If there is one sequence in the book that anyone has to name as their favorite or something that readers will remember it for, it’s without a doubt the drunken night sequence (my favorite is Bastard’s bike entry scene though). It is a set piece that’s so obviously filmy yet incredibly believable that everyone who’s ever had a hangover will believe it and laugh at it with consummate ease.
The sequence is a tribute to the awesomeness of the movie Hangover- a bunch of madcap funny nonsense, which is actually a clear, well thought out and defined sequence of comic events (though no event in the book is actually copied from the movie). When discussing the sequence, we were very clear that this was going to be the book what the Mahabharata scene is to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. And the scene had more thought put into it than some parts of the book. Consider this conversation for example-
Vaibhav: Yaar bahut serious ho gaya. Abhi tak love scene nai aaya.
MG: (in agreement) Haan haan love/ sex scene to aana hee chahiye. Uss ******* ke novel to isiliye bikte hain.
Vaibhav: Buss iss hafte sex scene hai.
And so it was. The love scene/ interaction between Hari and Meenakshi actually had no thought put into it; nor was it planned to be there in the beginning. It was just meant to be a draw for some of our more perverted readers. However, though its origins might be impromptu it is one of my favorite sequences in the book and in my biased opinion, the most well written. I wrote it in a single shot and knew that it would need zero changes even as I was writing it. And it didn’t.
The drunk night scene however was much more arduous to write. It began with us going forth about what would be the stupidest and most ridiculous possible things to do when drunk. I remember the initial few ideas:
V: Kutte ko tie pehnaate hain.
MG: Chor ko pakadvate hain.
V: Rickshaw!
MG: (who has had a few experiences with policemen) Tango to Charlie!! Alpha to Delta!!
So we had four to five set events and the drunk night story was to travel from the origin flowing through these plot points. I wrote it the very first time as Matar remembering the night and remembering it all because he had apparently been drinking since he was ten & had thus acquired a tolerance for alcohol. This was where I went wrong- introducing logic into madness. MG hated the finished first draft. For one, it had Matar going somewhat on & on about how Hari moaned about Meenakshi when he was drunk.
MG was entirely convinced that that the entire chapter would have to be rewritten. But I believed in the strength of the material- of the little set pieces that made up the big set piece. And with about six changes that removed all semblance of logic from what is best an illogical night the chapter was set.
One of my aunts told me that when she was reading the book, it was like I was talking to her. Cynical, bitter, poking/ insulting, self deprecating and dark humored. But the drunk night scene is not much me. It is more Wodehouse. And the best part is- that unlike the novel itself, it has a perfect ending- a tail ender hitting the very last ball for a huge six.
