INDIA – THE KILLER BAND

GOVERNORS

WALK IN SHOTS

BAND NOT HEARD UNTIL HERE

BAND AT GOVS

LUCKNOW TRAFFIC SHOTS (NEAR VIGIL VISION)

JAIL – CENTRAL JAIL GATES, CROWDS ETC.

GALLOWS SEQUENCE

GALLOWS LEVER BEING PULLED

EARLY MORNING AT THE JAIL – BELL, WAKE UP, HEAD COUNT, TEA

SOUND OF BAND OVER SHOTS OF TEA

BAND PRACTICE IN VISION

DIRTY DANCING

DANCING WHILE BAND PRACTICES

BAND GETTING IN UNIFORMS

UNIFORM SEQUENCE STILL

MARCHING OUT GATE

GETTING ON BUS… TRAVELLING TO CONVENT

BUS ARRIVING AT CONVENT, BAND MEMBERS TROOPING IN

Performance starts

FARM

FARM

WEDDING

A GARDEN PARTY AT THE GOVERNOR’S RESIDENCE IN LUCKNOW… THE RED CARPET IS OUT, THE COMPANY SUITABLY REFINED AND THERE’S THE REQUISITE BRASS BAND

band strikes up

VO

AND IF THE MUSIC SOUNDS A LITTLE STRANGLED – IT’S NOT SURPRISING.

EVERY ONE OF THESE BAND MEMBERS IS A CONVICTED MURDERER AND THEY ARE STILL SERVING TIME IN JAIL.

band

IN A COUNTRY WHERE VIOLENT CRIMINALS ARE USUALLY HANGED OR INCARCERATED AT THE GOVERNOR’S PLEASURE, THESE MURDERERS ARE AN EXTRAORDINARY EXCEPTION… THEIR JAIL SENDS ITS MUSIC-MINDED INMATES ON TOUR.

MAP

traffic shots of city

VO

MAFIA DOMINATED LUCKNOW IS AN UNLIKELY LOCATION FOR AN INSTITUTION GENTLE ON MURDERERS.

THIS CITY IS VIOLENT. POLICE ON PATROL REGULARLY SHOOT TO KILL, AND THE JAILS ARE TOUGH.

Jailer

“We will put this in the neck of the prisoner…”

VO

THIS IS WHERE MOST MURDERERS END UP AND OFFICER CHAUHAN IS MORE THAN HAPPY TO DEMONSTRATE THE FINER POINTS OF MULTIPLE HANGING.

Q. Do you sometimes hang 3 prisoners at once? This is for 3 prisoners – we can execute three at one time.

“Without fear and without terror you cannot control such types of hardened criminals.”

Q. They should be hanged?

“Definitely they should be hanged.”

BELL

warden walking prisoners

VO

THE DAY STARTS AT THE LUCKNOW MODEL JAIL AS IT DOES IN ANY INDIAN PRISON… AN ABRUPT PRE-DAWN AWAKENING AND A HEAD COUNT.

VO

THE FOOD AND CLOTHES ARE STANDARD PRISON ISSUE AND ALL OF THE PRISONERS HERE ARE SERVING LONG SENTENCES FOR VIOLENT CRIMES.

sound of band tuning

VO

BUT IT’S NOT LONG BEFORE YOU NOTICE SOMETHING UNUSUAL ABOUT THE WAY THIS JAIL TREATS ITS MURDEROUS INMATES.

band practice all out of key

Jailer

“I have evolved a system of training them based on the Indian classical system where one does not have to know how to read music. The western system of training involved reading music.”

VO

THEY MIGHT HIT A LOT OF FLAT NOTES BUT ALL THESE PRISONERS HAVE SHOWN A WILLINGNESS TO REFORM THEMSELVES…

AND THE MODEL JAIL BRASS BAND IS THEIR ROAD TO REDEMPTION.

tuning up

VO

MATABAL YADAV IS BAND LEADER AND TRUMPETER. HE’S IN HERE FOR MURDERING A FELLOW VILLAGER WHEN HE WAS JUST A TEENAGER. HIS FATHER AND UNCLE WERE HANGED FOR THE SAME CRIME.

VO

EUPHONIUM PLAYER RAJ KUMAR RASTOGI, ONE OF THE FEW LITERATE PRISONERS, IS IN HERE FOR MURDERING HIS WIFE.

AND SHAYMAN LAL, WHO NOW BEATS THE DRUMS, HAS LIVED MORE THAN HALF HIS LIFE BEHIND BARS FOR BEATING TO DEATH A NEIGHBOUR.

Shayman

“When we start playing, all thoughts about who is from which place and what they’re here for doesn’t matter anymore.”

VO

SET UP IN MAHATMA GANDHI’S HOME STATE DURING THE EXPERIMENTAL EARLY YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE, THE MODEL JAIL IS UNLIKE ANY PENAL INSTITUTION IN INDIA, AND ITS SURVIVAL MAY BE A SIMPLE ACCIDENT OF HISTORY. AT THE MOMENT IT’S PROTECTED BY SYMPATHETIC OVERSEER OF PRISONS SUCHIL MOHAN.

Mohan

“It’s one of our very successful experiments. Besides keeping them busy, they are able to earn money as well and it has also induced other inmates in our prisons to take this, you know, profession or band.”

DIRTY DANCING

WHILE MILLIONS OF INCARCERATED INDIANS ARE DESPERATE TO GET OUT OF JAIL, COMPETITION TO GET IN HERE IS FIERCE.

dancing

VO

ALL THESE INMATES HAVE HAD TO DISPLAY YEARS OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR IN OTHER JAILS TO GAIN ADMISSION…INDEED SO MANY YEARS THAT USUALLY ONLY LONG TERM PRISONERS LIKE MURDERERS MAKE IT.

Mohan

“These individuals have shown by their mettle by their good conduct earlier whatever before they joined the band. And now they are a very nice lot, I wish them the best.”

VO

TODAY THESE MUSICAL MURDERERS ARE PREPARING FOR THEIR BIGGEST GIG YET… LUCKNOW’S LORETTO CONVENT SCHOOL FOR GIRLS HAS BOOKED THE BAND TO PLAY AT THE ANNUAL DRILL PARADE.

Trainer

“I feel that if they perform well at Loretto they will earn fame for the prison’s department and also for me since I have trained them.”

Shayman

“We never expected to be able to perform at such a place and it is like a dream come true to be invited to perform there.”

Rastogi

“There have been hectic preparations as we discussed how to put up a good performance. We are very happy we are bubbling over with happiness.”

VO

AND AS IMPORTANT TO THEIR PERFORMANCE AS THEIR MUSICAL SKILL IS THEIR UNIFORM – AN IMPRESSIVE ENSEMBLE WHICH TAKES SOME MASTERING TO PUT ON.

band marching out of gate

VO

BUT SURELY ALLOWING CONVICTED MURDERERS INTO A CONVENT GIRLS SCHOOL WAS A DECISION ONLY A MOTHER SUPERIOR WHO HAD TAKEN LEAVE OF HER SENSES COULD MAKE.

Sister Celine

“Well at that moment I didn’t think so much about it then but it was after the whole show was finished that it came to my mind that I had taken a big risk.”

Convent girl

“Loretto convent junior school… mark time… forward march.”

VO

FEARING THEIR LEGS MAY TURN TO JELLY, MOTHER SUPERIOR DECIDED NOT TO DIVULGE ALL THE FACTS ABOUT THE BAND TO HER YOUNG MARCHERS.

Sister

“They would have been afraid and wouldn’t have performed at their best.”

VO

BUT ON THE DAY THE CONVENT SCHOOL GIRLS’ PRECISION AND TIMING MATCHED THAT OF THE BAND PERFECTLY.

Matabel – band leader

“The fact that we are a prison band weighs heavily on our minds, whenever we go out to perform, we are extra careful about giving our best so that the audience does not feel let down.”

VO

AND THE LONGEST SERVING MURDERER IN THE BAND HOPES THE CONVENT SCHOOLGIRLS WILL HAVE WORKED SOME PRACTICAL MIRACLES.

Shayman

“I’m sure all blessed us so we will be released early. We performed very well so they must have blessed us, they must have blessed us.”

PERFORMANCE ENDS – APPLAUSE CU KIDS

Rastogi

“We got a lot of respect and a lot of love from those kids. It was unbelievable and seeing those kids at the school, they reminded us of our own kids back home and our eyes filled with tears.”

VO

BACK AT THE JAIL IT’S BACK TO WORK FOR THE ASPIRING MUSICAL STARS BUT EVEN WORK AT THE MODEL JAIL TAKES A DECIDEDLY ENLIGHTENED FORM.

VO

HERE AT THE JAIL FARM PRISONERS LIKE THE BAND’S DRUMMER, SHAYMAN LAL, WORK THE LAND, SELL THEIR PRODUCE TO THE JAIL KITCHEN, AND ALSO LIVE IN THEIR OWN HUTS RATHER THAN IN BARRACKS.

FOR SHAYMAN IT’S LUXURY AFTER HIS YEARS IN A REGULAR JAIL.

Shayman

“When I first went into prison, it was very tough on me as far as beating was concerned.”

“We used to be locked up in cages like animals at a zoo. You know animals how they are kept in the zoo, but out there at the model prison one doesn’t feel like one is in prison.”

rastogi primping before arrival of wife and daughter

VO

AND THIS PRISON EVEN HAS A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS THE INMATES TO LEAVE JAIL AND RETURN HOME FOR A FEW DAYS ON IMPORTANT OCCASIONS.

VO

TODAY RAJ KUMAR RASTOGI’S SECOND WIFE AND DAUGHTER HAVE ARRIVED TO SEE HIM ABOUT PLANS FOR HIS DAUGHTER’S MARRIAGE.

daughter and wife talking to him, crying at gate

VO

HE WILL BE RELEASED FOR THE 5-DAY CELEBRATION BUT NOT YET. RIGHT NOW THERE’S ANOTHER WEDDING TO ATTEND – IT’S TONIGHT AND HE’S PLAYING.

VO

FOR RAJ KUMAR THERE MUST BE A FEW NOTES OF REGRET AS HE PLAYS IN THIS WEDDING PROCESSION… THE CRIME THAT HAS BROUGHT HIM HERE IS MURDER – THE VICTIM HIS FIRST WIFE.

wedding

BUT HAVING ESCAPED EXECUTION FOR HIS CRIME, HE IS DETERMINED TO SHOW THAT HE AND HIS FELLOW REPENTERS ARE ON THE ROAD TO MUSICAL SALVATION.

Rastogi

“They many think that, yes these people are murderers, but when they see us performing, when they see us disciplined and well-behaved and get an insight into our characters, I don’t think they will have any hard feelings or treat any of us any differently.”