Choice

Rishabh, an aspiring writer who lives in Delhi City with his girlfriend, Dolly. Failed many times but full of hope. Rishabh borrows some money from his father, a very successful businessman. With no luck with his writing, he somehow manages to get a job as a mail supervisor at a publishing agency and attempts to publish his first novel, which is repeatedly rejected by publishers.

After living together for some time, Rishabh and Dolly marry. During their honeymoon in Kashmir, Dolly buys Rishabh an old briefcase he was admiring in an antique store, as a symbol to hope for his writing career. After returning to Delhi and having his book rejected again, he started to lose ambition for writing. At night tired and full of frustration, Rishabh finds an old but masterfully written manuscript in the briefcase which his wife bought him on their honeymoon, with a central character named Sukh. The words that were written on those pages were so moving and the story was excellent. Without thinking twice, Rishabh types the manuscript into his laptop, words to words, without skipping a comma, a period. Later, while using the laptop, Dolly happens upon the novel and reads it. She mistakenly assumes that Rishabh wrote the novel and convinces him to give it to a publisher at work, Jasmeet Singh. He took his novel to Singh asking him to read it once. Rishabh forgets about the novel and moves on with his life. After a few months, Jasmeet finally reads the manuscript and offers Rishabh a contract. At first, he hesitates then he accepts. The book was a hit and Rishabh becomes famous. With all his fame, he gets nominated for ‘The writer of the year’ award.

Next day on his walk to a park near his house, Rishabh's encounter with "The Old Man". After talking for sometimes, while asking for the autograph of Rishabh on his copy of the book reveals himself as the true author of the manuscript and that it was based on his life in Kashmir. He explains that when he was a young man and stationed in Kashmir by the Indian Army in the final days of War 1971, he fell in love with a girl named Shenaz, a Kashmiri farmer. They eventually get married and had a daughter, but the baby died. Unable to cope with the loss of her daughter, Shenaz left him and moved to her parents' house, leaving him a note saying that she needs time.

What if,

I’m not lost?

What if,

I have no desires,

To be found?

Will, you come to me,

Into the depth of darkness,

Tango with my lonely shadow,

Love me,

When I am odd,

Imperfect & Unlovable?

His daughter is dead and wife leaving, He used his pain as inspiration to writing the manuscript, which he took to Shenaz while visiting her at her parents' home. She found the story so moving that she chose to return to him. However, she unintentionally left the manuscript in a briefcase on the train back to her husband, thereby losing it. Because of the loss of the manuscript, their reconciliation was short-lived, and they divorced soon afterward. Hearing the story of The Old Man, Rishabh broke.

Rishabh tells the truth about the creation of the story, first to his wife and then to Singh. Also, Rishabh tells Singh he wants to credit the old man as the true author. Singh angrily advises against this as it would severely damage both their reputations, and recommends giving the old man a share of the book's profits instead.

Rishabh then seeks out the old man to pay him and finds him working in a plant nursery. The old man refuses the money but, after doing so, he reveals that he saw Shenaz one last time on the Bus station to work, years after his divorce, with a new husband and a young son.

 Full of sadness and regret The old man points out that people always move on from their mistakes, and you will too, saying “We all make choices, the hard thing is to live with them, and there ain’t nobody that can help you with that”. The old man died not long after Rishabh's second meeting with him along with the secret about who the manuscript's author really is.