«IN THE CIRCLE OF KUNDUZ» Page #5

27. EXT. YAKUB KHAN'S TEAHOUSE — DAY.

TITLE:
KUNDUZ. YAKUB KHAN'S TEAHOUSE.

Otto takes a taxi to the teahouse on the "Kunduz circle", the central square of Kunduz with a lot of shops, doucans, eateries and service points.

Positive one-eyed YAKUB KHAN with a black eye sling sees Otto at the entrance, breaks into a smile, fervently puts his palm to his heart, offers to enter with a wave of his hand.

28. INT. YAKUB KHAN'S TEAHOUSE — DAY.

Otto, entering the teahouse, loudly greets the visitors sitting inside — AsSalamu alaikum!

Otto makes an order to Yakub Khan on the move, follows him to the back of the hall. There he chooses a corner couch under the cooling air conditioner, takes off his shoes, climbs onto the couch covered with a felt mat, stretches his legs. Otto is very tired.

In the cramped oblong space of the hall, Otto sees three fans slowly rotating the blades from the ceiling, driving air flows. People in Afghan national clothes and traditional headdresses are eating and drinking tea on the couch, peacefully talking. On the wall is a large portrait of the smiling Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.

The guests are served by the son of Yakub Khan - ZALMAY, a sporty dark—skinned youth of thirteen with an embroidered kandahari (Pashtun skullcap with a domed slit in front), black wavy hair. Zalmay wears a patterned vest over a traditional Afghan shirt (perukhan, an Afghan national costume in the form of a knee-length shirt with trousers).

Otto sprawls on a wide couch resting and waiting for the order to be delivered. Contemplating the street hustle, medieval faces in traditional clothes, brisk market bargaining, donkey and horse-drawn carriage, chaises, carts, a caravan of two-humped giant camels arriving from afar, loaded with huge bales of goods, the noise of incessant street hubbub is heard. Otto takes out the notebook and photographs handed over by Ismatulla, looks at a group photo with six Soviet soldiers. Then puts the photo back in the backpack. He leans back, enters a doze.

Zalmay brings otto on a tray a sizzling lamb rib kebab, just removed from the grill, a hot tandoor tortilla, a pot of green tea. Otto does not react; he continues to doze.

29. EXT. KAZAN RAILWAY STATION — DAY.

TITLE:
MOSCOW. KAZAN RAILWAY STATION, 1984.

There are noisy festivities on the platform – soldiers' send-off. A crowd of relatives and friends, beloved girls and some conscripts. Wives are tipsy.

People are quietly drinking, snacking on chicken legs, singing songs to the guitar. Nearby, drowning out the hubbub, a tape recorder loudly plays the song of the bard Alexander Novikov.

The order "Conscripts to the wagons!" is passed. Conscripts, wanting to take seats in the compartment from above, rush inside the train cars.

30. INT. SLEEPING CAR — DAY.

There is a fight in one of the wagons of a group of short-haired conscripts.

Rostov resident Sergey Sidorenko (SIDOR) drops a backpack and warm clothes of Buryat Darkhan Badmaev (MONGOL) from Ulan-Ude from the upper tier and takes his place.

Mongol pulls Sidor from above, the confrontation begins. Herman Streltsov (STRELA) from Leningrad comes to Sidor's aid. Sidor and Strela are piling on Mongol. Rustam Tukaev (RUST) from Tatarstan, seeing this, jumps down from the opposite upper tier and begins to pull Sidor and Strela away from Mongol. In support of Sidor and Strela, Rust is tied by muscovite Ivan Kostrov (KOSTER). Konstantin Thevs (KOSTYAN) from Kazakhstan takes the side of Rust and Mongol.

The conflict grows into a fight on different tiers – at the bottom and at the top, three on three are fighting. A military patrol walking along the wagon with an officer, a senior lieutenant and two soldiers of the internal troops, abruptly stops the fight. Everyone is taking up empty seats. The train is moving quietly. The sound of the tape recorder is already drowning out the noise of the train gaining speed. The verses of Novikov's song are barely audible.

31. INT. SLEEPING CAR — DAY.

An ensign and a soldier of the clothing service distribute sets of new military uniforms to recruits. Sidor, Strela, Rust, Mongol, Koster, Kostyan and others are located on the lower and upper tiers. View in the window of the sun-scorched Kyzyl-kum and Kara-Kum deserts of Western Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Along the railway track, Kazakh dwellings are visible embedded in the ground. A group of swarthy children looks out of the embrasures at the rushing train, without taking their eyes off. Through the window you can see the cemetery with monumental necropolises and mazars, dunes and double-humped camels.

The sound of the wheels is slowing down. Short-term stop. On the platform, good-natured Asians in national clothes - men and women, sell chureks, eggs, katyk, curdled milk to travelers. From the windows of the train going in the opposite direction, into the open–opposite window of the wagon with recruits, civilian passengers throw canned food, sausage, tea, cigarettes to conscripts.

The train continues running.

32. EXT. TURKESTAN – A FINE NIGHT.

The train with recruits slows down, stops at a quiet stop.

TITLE:
SOUTHERN UZBEKISTAN, TERMEZ REGION.

View from the train window: a deserted platform. A carpet of stars spread out in the sky. A lantern with a dimly glowing lamp swings steadily on a pole, creaking, dimly illuminating the platform of a compact one-story station.

A DEMOBEE in full-dress uniform comes out of the building - a troublesome senior sergeant. Tanned, toned, the cap is pushed back on the back of the head, the tunic with gold buttons is well fitted and well ironed. There are tank emblems in the buttonholes, the medal "For Bravery" sparkles on the chest. The sergeant does not pay attention to the stopped train and the bald faces of the recruits contemplating from the windows. He gets up, spreads his legs wide and lights a cigarette with a match.

The sergeant inhales the smoke with a full chest, throws his head up and, enjoying the beauty of the starscape, thinks about something. The recruits silently continue to look at what is happening. Unexpectedly SIDOR, loudly, as soon as he can, so that the sergeant will certainly hear, shouts.

SIDOR:

Hey, demobee, answer me!

Two — these f***ing years,

Will they fly by quickly?!

The demobee does not lower his gaze to Sidor, takes a drag again and barely smiling, freezes in thought, scrolls through the events of military service in memory. Seconds later, the demobee comes out of the cycle of thoughts, directs his gaze to the window from where the question followed, proudly pronounces with a non-obvious drawl.

DEMOBEE:

"But hell knows!"

33. EXT. TERMEZ STATION — NIGHT.

TITLE:
SOUTH UZBEKISTAN, TERMEZ STATION.

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