Outline for a music video

I haven’t watched the movie ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’ so I’m not sure how the song’s visuals (Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin) fit into the movie. However, in my head I’ve been thinking about a late 90’s / early 2000’s – style music video for this song (which could also double-up as a nice, long advertisement for Emirates Airlines) whose outline I’d like to share with you.

Scene 1: Early morning at the New Delhi airport. As they are collecting their bags from the scanner belt at security, a woman in her mid-thirties (played by Katrina Kaif) bumps into a man in his mid-thirties (played by Ranbir Kapoor) It seems they know each other. There’s awkwardness, half-smiles and polite greetings are exchanged.

(A little side-note here. I really struggled with the casting of the main characters. In the end I asked myself: “What would Yash do?”)

Scene 2: They realize they’re on the same flight (to Dubai), and start walking towards the gate. Katrina is wearing expensive preppy clothes. She has a big, black Kate Spade bag with her. Ranbir is wearing a button-down shirt with jeans. He has a “normal” laptop bag with him. It turns out after a bit that Katrina is traveling business class so she hesitantly excuses herself at one point to enter the special lounge. Ranbir takes a deep breath.

Scene 3: Katrina is nicely settled in the lounge – sipping on coffee and looking at some slides on her iPad. Ranbir is enjoying an ice-cream as he types away a few emails on his laptop. This is when the flashback vignettes start – how they met in college, how they worked together on presentations, how they were a good team.

(Side-note: Scene 3 is a gift to all you marketing folks out there seeking product-placement opportunities!)

Scene 4: On the plane now – in their respective seats in the different parts of the aircraft. Flashback to the fun times they had together in the college canteen as food is served on the plane. Katrina is thinking of the time she spilt ketchup on her white lucknowi kurta. Startled, she checks if she’s dropped food on her clothes. She hasn’t!

Scene 5: Out of Dubai airport and in their respective hotels now getting dressed for work. It’s getting intense and the flashbacks are imposing now. The hotel room(s) take them back to their intimate moments during the college offsite. But this is immediately followed by flashes of the misunderstanding, the fight, and the fallout.

Scene 6: Of course they end up in the same meeting! Katrina is in a deep turquoise business outfit while Ranbir is in a dark grey suit and a (surprise surprise!) turquoise silk tie. Katrina and her junior colleague (yes you guessed it – Pakistani actor Fawad Khan) are pitching for business to Ranbir and his boss (I’m thinking Lebanese actress Nadine Labaki) somewhere high up in the Burj Khalifa. There are nervous little mistakes and there is uncomfortable eye-contact. The atmosphere is heavy. And beautiful.

(OK. A little pause here. How do we close this? I’ve come up with two ways to end the video. Let me know which one you like more, OK?)

Final scene (the Bollywood version): Katrina and her firm are hired to do the project. Ranbir is the project lead from the client side. Over time, they get their friendship back. Then one day, in an email titled ‘Project Status’, Ranbir sends Katrina a picture of a diamond ring 💍 as an attachment.

Final scene (the O Henry version): Nadine is very happy with the meeting and Fawad is also excited about the project. On their way back to the airport, from their respective cars, Katrina and Ranbir both leave voicemail messages for Nadine. Katrina tells her that she’s withdrawing her firm from the selection process. Ranbir informs her that he won’t be able to work on this project.

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