Art Direction
Follows Nasir, a middle-aged street salesman, who belongs to the Islamic minority and who lives with his mother Fatima, his wife Taj and his cousin Iqbal in a densely populated ghetto. As his day unfolds we find him to be a nimble romantic, marshalling a love of love, song, children, friendship, and even God to rise into something resembling a life well lived. But the increasing communal bigotry has other plans.
Production Design
Hari is a young, aspiring writer living in the countryside. Hari lives with his mother in their sylvan surroundings. His only excitement, perhaps, is the sight of the doctor’s young wife, filling him with hope of an opportunity for flirting. Sometimes, he visits Peter Sir, an old retired school teacher and widower. The two lonely men take pleasure in a curious game, over drinks and exotic dishes. They cut out obituary notices from a local newspaper, put them in a bowl and randomly pick them out, one at a time. They stake small amounts of money against each pick. The person who picks the older victim of death becomes the winner, and pockets the sum. From among the pictures they pick, Peter Sir recognizes two men, Shaji and Kuriakose, whose deaths tell entirely different tales—one of a murder and the other of love.
