104 Pali Hill

A Television Series

LOGLINE

Based on Murzban F. Shroff’s novel, five eccentric friends in Bandra navigate modern India’s world of work and

relationships. Their distorted and self-involved egos find themselves in uniquely precarious situations, often creating

new problems before solving the old ones.

THE NOVEL

In the heart of Pali Hill, the Beverly Hills of Mumbai, four friends await the arrival of Jonathan, a man “greatly appreciated for his wit, his effervescence, and his

indignation,” a man exiled from his home state. Through their conversations, we learn of the tumultuous life of Jonathan – how he single-handedly breaks up a gambling den, disarms a rioting mob, charms a recovery agent, evades arrest at a drug-ridden

rave party, and brightens up the lives of sex workers and their children. Jonathan has a solution for every crisis that strikes others, but not for his own dysfunctional family

life. It is left to life then to resolve matters for him. Delivering the insights of a thought-provoking novel, Waiting for Jonathan Koshy reflects the triumph of a spirit that refuses to let up on humour and quick thinking in the face of intense personal adversity. It is a book about friendship, perseverance, family obligations, and duty.

Most importantly, about life’s late but redeeming powers. 

INTERNATIONAL PRAISE FOR THE NOVEL: “What a delicious irony sits at the heart of Murzban F. Shroff’s Waiting for Jonathan Koshy: the central character is almost larger

than life, having done the things we all might dream of doing to serve others in desperate situations; but in his own life, for his own welfare, he is, in many ways

powerless. By magnifying the heroic, Shroff unflinchingly portrays our human vulnerability. Waiting for Jonathan Koshy is a fascinating reading experience from a

deeply skilled writer.” – Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize Winner .

Waiting for Jonathan koshy

ABOUT THE Series

Jonathan Koshy is a living legend to those who know him: an inexplicably fortunate, relentlessly helpful and a wild partying intellectual who is seemingly capable of solving everyone’s problems but his own. Set in Pali Hill, the Beverly

Hills of Mumbai, four friends await the arrival of their secretly vulnerable, high-intellect loser friend, who has been exiled from his beloved home state of Kerala.

The show explores the history and adventures of the unlikely group, who was brought together by individual experiences with Jonathan. It eventually dawns on the group that each person has a different idea of who Jonathan is

and through several stories, the friends discover the real man inside the myth.

Little do they realize, that they are on a journey that will change all of their lives forever…

The Jonathan Koshy book is an ideal foundation for a great ensemble comedy series, as it follows incredibly fun and compelling characters constantly prone to different adventures.  And all the while, as audiences delve deeper into the

show, their many fascinating psychological layers are slowly revealed.  

SYNOPSIS

COMEDY, DRAMA

KEY PROJECT DETAILS

hindi, english, Malayalam

Genre

Language

PRODUCERS INVAR STUDIOS

Characters

..“We” was simply each of us who had a story on him, who had zealously guarded the fragments of his life,

in a way that was unknown to him..

Jonathan

A product of a loveless marriage, Jonathan is a societal disruptor who gets off on weed, booze, sex, ideas, and dancing.

When he isn’t shocking people, he makes them laugh, he makes them think, he

whips up emotions that are cataclysmic. Even when he questions people in

authority, it is without a trace of malice. You can tell it is part of his style:

spontaneous, insightful, and funny. With him, what you take away at the end of an

evening is not slight but friendship, a tinge of admiration.

He is in the ideas business, therefore lives by the graces of his friends, who are

always happy to help. As a chip of their youth, their friends never expect anything

from him, save his friendship.

ANWAR

Eldest among the friends, Anwar has a patrician dignity about him, a genteel softness you don’t want to disturb or

sully.

Anwar belongs to film royalty. He is the son of renowned producer Mustafa Khan

and famous dancer Ammi Khan.

Hidden under his father’s enormous achievements, he contributes by not contributing. He is a walking revolt

against growing commercialism, against the flood of opportunism that was being

seen as progress. Anwar had begun to realize that there was more to life than

the simplistic plots of commercial cinema.

GUSSY

A writer who is palpably the first hand narrator of the events surrounding Jonathan’s life. Closest, perhaps, to

Jonathan, he is privy to Jonathan’s darkest secrets and confessions. With Jonathan’s help, Gussy manages to even the score with a smooth-talking conman who had duped him of a substantial amount of

money; and in Jonathan’s presence, Gussy resolves the dilemma of whether he

should compromise his artistic integrity in order to be published.

FRANKIE

The Actor in the group, Frances (who prefers to go by “Frankie”) went to college

with Jonathan and has known him the longest.

Frankie perpetually observes some kind of a religious fast or superstition, in the

hopes of a break that seems to be evading her. Frankie is a fine theater actor, trapped in the confines of Bollywood, to

make a living, a name. If only theater paid, she would never sully her talent in

Bollywood, never do the kind of roles she did: those of an evil sister-in-law, the

mother to a 60 year old man.

Even in an alien world like Bollywood, Jonathan leaves a footprint, finally

opening the ever-evasive door for Frankie.

Prashant

The Documentary Filmmaker in the group, Prashant’s narratives were tales of realism, built around major issues:

conditions of child labor and child abuse; the plight of farmers driven to suicide;

undertrials languishing in jail; overworked students driven to suicide; female babies strangled at birth or buried alive; and low-

caste women raped and paraded naked.

Unfortunately for Prashant, there was no market for documentary films in India. Prashant has to wise up to that, and he

needs to consider the alternative – Bollywood – where, perhaps, his talent

might find some outlet, some expression. Prashant says he would rather die than do that; that would be the rape of his talent,

the annihilation of his art.

..Oh Bandra Station..we called it God’s waiting room..

Story overview

EPISODES

Episode 1: Anwar Khan’s peace at his family haven, 104 Pali Hill, has been relentlessly destroyed by construction of an old

bungalow into a commercial apartment building. The villain behind this heinous crime – Sharon Singh, Anwar’s co-sister-in-law. Fearful that his neighborhood is dissolving into a capitalist cesspool, Anwar calls on his friends. Frances

aka Frankie, a devout method actor who consistently deals with the lack of respect she gets as a performer, finally finds a fan. Jonathan’s encounter with two local goons finds him traveling from Kollam to Bandra with a special

package.

Episode 2: Already stressed by lack of achievement compared to his illustrious father, Anwar’s day gets worse when he finds

that Jonathan’s cast was a cover for carrying marijuana. The cast was an agreed compromise between Jonathan and the goons hired by a spurned lover. Anwar’s struggle between fatherhood and fading youth creates a rift between

the two buddies.

Episode 3: It’s Jonathan’s birthday, but his friends seem to be more excited than the birthday boy. The gang learns that

Jonathan’s father survived a suicide attempt which, for the first time, brings his divorced parents together. Frankie learns a special lesson of never giving up from an unlikely source - Anwar’s 9 year old daughter, Tania.

EPISODES

Episode 4: Anwar’s wife Nina is bullied by a few local thugs. Jonathan’s initial method of revenge only exacerbates it further. Unrelenting, Jonathan seduces a Kung Fu teacher and recruits his class to end the matter. Prashant and his wife

discover that having a baby is near-impossible.

Episode 5: Gussy has been cheated of his earnings by his creative partner, Goldie Shukla. While Jonathan exacts revenge on

Goldie in a very creative manner, Gussy needs to come to terms with balancing his integrity with his bank account. Prashant’s wife takes progesterone shots to catalyze pregnancy, which leads to untimely meetings in unexpected

places.

Episode 6: Frankie’s brother has finally found a woman. Still in denial that her brother is a grown man, Frankie chooses to avoid

meeting her future sister-in-law. Tania frolics into the house, announcing her first crush. Both Anwar and Frankie need to come to terms with their respective realities.

EPISODES

Episode 7: Prashant’s father-in-law signs him up to a series of superstitious practices, with hopes that his sperm count goes up.

Gussy, intrigued by the scenario, tags along hoping to fight his writer’s block and find a subject for his new book. Jonathan gets a call from America.

Episode 8: Jonathan learns that his estranged brother, Samuel, is going to get married in America. Jonathan’s mother and father

connect over newfound commonalities. Anwar finds a script that finally gets him out of hiatus.

Episode 9: Anwar’s new film talks about a Hindu mythological figure that creates a controversy even before filming. It mirrors a

time when his family nearly became victims of a communal riot. Here too, Jonathan concocts a proposal that not only alleviates the situation but increases the prestige of project. The gang comes together when Frankie meets her

prospective sister-in-law.

..Life was his parent and Pain his teacher..

Season 1: Family Overwhelmed by the massive development of Pali Hill, the friends butt heads with a prominent real estate

developer. As the relationship continues to sour and a minister steps in, the group realizes that the new structures are just the tip of the iceberg. We learn the dynamic of the friends that keeps this crazy funhouse going.

Season 2: Love and Everything else The second season takes a trip down memory lane where the five friends discover their first love, their first sexual

encounter and everything in between. With each episode, we see how their definition and expectation of love have evolved over the years.

Season 3: Taking Bollywood by Storm Jonathan and co. navigate the lecherous world of Bollywood and Frankie struggles with the realities of being a

woman in the film industry. As Anwar closes in on his finalized project, he must deal with lofty expectations because of his family name. Jonathan previous tryst with an actress hasn’t smartened him one bit, as he gets entangled in

another dangerous web of crime and blackmail

Season 4: Politics by the People, for the people We follow the characters’ relationships with families. Whether it is Jonathan, Anwar, Prashant, Frankie, or Gussy, we discover that there is a skeleton hidden in each family’s home. Jonathan’s attempt to move forward with a women’s

rights activist sends him back to a place he tried to stay away from - The Red Light District.

Season ArC

..and so fluid were his moves that others on the dance floor would make way for him and stare enrapt...

Casting Options

PrithvirajDulquer SalmaanTovino ThomasFahadh FaasilNivin Pauly

THE Author

Murzban F. Shroff is a Mumbai-based writer. He has published his fiction with over 65 literary journals in the U.S. and UK. His stories have appeared in journals like The Gettysburg Review, The Minnesota Review, The Saturday Evening Post, Chicago

Tribune, and World Literature Today. Shroff is the winner of the John Gilgun Fiction Award and has garnered six Pushcart Prize nominations, the highest award for the

short story in the U.S. His short story collection, Breathless in Bombay, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the best debut category from Europe and South Asia, and rated by the Guardian as among the ten best Mumbai books. His

novel, Waiting For Jonathan Koshy, was a finalist for the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize and received high praise from two renowned American authors: the National Book

Award finalist Madison Smartt Bell and the Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler.

Author - Murzban Shroff

THE PRODUCTION TEAM

Invar is a multi-multi-platform studio which creates content that focuses on globally relevant, inclusive stories with positive and redemptive themes. Our projects celebrate

cultural diversity and authenticity, in a model that integrates Intellectual Properties across all distribution formats. We produce and distribute premium data-driven content for film, television, VR/AR, and digital video, pioneering the

forefront of the entertainment business of the future.

ABOUT INVAR STUDIOS

CONTACT

Chief EXECUTIVE officer invar studios

Phone - +1 (408) 685-7194 email - elizabeth@invarstudios.com

ELIZABETH KOSHY

Additional materials, financial documents, and project specifics are available for the film upon request to an

accredited investor or company. Please contact a member of the production team below to find out

more:

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