English Babu Desi Mem (1996) is not a romance. Yes, it was promoted as a romance. Yes, it was made in the Nineties, when romance reigned supreme in Bollywood, and yes, it stars Shah Rukh Khan, the undisputed King of Romace, and yes, the movie begins and ends with a wedding, but it is not a romance. It is a love story, however.
The Mayur family have been settled in England for generations, and they have made a lot of money. But while family patriarch Gopal (Shah Rukh Khan with grey hair and a silly fake mustache) is happy to be rich and English, oldest son Hari (Shah Rukh Khan with long hair and a different silly fake mustache) . . . well, his heart is Hindustani. He wants to embrace his cultural traditions and give money to charity, and the family has plenty of money to give to charity.
Gopal decides to deal with his wayward son by getting him married, but Hari flees to India . . . in a single engine prop plane, a plane which explodes in a burst of stock footage before reaching land. Hari survives and is nursed back to health by Katariya (Rajeshwari Sachdev). Since his family already thinks he's dead, Hari decides to stay and marries Katariya. They are blissfully happy for a couple of years, and then they are caught in a terrible fire and both die, leaving their newborn son to be raised by Katariya's much younger sister Bijuriya, who is only a child herself. (I think the young Bijuriya is played by Baba Brahmbhatt, but it's hard to tell.)
Kindly lawyer Madugar (Saeed Jaffrey) and many of the other residents of the colony promise to provide support, but Bijuriya basically supports herself and her nephew, first by performing odd jobs and selling balloons, and later, after she's grown up enough to be played by Sonali Bendre, by dancing at Banjo's Beer bar. She and her beloved nephew Nandu (Sunny Singh) are poor, but utterly devoted to one another.
Then Madugar sees a TV interview with wealthy but snobbish British industrialist Vikram Mayur (Shah Rukh Khan with a terrible English accent but no silly mustache) and realizes that Nandu is actually heir to a tremendous fortune. He tricks Vikram into coming to India and reveals the truth about Hari's fate and Nandu's existence. Vikram is delighted to learn he has a nephew, and is charmed by Nandu when he accidentally meets the kid. Bijuriya, meanwhile, is terrified that this English jerk is going to take her son away; Vikram is rich and respectable while she is poor and a bar dancer. There's no question that she would lose a custody case.
Vikram tries to impress Nandu with his wealth and privilege, along the way genuinely bonding with the kid, but he can't really compete with the only mother Nandu has ever known. But Madugar has clearly seen too many movies, and takes each of the feuding pair aside to suggest that they try being charming instead. It kind of works, and Vikram and Bijuriya start to enjoy one another's company. Unfortunately, Nandu assumes that that means they're in love, and makes arrangements for the wedding. When he tells Vikram it . . . doesn't go well.
Now, this is a movie. Of course Nandu gets what he wants in the end. But while Vikram and Bijuriya are clearly attracted to one another, there's never any point at which they seem to be in love. Instead, it's all about the kid. They both adore Nandu, and they're willing to do whatever it takes to make him happy, even if that means ending up together. Love, as they say, can come later.
No comments:
Post a Comment