Shantaram (2022) s01e05 Episode Script

Do my eyes deceive? Is this a ghost?
No, it's the gora who finds
all he needs in the slum.
Oh!
Hey!
Hail the returning hero.
Hey!
Drinks! We need drinks.
- Hi, Lin. How are you?
- How you going?
Sit down.
Hey.
Hey yourself.
What did you think?
The quality was good. We can
do more business, I think.
Can you handle more weight?
- Hey, we can handle whatever you want.
- Ah.
I knew I could trust you,
Lisa. My Bombay good luck charm.
Hey, gora whores are
not allowed up here.
She doesn't do that anymore.
And don't call her a whore.
You owe her an apology.
My mistake, madam.
Don't worry about that. It's
okay. It's okay, it's okay.
Thank you.
Salute.
- You know the Borsalino test?
- I don't.
Well, the Borsalino is a
garment of the finest quality,
believed by many to be
the most outstanding gentleman's
head covering ever made.
- You know
- So, it's just a hat?
Now, the the the
test of a real Borsalino hat
is to roll it into a very tight tube
and pass it through a wedding ring.
If it comes out of this
ordeal without creases
and springs back into its
original shape, it is a genuine
- Borsalino.
- Borsalino.
Ah.
Now, Bombay and your slum, they
have rolled you into a tube,
and now they're dragging
you into the wedding ring
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
to see if you are
the real deal or not.
Are you the real deal?
- What do you think?
- I think Didier's drunk.
Okay.
Hey, Lin.
Lisa, holy shit. You look great.
- Thanks.
- Are you
- I'm I'm doing good.
- Yeah?
Better than good.
I just wanted to say hi and
thank you for that first day
and for getting me out of the Palace.
I don't know what I would
have done without you.
Anyway, it meant the world to me,
and I won't ever forget it, so I just
- Okay.
- Mm-hmm.
Ah, truly a hero of the people.
- A Borsalino if I ever saw one.
- Take it easy.
- I gotta go.
- What? Come on. Sit with us.
Okay.
So you're still here, huh?
Apparently.
Did you find someone else
to blame for your problems?
Or did you take pity on him after all?
Not sure that's any of your business.
Hey, Lin has found a new
life in the Sagar Wada slum.
- I heard about that.
- You Mmm.
- That explains the smell.
- Oh.
I guess when you want
to feel like a big man,
the best way is to
live among midgets, no?
I don't think you need to
guess. I think you know.
'Cause every day you wake up
and you look in the mirror,
and you're scared shitless
there's someone tiny staring back.
Someone that nobody needs.
And you'd be right, mate.
Compared to you, the people I
live with are King-fucking-Kong.
You should have gone
when you had the chance.
What a fucking prick.
Yeah, watch your back. He
won't forget what you just did.
I hope not.
Drinks!
Can't give everything up at once.
We need to get a record player
in here. Then we could dance.
Did you listen to records with
Lin, after he came to rescue you?
What else did you do?
What is this? Are you jealous?
Of who? Me and Lin?
I'm jealous of you and everyone.
Lin's only got eyes for Karla. Trust me.
I liked it when you defended me
tonight. "She doesn't do that anymore."
You know, when you said it, it's
the first time I realized it's true.
Take me to bed.
I mean Ah, look,
you can't blame them.
The whole system acts
like they don't exist.
You know, even the doctors at the
public hospitals want baksheesh.
It's fucking bullshit.
These poor people, they just
they just come home and die,
unless I do something about it.
I got a hookup for black
market medical supplies.
Now my hut looks like a bloody pharmacy.
I'm not joking.
Give me one more week, I'm
gonna have my own ambulance.
Sagar Wada Ambulance Company.
Oh, Lin, your face is a picture
of idealistic outrage so perfect
I want it to commit it to memory.
Such a thing is so rare
here, it should be preserved.
Arre, we thought you had gone
straight to Varanasi to smoke charas.
But you are here only, saving
lives and shitting into the bay.
- It's just what I do.
- It's an incredible story.
Have you ever heard anything like this?
Can't say I have.
It's a pretty amazing
thing you're doing, Lin.
Nah, I was just there, you know?
Drunk on whiskey and
visions of my own redemption,
I'd forgotten what I really was.
A fugitive who needed to stay invisible.
Linbaba! Linbaba!
Dr. Lin!
Good morning!
Come out, Linbaba!
Good morning! Good morning!
Come out, Linbaba!
Come out, Linbaba!
Okay! Okay, I'm coming.
Oh, Linbaba, you are awake, finally.
Very good, very good.
Today is ration day. Take.
Linbaba, take, take.
Oh, man
As citizens, Mr. Lin, us bastiwale,
we still have some rights.
The right to vote, the right to rations,
and, of course, the right to pay taxes.
But, Linbaba, you are true not-person,
so you are not getting any of this, huh?
But we do not want any
charity. You're one of us now.
And then when we collect our
rations, so will the doctor, huh?
Thank you, thank you.
Arre, give more.
- Oh, no, no. No.
- You can take, na?
You can take anything else you want.
- Thank you.
- Potatoes, rice.
We'll send a cup of tea for you.
Lin's an outsider. Saving lives.
I think it could be a really good story.
I think you should
pitch it to your editor.
So what's the headline? "Gora
tourist arrives with Band-Aids"?
Headline is, "Shut up,
Nishant, and get serious,
- or I'll take this story somewhere else."
- Touchy. Okay, sorry.
He works for free
and gets absolutely no support
from the medical community.
He's shaming a system
that deserves shaming.
You're pitching this gora
slum doctor as a feature?
Yes. Something that gets
attention and causes some change.
I'm sick of smiling and flirting
for puff-piece profiles on movie stars.
- They're good business, yaar.
- They're not journalism, yaar.
- Not what I want to do.
- So ambitious.
Is that a problem?
Am I getting ideas above
my station, Nishant?
Should I be busy having
babies instead maybe?
Yes.
What? I should be having b
Yes, it could appeal to my
editor. I'll talk to him.
But it will be strictly a freelance.
So to be clear, I'm not
offering you a job at the paper.
Mm-hmm.
I would not be your boss.
And by your rules, we
still could have dinner.
Oh.
And what if I say no?
I'll still bring him the
story, but let the record show
that I think having something
in common, like a profession,
should be a prima facie incentive
for dating, not a deterrent.
Fine. Dinner.
Evening of my convenience.
Is tomorrow night convenient?
Would you like a drink?
Excuse me.
Minister Pandey.
My congratulations.
Thank you, madam.
I wanted to introduce
myself. Abdel Khader Khan.
A pleasure. Of course.
Minister Pandey, your
predecessor was a
was a great loss to me. A great loss.
A tragedy.
I had been a patron of his
political career for many years
because I was certain of his
desire to do the right thing
by the people of Colaba.
To act in the best interests
of the many, not the few.
Of course. We serve at
the pleasure of the people.
And the pleasure of the
people can change on a whim.
The perils of being a politician.
You only wield as much
power as the people give you.
And what they give
you, they can take away.
Yes, put your faith in the slum.
Thank you for coming.
I was keen to meet
you face-to-face.
Until next time.
He is bought and sold.
I expected Miss Karla to
have delivered that message.
She did. But I wanted to deliver
the minister a different message.
And so you threaten him with
what? The votes of Sagar Wada?
You think you can win the will of
the people with your pet doctor?
I expected more from you, Khaderbhai.
Ah, this is India, where dharma is king.
And you and I both know
the people of Sagar Wada will
be given a say in their own fate.
Delivering votes means nothing if
I own the office that counts them.
A friend is asking for you.
No one knows why.
I don't like it.
That's right, brother.
Direct from the factory. None
of this hand-me-down shit.
What are you talking about?
She's for you.
He bought it for Dr. Lin!
He's Khader's man.
Mate, I can't take this.
A goonda.
Are we not brothers? Have we
not saved each other's lives?
Can you not ride?
I can ride.
I'm beginning to think
it's because you're scared.
Even the kid can tell. Hey, what
do you think, boy? Is he scared?
Yes.
You must take this bike, Lin.
I have better things to do with my time
than be your medicine delivery boy.
You see? Accepting is your gift to me.
What do you think, Ravi?
Test drive?
You wanna come, Ravi?
You haven't said a word since we left.
Why do you want Walid to think
Lin Ford is part of your plan?
Well, when you pick a man's pocket,
it's important to have a distraction.
Was that your plan for him all along?
Who am I that I could manipulate fate
and consequence so thoroughly? God?
No. Lin is in Sagar
Wada for his own reasons.
Our agreement is purely
the business of medicine.
Lin would not be there if not
for us, what I made him do.
Zhou sent a killer into
Sagar Wada after him,
and they started the fire.
Someone died. Lin
blames himself for that.
He shared all this with you?
Not a casual conversation with
a man you care nothing for.
What else did you speak about?
Nothing important.
You went to Lin to see if he would
tell you more about his time with me
than I did.
Mm-hmm.
- Did he?
- No.
Do you want for us to tell him the truth
about how we are all connected?
It's already too late for that.
I just don't want
anybody else getting hurt.
I am happy to agree
that neither of us will interfere
with Lin's path any further, if you are.
If he chooses to stay
in Sagar Wada, so what?
Otherwise, we both stay away.
I don't think that fellow
over there likes you very much.
Or he likes you too much.
Yeah, he's a prick.
And this boy, Ravi, I'm very
sure he also doesn't like you.
Is that why you do all
this doctoring in the slum?
So people will like you?
A little goes a long way to
making people happy there.
Hmm. What will make you happy, Lin?
That's a long list.
If I could actually work out
Karla, that would be something.
Karla?
The woman who came up to us
at the club the other night.
Mmm. What's your story with her?
You tell me, mate.
That woman is a mystery tied in
a riddle, wrapped in an enigma.
She pushes me away, then pulls me close.
Ignores me, then tells
me, "Don't be a stranger."
What am I supposed to do with that?
I would say don't be a stranger.
- Simple? Just that simple?
- Mmm. Just like that.
Nice.
Maurizio, mate, how did
it go at the VD clinic?
Did you get everything cleared up?
Antibiotics are a wonderful thing.
Strange to me why
anyone could dislike you.
Relax.
They can't do anything in here.
That's why they're being so brave.
It's Rafiq, right?
Listen, about the other day,
I can see why you might
be pissed off about that,
how you might want a little
bit of payback or whatever.
But, look, I'm Switzerland.
I'm just a fella that couldn't let
two other fellas kill each other
in broad daylight.
That's all. No hard feelings, yeah?
I saved your life. If I wasn't
there, you wouldn't be here.
No, he wouldn't.
You should leave Bombay
before something bad happens.
Yeah, so people keep telling me.
Listen, I'm serious. I don't
want any trouble with you.
Too late. You chose a side, doctor man.
The wrong one.
All right.
We're leaving.
But I don't want to go.
Unless you wanna walk home, move.
Are you staying?
You know me. I want seconds.
Be careful.
Hey, how you going, Jitendra, Ratna?
Ravi?
- Did you finish your chores?
- What chores?
Ravi, now.
Yes, sir. I'm going.
Can we speak?
Sure. Sure, come in.
You wanna sit down?
Oh, no, uh I just
took up this collection.
What for? You already gave me too much.
No, Mr. Lin. That is our
payment for the work you do.
This, uh This money, this is
for the supplies you must buy.
Okay.
Look, Mr. Lin,
where you get your medicine
from is your business.
But the people here, we
need to pay our own way.
I see you talking to Khader's man.
I hear him call you "brother."
That is not the kind
of brother you need.
Brotherhood is right
here, in the jhopadpatti.
And there will be conflict
in having two brothers.
We do not have much here,
but we also owe nothing.
And that is our strength.
The cost of your medicines
should be our burden, Mr. Lin,
so it doesn't become our debt
to you or or anyone else. Hmm?
Okay.
Salaam alaikum.
Alaikumu assalam.
I knew he was right
and that if I wanted
to stay in this place,
it had to be by their rules.
I fund this school.
None of the children here have parents.
I cannot deny how I make my money,
but does that matter as
much as what I do with it?
The courts and the
police would say yeah.
Now, that is because
our laws concentrate
on how much crime is in the sin.
For me, the important thing is
how much sin is in the crime.
I do not make money
from prostitution, drugs.
I do not traffic children, women.
All the other councils, they do,
and that puts me at a disadvantage.
So instead of investing in
sin, I must invest in people,
help them grow and maybe, at some
point, I will reap the benefits.
So I'm one of these seeds you planted.
Are you getting the
benefit you hoped for?
It makes me sad that this
is where we are, you and I.
You are very different.
I think you know this.
I have no children, but in this
world, you are a daughter to me,
if you choose to be,
although I will never pretend
to be the kind of father
a daughter needs.
You've given me more
than my own father did.
I'm so sorry.
When I first met Rujul, he wanted
to make Bombay a better place.
But power and money changed him.
I didn't see it until
you brought it to me.
But now I worry that
you regret doing that.
I feel like I'm in over my head.
I have no control. I don't like it.
That's why you must always ask yourself
how much sin is in the
crime for you, no one else.
And if it becomes too
much for your soul to bear,
then you must walk away.
You, me, Abdullah, even
Lin Ford, are driven by
a death we would change if we could.
And that starting point
is burned into our hearts
and cannot be reasoned away.
Then our paths are set.
We can't change it
No, no, no. We can. We must.
I love you, Karla, whether
it is my right or not.
So I will say it again.
If you want to choose a different path,
it will not affect our relationship.
Help me with this.
I will cover the parts
you have looked at.
She'll have to stay here tonight
until this IV is finished.
She would not want
this. Not alone with you.
I know.
That's why you're gonna
have to stay with her.
I'll go to Prabhu.
You're good at this, Parvati.
I think I would like to
do this as a real job.
Yeah, they always need good
people. You should pursue it.
Not easy for a girl from here.
Kavita, what are you doing here?
Everything you were talking about
the other night got me thinking
about how I could help.
Help with what?
Your medical work here,
the fight you're taking on.
What you're doing will
get a lot of attention.
The fact you have to do it
because no one else wants to.
Lin, I think what
you're doing is amazing,
but real change needs political will.
The easiest way to get that is
by putting you on the front page.
No. No way.
- Fuck that.
- Ah.
I can't, Kavita. I'm sorry.
W How about I talk to some
of the patients, you know?
Get some pictures of you at work.
- H hey!
- There is no story, all right?
You're gonna ruin everything.
What the fuck, man?
Am I clear?
Be clearer if you told me why.
Why don't you want this story told?
It's nothing. Really. I'm
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.
If there's any If there's
any damage, I'll pay
Don't worry about it.
No, Kavita.
Kavita.
My heart was pounding as I
realized how fragile my freedom was.
Just one photograph out in the world
could send me straight back to prison.
Parvati.
Pa
Parvati, oh, Parvati,
oh, meri Parvati.
Hey.
Please do not ruin my
happy thoughts, huh?
Your face is very
Children will cry if
they look at this face.
It's been a bit of a day, Prabhu, mate.
Seems I can't get things
right for getting them wrong.
I love her too much, Linbaba.
You're making me jealous.
Yeah, well, I am jealous of
that big, fat envelope of money
Qasimbhai is giving you.
I'm sick about it.
Okay. Then, uh, to feel better about it,
why don't you, you know, roll around
on your big bed of money, Linbaba?
Prabhu, the whole jhopadpatti
has been chipping in
'cause they think I'm spending
my money on the medicine.
If not you, then who?
Khaderbhai's been paying.
Okay, very bad. Very bad, very
Lin Lin, you must never tell anyone,
or Qasimbhai will tell
you to leave Sagar Wada.
Look, that money should
go back to the people.
No.
That will only get you in more trouble.
The people love you, they need you,
they want you to have
it. Please, Linbaba.
Just keep your head down and
money in your pocket, boss.
- It's a lie.
- Not a lie. Just a
Not telling.
With consequences you must deal with.
And the consequences
are everyone stays happy,
and you must live with too much money.
Why don't you take some
of that food to Parvati
and say hello?
Please, Lin. Her family do not
need any more reason to hate me.
An unmarried woman
cannot be talking to a
mmm, handsome, unmarried fellow like me,
alone in the beautiful
dark of the night.
Huh? Same reason you are
sleeping here tonight.
So many rules.
Can't be alone with another man's wife
or with a woman who's nobody's wife
or with any woman, pretty much.
I'm surprised there are
so many kids around here.
Ah.
I'm not saying spend the
night. Just go say hello.
It is not possible, Linbaba.
Parvati is alone, and
I cannot be with her
even though I desire her very much.
Instead, I'm sharing
my tiny hut with you.
But Karla Ma'am is alone, and
there are no rules stopping you.
And you are jealous of me?
I am the one who cannot
have sexy time tonight
because of this situation.
Now I'm confused.
Are you telling me to go get laid
or do you wanna be alone to masturbate?
All friends here, Linbaba. I
don't mind if I'm alone or not.
Then I definitely have
somewhere else to be.
Lin Ford at the gate, sir.
You should leave.
Don't let Lin see you.
We'll finish this later.
Khaderbhai.
- Do you play?
- Uh, no, I have no idea what that is.
Pachisi. I will teach you.
Uh, some other time maybe.
Look, everything you've done
has been appreciated, Khaderbhai,
but I'm gonna have to
insist on paying you back.
Paying my own way from now on.
Did someone send you
here to tell me this?
No. No, they didn't need to.
Sagar Wada has its own rules,
and if I'm gonna live there,
they have to be my rules too.
What rule do they have except
to grovel and wallow in shit?
Their only rule is that
they're happy to suffer.
There's more than one kind
of suffering, Abdullah.
The one we feel and the
one we cause others to feel.
You don't have to suffer anything
if you're strong enough to deny it.
Well, maybe true strength
is suffering for others
when you don't have to. Mr. Lin
came here to make his life harder.
Do you think him weak?
No. But though I count him as a brother,
he's a crazy Westerner, and
the rules don't count for him.
A suffering can be a kind of anger.
We rage against
injustice and unfairness,
and some men feel compelled
to bear this suffering
no matter the consequences.
Such a man is only truly happy
when he is suffering for others.
The hero's curse.
You've done it now. This
discussion will last a long time.
Better you take the money and go.
I'm afraid I can't do that.
And I respect your decision.
My interest is only in being
a help to you in Sagar Wada.
And if I can ever be a help to
you again, my door is always open.
- Thank you, Khaderbhai.
- I enjoy our conversations, Lin.
I hope we can maintain
our friendship at least.
Nothing I'd like more.
Good.
My saab will be coming soon.
Lindsay.
Did you know that it's practically
illegal in the Sagar Wada
for a man to be alone with an
unmarried woman in the dead of night?
What are you doing here?
I missed you.
Why did you let me in?
Come inside.
Let's go. I've come to take you home.
I can't leave her tonight.
This is not your job.
The shop is your business.
There is only one road out
of our difficulties, Parvati!
Parvati.
Everything you're
doing for the clinic
is at the expense of
your own flesh and blood.
I don't do this for the
clinic. I do this for me.
I'm getting the Lewis Carrolls.
"Oh, you're mad. Bonkers.
Completely off your head.
But I'll tell you a secret.
All the best people are."
Ah, very good, Lin. Too smart by half.
Is you being here going to make one
of those pretty slum girls jealous?
What?
No.
I should stop listening to Didier.
Thinks the only reason you
would stay in a slum is sex.
What, not even love? Just sex?
I hate love.
You c You can't hate love, Karla.
Why not?
It's such an arrogance to love
someone and to expect it in return.
I think heaven is a place
where everybody is happy
because nobody has to love
anyone else ever again.
So if love's no good
what is?
Power. It's the opposite of love.
You're a fucking savage.
So, why are you here in
Bombay in the first place?
The original sin.
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
Then don't tell me.
Maybe I wanna tell you.
Maybe I wanna tell someone the truth.
Someone I trust.
Someone I think could be a friend.
Are we friends?
I let you in, against
my better judgment.
Okay.
I was addicted to heroin.
I needed money, so I robbed a bank.
A cop got killed,
not by me, but I played my part.
And they put me away.
And then I escaped
and ran as fast and as
hard as I could to here.
Why here?
I always wanted to come.
It's what the money
was supposed to be for.
So I convinced myself
I could come anyway.
Leave all the rest behind.
Take that information
to any cop in Bombay.
There's probably a reward in it.
So now we have to be friends.
My life is in your hands.
Mm-mmm. Mm-mmm.
- Don't. Don't. D
- Mm-hmm.
Is this St. Hilda's Hospital, Bombay?
This is St. Hilda's.
- Is this Usha?
- Yes.
It's Susan Reeves from the
passport office in Auckland.
I ran the passport number. You're
sure you gave me the right one?
Uh, R 22624-788. Lindsay Ford.
He's still in a coma,
and it doesn't look good.
The least we can do is find his family
and tell them he's not coming home.
I'm sure they know, love. Lindsay
Ford's been dead for six years.
If you don't mind holding a minute,
my supervisor would like a word.
Of course.
He's using a dead man's passport.
When I was 12, my father shot himself.
I found him.
Brains all over a pile
of bankruptcy forms.
I grew up rich, certain of two things.
I wanted for nothing, and my
father loved me more than anything.
Turned out I was wrong on both counts.
And during everything that came
after, the thing I could never get past
was why wasn't I enough
for him to live for?
I was complacent in my love for him
and in my assumption
that he loved me most.
He didn't.
He loved who and what he was
and what people thought of him.
I used to cry myself to sleep
at whatever relative's
house I'd been shunted to,
and ask why he couldn't
have just stayed for me
he couldn't have just
loved me and that be enough?
That wasn't your fault.
I know that. Guilt's
your thing, not mine.
I blamed him for throwing my love away.
And blame's harder than guilt.
And also easier.
If you assume the worst of
everyone, it's easy not to get close.
You asked what I want.
I never wanna be dependent
on anybody else again.
That's it.
Sounds lonely.
"They fuck you up, your mom and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do."
"They fill you with
the faults they had."
"And add some extra, just for you."
You know, last time I was
out after curfew with you
I got chased by the cops.
Then I guess you better
stay, if you'd like.
I can't.
You could.
It's not that simple.
The couch is all yours.