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SYNOPSIS - ENGLISH
BABU DESI MEM
("ENGLISH GENTLEMAN, INDIAN LADY")
- Hari Mayur, son of the British Asian business
magnate Gopal Mayur, flees an unwanted marriage by hopping on his plane
and flying for his beloved motherland, India. He crashes on the coast
near Bombay and is found by a beautiful maid named Atariya. When his
body is not found, his family assumes he is dead, and he lets them,
marrying Atariya and living happily, quietly, and anonymously in an
Indian village.
- Atariya gets pregnant. Her little sister Bijuriya
is devoted to the unborn child, whom they have named Nandlal.
- At the Diwali festival, Hari dances (SONG: NACHO
RE). A fire breaks out and he saves Atariya, but just barely. They are
both badly burned and Atariya goes into premature labor. The child is
born healthy but Atariya and Hari, who have promised each other they
would never be parted, both die from their burns.
- Hearing the doctors' plans to put little Nandlal
into an orphanage, Bijuriya kidnaps the child. The doctors give chase,
but when they realize how wonderful are her innate mothering skills,
they decide to let her keep the child.
- In order to support Nandlal, Bijuriya takes
up odd jobs, eventually becoming a nightclub dancer. (SONG: SOLAH BARAS
KI)
- Bijuriya's job involves dodging all sorts of
skeezy men, like her boss Banjo and her overzealous fan Bheem Khalasi.
Nandlal's greatest dream is to see her married and safely away from
her dangerous profession. He prays for it daily.
- Hari's younger brother Vikram is a great success
in the business world. When Hari's old friend Madadgaar sees Vikram
interviewed on TV, he knows the resemblance is too great for coincidence
- he is looking at Hari's brother. Vikram's wealth may help Bijuriya
and Nandlal out of their dire straits, but Madadgaar doesn't entirely
trust Vikram - he bears an open, blazing contempt for India, and must
be pretty rotten in order to drive a man to pretend to be dead. He decides
to lure Vikram to India through a bit of petty fraud.
- Vikam receives notice that he's being sued in
India for his brother's crime of setting up a business solely to drive
another business to bankruptcy. Stunned by the notion that his brother
might have surived the plane crash, Vikram travels to India to investigate.
- Vikram arrives, only to learn that not only
Hari survive to marry, but that he also had a son - the Mayur heir!
He demands to meet the boy. Bijuriya is very reluctant, insisting that
she meet Vikram first.
- At their meeting, Bijuriya dresses up and pretends
to be a maharani (queen). Vikram, who was expecting his nephew's guardian
to be old and poor, is taken with her beauty and reassured that Nandlal
is in good hands.
- Later. Vikram can't get Bijuriya out of his
mind. He catches a ship from Bombay to the village to look for her.
On the way, a boy (actually Nandlal!) shines his shoes. He can't find
hide nor hair of her, but he misses the last ship back to Bombay. Nandlal
pops up again and offers to help him out. They have a long discussion
and take a real liking to each other.
- Vikram stumbles into the beer bar where Bijuriya
is performing (SONG: PHIR KYA HUA). He is furious when he sees the truth
of her identity. Later, she tells him that even though he thinks she's
a prostitute, she's honorable. Yet if she had to, she would sacrifice
her honor on this very bed. He tells her that if he was what
she thought he was, he'd have her on this very bed. But
all he wants is Nandlal. Bijuriya is highly alarmed.
- Vikram gets the birth and wedding certificates
that he needs to prove Nandlal is his nephew. He then procures a court
order that forces Bijuriya to let him see Nandlal. Again, they get along
famously, and Vik spoils Nandlal rotten. Nandlal begins to get irritated
with Bijuriya's rustic ways.
- Vikram tempts Nandlal to come with him to London
by showing him a video tape of the Mayurs' palatial residence. But Nandlal
confides, regretfully, that he cannot leave India until Bijuriya is
married. That, he tells Vikram, is why he sells cigarettes and
polishes boots instead of going to school - to make money to offer to
God in her name. Vikram is infuriated with Bijuriya for letting her
ward suffer on her behalf, and he decides to take her to court for custody
of Nandlal.
- Bheem Khalasi, who cannot forget Bijuriya's
beauty, decides to go back to Bombay and get her.
- Bijuriya, having received the summons, wants
to file a countersuit saying Vikram planted a bomb on his brother's
plane(??!). Madadgaar advises her that only the rich can afford to win
trials. He advises her instead to attack. Points out that Vikram was
enamored of her in the beginning, and suggests that if she were to make
him fall in love with her, he'd do anything. She agrees.
- Madagaar then goes to Vikram and insinuates
that at the beginning, Bijuriya thought he was a real prince, and because
of that she got nervous and said some stupid things. Vikram is highly
skeptical. But he concocts a plan: to flirt with her and reveal her
true colors to Nandlal's discerning eyes, after which Nandlal will surely
hate her for being a cheap woman.
INTERMISSION
- Vikram arranges for Bijuriya to be kidnapped
so he can save her and play the hero. One of the men in on the plan
rats to Bheem Khalasi, who plans to make it into a real kidnapping.
- Vikram and Bijuriya go out to dinner. (SONG:
COME ON BABY) She's kidnapped and he follows. But when he acts in
the manner he and the villains previously agreed upon, things don't
go according to planned. He rallies and saves her anyway. She's very
impressed. (SONG: MAIN TERA DEEWANA)
- They make up and grow verrrry fond of each other.
Nandlal thanks God for granting his wish. But then it becomes clear
that while Bijuriya is not playacting, Vikram is.
- Banjo comes looking for Bijuriya and runs into
Nandlal, whom he tells that Vikram will never marry her. In response,
Nandlal goes to the local priest to fix the wedding date.
- When Nandlal goes to Vikram to inform him of
the wedding date, Vikram breaks the news: there's not going to be a
wedding. Nandlal gets very upset - says that Bijuriya is not a prostitute
to be kissed without marriage, she's Nandlal's mother. Announces
that he's no longer related to Vikram.
- Nandlal rebukes God, but then decides it's his
own fault, a punishment for selling cigarettes and lying to his mom
and ditching school. When he doesn't come home, Bijuriya gets worried
and goes to Vikram's to find him. Vikram tells her about Nandlal polishing
boots and working for black marketeers for her sake - says that her
nasty professsion is Nandlal's greatest sadness, and his greatest happiness
would be to get her married - and adds that Nandlal's childhood has
been murdered by his struggle to see her married. Bijuriya is disbelieving.
- When Bijuriya discovers the proof that Vikram's
claims are true (wedding sari and boot polishing utensils), she is devastated.
She decides it is in Nandlal's best interests for him to go with Vikram
- and in order to make him do so, she'll make him hate her so much he
won't be able to stay. When he returns home she tells him she's
in love with Banjo and is going to marry him. She adds that Nandlal
is a jinx and a burden to her. Shattered, Nandlal runs to his uncle's.
But when he hears his uncle making arrangements for them to travel to
the UK, he runs back to Bijuriya. She locks him out of the house. (SONG:
JANOO NA)
- Vikram comes to Bijuriya's with a court document
which she must sign. It states that she's received full payment for
taking care of Nandlal, and is ceding all rights to see or contact him.
She says she'll sign only when she gets the cash. He has Nandlal bring
it inside. She signs it, and they leave.
- Banjo comes and takes the cash. She fights him,
saying it belongs to her child and she must return it to him. She begs
him for mercy. He says he will let her keep the cash if she does as
she's told to do. Flashback: he remembers how he has sold her to Bheem
Khalasi.
- Madadgaar drops by Bijuriya's on his way to
the airport to see off Nandlal and Vikram. She is heading out the door.
She gives him the suitcase of cash to give to Nandlal, and tells him
to tell Nandlal that the suitcase is filled with his toys.
- (SONG: RAB DIKHTA) Bijuriya performs
for Bheem Khalasi. Nandlal senses that Bijuriya needs him and refuses
to board the plane. The suitcase breaks and all the cash spills out
- they realize that Bijuriya is not a greedy avaricious witch after
all. They go to her rescue and save her just in time.
- Vikram and Bijuriya are married. Happy ever
after, credits.
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