CHEHRE

SYNOPSIS

CHEHRE is a story about rights and wrongs. It’s a story about the decisions one makes in his / her lifetime and the fact that every decision has its repercussions, hearing and judgement. Arun Mehra, a ‘rags to riches’ boy, travels through the heavy snowfall in the mountains. When a large tree falls on the road obstructing his way ahead, he is forced to take shelter with a few gentle yet peculiar old men in their house. Through conversation, Mehra finds out these old men are retired lawyers who were highly sought after in their prime years. And now, they live a life of solitude up in the mountains. They introduce him to a game they play; they say this game has given them a new life. Upon asking, he comes to know that they essentially do what they did before, argue court cases; with the twist that they pick out old cases and re-enact them to keep their old minds occupied and entertained. For this purpose, they are in fact a full team of people who did the same as professionals also, Mr. Mathur is the judge, Mr. Sahani is the Defendant, Mr. Zaidi is the Prosecutor and Mr. Banney the Hangman. Their neighbour, a mute boy with a criminal history plays their jailor and his sister Shivani comes there to help the oldies out with their home. Because of an incident, Shivani was in the hospital for a long time and Raghu in jail. At the time the four oldies had helped the family in various ways and so both the brother and sister feel obligated over and above their liking for them. The quartet tell Mehra that the game is more fun when played with a real person though and that he should play the role of the accused in their court. It takes some convincing from their part but Mehra agrees to play the game. In spite of repeated warnings by the defence Lawyer – Mr. Mehra leaves the choice of selecting the Prima facie of the case in the hands of the Prosecution Lawyer – Mr. Zaidi. Through an initial round of question and answers, Mr. Zaidi decides that he shall try Mr. Mehra on the charges of murder. Although reluctantly, Mehra agrees to go ahead with the game and through the case Zaidi proves Mehra’s crime and then mention that this whole case was being recorded and will be sent to the High Court, Local Police Station and the Crime Branch and he will be convicted appropriately. Having being caught in his crime, Mehra takes out his pistol and shoots at them and attempts to escape, but slips in the snow and falls to his death in a chasm nearby. Justice is served in one way or another in ‘The Purgatory’. They get back to their lives and wait for the next ‘criminal’ to come their way..