Killer Joe strikes The scene, as set out earlier ...
One night Shanthi and Priya hear noises in the house. They look through the window and notice no motion in the police patrol outside. Try calling ACD; realise their phone lines have been snipped off. Call him on their cell; he alerts HQ and arrives on the scene -- in civiies of course. Notices police patrol guys have been drugged. Searches entire house and finds nothing. But can't bear to leave 2 women and a child alone in the dead of night and camps on the couch.
The continuation …
It is 4.00 am. Indu has been sleeping soundly throughout all the commotion. Shanthi has taken a dose of valium and is snoring gently in her sleep.
Having imbibed copious amounts of espresso to stay awake, ACD is tossing and turning on the couch. His mind slowly begins to drift far, far away. No, not to the Swiss Alps for a dance sequence. He would not be seen dead dancing. Instead, his dream takes him to the Olympic Village being built in Beijing. There he imagines himself on a badminton court that has a majestic view of the Great Wall. As always, he looks dashing in a white polo shirt and matching white shorts, white tennis shoes, white socks, and white wrist-band, all courtesy of Adidas. He executes a graceful serve and the shuttlecock whizzes to the other side of the court, where Priya, clad in a white T-shirt and tennis skirt, clumsily tries to hit back. In the background, one hears the strains of an old MGR-Saroja Devi number, "Parakkum pandhu parakkum" from the movie "Panakara Kudumbam" (yes, I did my research).* The re-mixed version is sung by Hariharan and Chitra and Harris Jeyaraj is the music arranger.
Several bars into the song, ACD suddenly hears an ear-piercing scream. It is from Priya. He rushes towards her room and freezes at the door, wondering whether he should barge in or not. Priya screams again. He decides he has to act to save the damsel in distress, forces the door open and rushes in.
Unfortunately, this is a Tamil serial, so Priya is wearing not a sexy negligee but an unromantic, collared, long-sleeved batik housecoat. (But she is in full make-up.) ACD holds his breath. He is struggling to temper the testosterone surging in him. His brain is frozen. He can't think of a murderer on the prowl, only about the woman he loves. She screams again. He rushes up to her and takes her in his arms while she continues screaming and struggling hysterically.
ACD tries to pacify her. "Hush, Priya. What's the matter?" He soon realizes she must have had a nightmare and caresses her hair gently. Priya has now stopped struggling and lies in his embrace. Slowly her sniffles die out as she comes out of her nightmare. She becomes conscious of ACD's presence and tries to extricate herself from his grip. But ACD grabs her hands and wouldn't let her go free. She looks down shyly. He calls out to her, "Priya …" she has a half-smile appearing on her face. ACD now has one hand on her waist and he draws her close to him. He cups her face in his palms and caresses her cheek. Priya is embarrassed and shuts her eyes. He is so close that she can feel the warmth of his body.
Suddenly, ACD screams in agony and falls into Priya's lap. Priya screams in unison as blood begins to ooze from his forehead. She cradles ACD in her arms frantically and looks up. In the dark she can make out the contours of a woman holding a broken badminton racket. Slowly the woman moves to the light switch and puts it on. Then the woman drops the racket and cries, "Oh, no. A C Sir …. I thought it was the intruder …."
* This is one story I wish SS himself would read for the song sequence ;-) In that old movie, MGR and Saroja Devi were playing badminton (or was it tennis?) to a fantastic music score by M S Viswanathan. Edited by Bonheur - 18 years ago