I've been assessing my options and I have a few top contenders for the script I should be working on. Here are some ideas I have been juggling in my head (and Google Docs).
One of them is a fantasy story about an ancient “monster” whose tribe of human hybrids flourished in the deep jungles of the Western Ghats in post-independent India, a world less charted than today. Their world is disturbed when a company chasing fairy tales lands at their door—disrespectful and destructive in their pursuit of finding a game-changing (and profit-making) resource, which happens to be closely tied and sacred to the tribe’s history and heritage. Will the prophesied savior finally show up? Yes and no. Will the village be saved or cleared for a new world to begin? I won’t tell you.
It has supernatural elements with a flair for monster films—the kind I enjoyed growing up. I thought about this story a couple of months back, and it started as a self-contained story with very intricate world-building exercises. One thing led to another, and instead of jotting down beats for this film, I sketched out what an entire cinematic universe around this story would look like. It’s stupid and counterproductive, I know. This is one of the issues I deal with sometimes—small ideas snowball into something so big that I can't practically or feasibly even begin working on it, but the ideas are so fantastic in my head, that I don’t want to let them go. “Why do I do this to myself?” he asked, rhetorically.
The next idea is a feature-length horror film. Most of it happens inside a car with three primary characters over one night. Three friends arrive in a remote village to attend their college friend's wedding. They’re put up in a lodge across the town. One of the friends, an empath, senses something intense and negative, prompting her to force her two other friends to check out and all of them head toward the friend's house. The village becomes an antagonistic character, revealing itself bit by bit as they try to navigate their way to the friend’s house, trapping them and testing them.
A mind-bending story filled with intimate character dynamics, balancing the baggage they carry with the test the village forces upon them. I’m not sure how to intertwine the horror with the drama in this one due to self-imposed restrictions, like the number of characters, the space they occupy, and the kind of agency the village has. How do I visually manifest that? There are hacky ways to do it, but if I figure out a tasteful, creative way to express the horror of isolation, destiny, and a formidable core, I think I’ll create something worth watching. Right now, the idea is just a series of events that go from beginning to end—there’s no heart, so to speak.
Another story I have is an old one. And when I say old, I mean I thought of this during the COVID-19 lockdown. It draws heavy inspiration from a play by Vijay Tendulkar called The Cyclist, which I watched in college. This one has elements of surrealism, I find it fascinating—when a trivial and mundane world escalates unnaturally into something hauntingly unfamiliar. Something along the lines of Mother! or Annihilation, almost a spiritual fantasy. It explores addiction, anxiety, and peace through a protagonist who’s running away from both very real and supernatural threats while searching for a cigarette fix during a curfew. The horror comes from the loneliness people experienced during the COVID-19 lockdowns and how it pushed people to extreme self-discovery—things they might not have wanted to know about themselves.
Then there’s another similar story I’ve worked on, but it dabbles in cosmic horror—a big reason for my reservation with this one. It started as a silly idea—I thought of a funny name for a film as a joke, and that would have been it, but purely out of dumb luck, I merged it with another short film idea I had.
I had written a short story on a dare but abandoned it because it didn’t feel complete. It was supposed to be an exercise at best, and I didn’t pay much attention to it. When I combined the two, it suddenly took a much better shape. This one has potential because of the way I’m visualizing the frames—a beautiful, painting-like film with lots of quiet and minimalism. It explores themes of obsession, self-preservation, submission, friendship, and sacrifice.
It’s about an architecturally infamous mansion on the hills, which is actually an unfathomable entity disguising itself as a mansion, invoked and worshipped by a local cult that offers it human sacrifices. Even re-reading bits of it, I can’t shake the feeling that it sounds like a cheap attempt to mimic Stephen King. Knowing myself, I wouldn’t be surprised if I subconsciously tried to emulate his voice.
Naturally, all these stories have their frustrating strengths and weaknesses. Dedicating time to long-form projects is a gamble because there’s no guarantee they’ll be finished, let alone made into a movie. It’s tempting though.
Another exciting idea is still very incomplete, but I’ve thought about it in extreme detail—only up to a point. The only part I’ve fleshed out is the beginning of the film, leading up to the title reveal. I tell myself that I’m treating it as more of a proof of concept for now.
This one is the story of an alien invasion, told from the perspective of the protagonist—a special forces officer and new mother. I love the idea of putting this hero in the middle of a high-stakes situation, with a world-ending threat of an extraterrestrial invasion and the responsibilities that come with being a new mother, heightened by an unfamiliar, hostile world.
I haven’t thought about what happens after the invasion itself. I mean, I have ideas, but they all feel derivative of other alien invasion movies I’ve seen. It involves a lot of visual effects, which I might not be capable of handling on my own yet, but it’s doable if I carefully plan out the shots and work with my strengths. The question is, do I want to attempt it, or is it smarter to stick to something simpler?
As I stare at the wall with sticky notes containing loglines for these stories, two thoughts run through my mind:
(a) Which one do I choose to work on?
(b) Will these sticky notes even stick to the concrete wall?
I have some serious decisions to make. The idea of actually sitting down and working on one of these stories is daunting. Thankfully, I’ve found a very peaceful writing spot. I’m looking forward to that at least.
It wasn’t like this a few years ago. Perhaps it was the lightness of being a beginner. Maybe the answer is simple—I just need to begin unburdened by any expectations, especially my own.
Easier said than done.
It happens if it happens, I guess.
Must. Make. It. Happen.
pick one fast because i want to see them all. i can help you by rolling a dice
Baah...