Script 1

Introduce Francis

Pan down a goan neighbourhood.. We see Francis looking out of his window. Cut to the inside of the house – he is looking out from his window at his mailbox. He walks out the main door, reaches his mailbox. Opens it. Shot from inside the mailbox. He opens it. 

A postman rides down a neighbourhood with a bunch of letters on the back of his bicycle. He drops a letter in every house. He stops at one house and looks at it. It’s clearly a queer house. He moves on to the next one. An angry Mr. Mascarenhas steps out, snatching the letter as he tries to put it in the box. He observes it thoroughly. He yells at the postman, accusing him of tampering with his mail. Another Mrs. Geeta gets out and joins the argument. 2 more people join, and there is pandemonium.

The postman denies tampering with their mail, but promises to get to the bottom of it and rides off. He sees Francis peeping at them through a curtain and gets suspicious. He sees francis sneaking to the neighbour’s lawn. He quickly parks his bicycle and hides behind a bush. Francis neatly cuts out the seal. A bush shuffles. He jumps up and runs to see behind it. A cat runs out. The postman takes a heavy sigh. He goes back to his home, takes one last look and shuts the door behind him. The postman is not sure of what he saw.

The next day Francis comes out to his porch and waters his plant. He observes the neighbourhood. A fisherwoman passes by. He checks his mailbox to find it empty; takes a peak at Mrs. Geeta’s lawn yard and slyly opens her mailbox and cuts out the seal. The postman keeps his camera ready. Francis steals seals from a few other houses. The postman clicks a few shots.

[can cut to] photos in the mailbox are being picked up by francis?

The postman goes to develop the photos. When he comes out the photolab, he sees Francis walking into Central Library. He takes the chance and posts the photo in his mailbox. He takes a peek inside his house. He enters through the back window, observes the queer things inside, and sees the book of seals on the mantelpiece. He opens it flips all the pages.

Meanwhile Francis returns only to find his mailbox full – he opens it and finds a photo of himself opening Mrs. Geeta’s mail. He gets terrified and looks around in panic. He runs to his porch and removes the keys out of his pocket. The postman hears the door open, and escapes just in time. Francis panics and keeps the book inside well locked. He hyperventilates, sweats, pops in a few pills and goes to sleep.  

The next day Francis is scared to even step out. He waters his plant and with trembling hands, opens his mailbox. He is terrified when he sees a photo of the book of seals! He runs back to his house and pants heavily as he shuts the door behind him. He sweats and takes his pills.

The next day he waters his plant again, checks his mailbox and finds it empty. He takes a heavy sigh and eats stones from his plant’s vase. The postman constantly observes him while he delivers the letters. The next few days, he nervously eats the rocks.. his hands itch to open Mr. Mascarenhas’ mail, but he holds himself back. 

One evening, he peeps through his curtain at his mailbox. In Mr. Mascarenhas’ house, the postman and he are in conversation. He offers him a drink, and goes inside to fetch it, when the postman notices Francis outside, stealing a seal. He runs his hands through his hair. Fade out.

The next day Francis finds mail; a letter with a beautiful seal of a ship on it. He is overexcited at this sight, and opens it carefully. Inside he finds a note saying – “I hope you like the seal Francis. I will be sending you more. -Your friend.” Francis eyes start water, as he holds the letter to his chest.