The Night of

Steven Zaillian is a renowned American screenwriter known for his adaptation of the TV mini-series "The Night Of". The document discusses how the show brilliantly depicts the passage of time and its effects on people. It also talks about cherishing moments and wanting the recipient to remember the night before their exam, despite the results, for all their hard work and sacrifices. It shares the inspirational "Man in the Arena" passage to motivate the recipient to do their best and not forget the efforts that led to the exam.

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Naman Vasal

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The Night of

Uploaded by

Naman Vasal

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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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The night of

One of my favourite screenwriter of all times goes by the name Steven Zaillian. He’s
an American script writer who has won numerous awards for numerous scripts he
has worked on. Out of all the scripts that he has ever written, the one which is my
favourite is a TV series that he adapted for the American audience. The name of that
mini series is The night of. It stars Riz Ahmed and beautifully details how criminal
justice works. Although what it beautifully hides underneath the veil of a crime
drama is how it showcases the passage of time and how we process time depending
on how much are we affected by the events that take place in that time frame. The
show showcases it brilliantly and Steve is able to achieve that affect by shear genius.

I always think about that show every time I come across moments that make us take
notice of the passage of time. Like the 10th of March 2019 is forever engraved in my
mind cause I lived through that and cherish every single second of that day with you.
I could notice time passing through me while I incessantly tried to slow it down but
to no avail. That was a beautiful day; beauty of which is only bested by how beautiful
you are my love.

Today is one such day that I want you to remember. I want you to live through this
time but engrave it into your memory. This day is a beautiful day that you are bound
to forget. Cause tomorrow when you clear the prelim exam, you will tend to forget
the night of the penultimate night, the night before your exam.

I want you to process the fact that you have given so much for tomorrow! You have
looked at horrible creatures (I am talking about your PG mates), lived with them too,
lived away in a city on your earnings while being completely self dependant. You
have spent hours and hours studying and learning things to serve the greater purpose
of achieving your existential goal. You have toiled away without engaging in vanity
ever and you have smiled through the pain of your inevitable periods while never
using that as an excuse. You have slept fewer hours than your dear Modi ji (who in
fact did say that ‘clouds hai, barish hai, benefit kar sakte hai’) even claims to sleep.
You have been subject to harassment and like a badass, subdued it to the core and
came out wittier. You have done all of that and you still continue to do so everyday
without wanting praise or recognition or acknowledgement. You have pursued
nobility and hone yourself in that everyday.

But what you are prone to do tomorrow and something I would request you not to is
forget all of this. What happens tomorrow doesn’t take a shed away from everything
that you have done until this point. It doesn’t take away the hard work that you did
and it cannot affect the hard work that you are capable of. This day is as important as
tomorrow will be. Please don’t make the mistake of not thinking of today to be as
memorable as tomorrow. No matter what happens tomorrow, no matter when you
come back home and check the answer key against your OMR sheet, no matter what
the result is and no matter what they outcome suggests to you; there can only be two
outcomes. What matters is that you acknowledge today for both the outcomes. If the
outcome does not favour you and tries to pull you down, remember today and the
hard work and sacrifice and the support of all those who love you, primarily your
father and the fact that you will be working towards the other outcome come what
may. If the outcome favours you, even then, remember today and the hard work and
sacrifice and the support of all those who love you, primarily your father. Cause this
reality is not going to change by tomorrow. You are not going to change by tomorrow.
You still remain the amazingly strong girl that you are. You still remain the same
Parul. You still remain the love of my life and you still remain my Aarzoo.

I don’t want to take more time and this would seem dragging then. I want this to be
short and effective and so I will end this email by sharing with you something that I
was trying to share over the phone the other day but you denied to hear directly on
my face. And I don’t blame you for that, I can be extremely boring and wise mouthy
at times (hopefully not during the course of this email). What I want you to read is
something that I cried over when the first time I heard it.

Theodore Roosevelt, former American president, once gave a speech called

‘Citizenship in a Republic’ in France. Although I did not hear it there and then, I
eventually heard it in a commencement speech by Martin Scorsese who made me cry.
Here goes the passage called - ‘The Man in the Arena’

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit
belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and
sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually
strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who
spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of
high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know
victory nor defeat”

I hope it lifts you up like the way it lifts me up always. I believe in you Parul Ozha.
You’re gonna kill the exam tomorrow just like uncle kills in his work. Remember
today. Do not let this day and you be shadowed by the glories of tomorrow. Your
glory is way beyond that.