again.

(CONTINUED)

81.

CONTINUED:

A beat... Saladdin is at Joan's shoulder. Ashoka pointsa finger at Hasari.

ASHOKA:

You. I warned you about thecompany you keep.

He REVS his MOTORCYCLE and SCREECHES away, leaving Hasaristaring after him in his dust.

INT. COURTYARD - DAY

People peer in through every opening. Mehboub's chest is

bandaged. Sunil squeezes through the packed courtyardand hallway, Ashish carrying a wounded woman behind him.

Hasari steps into a doorway, us WITH him.

INT. EXAMINING ROOM - MAX, ALOKA, POOMINA

Max, blood crusted on her face, sutures Poomina's awful

facial wound as Aloka prepares a compress.

ALOKA:

Will she... Her face, will it...

MAX:

If she's very careful and doesn'tdo anything to open the wound, thescarring will be minimal.

(to Poomina)

Do you understand? You can't...

You have to stay here.

(to Joan)

You make her stay here.

JOAN:

I'll try.

MAX:

Don't goddamn try, Joan! Goddamn

do it!

Poomina peers through her pain at Max, his hands puttingher back together.

MAX:

(a litany)

I hate this place, I hate thisplace, I hate this place.

Max looks at the doorway and he locks eyes with Hasari.

Max breaks the contact. Hasari stares at him as we hear

the godfather's MUSIC on the RADIO.

82.

EXT. GODFATHER'S COURTYARD - HAND AND PENCIL - DAY

A hand tap, tap, taps against a ledger.

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