Oh, my feets. I finally wised up and stopped walking through town in my hellacious dress shoes. My heels still look like I took a cheese grater to them, though. They’re really itchy, which I hope means they’re healing, instead of whatever other horrible explanation there could be.
I can’t get hold of anyone about my job. Apparently I can only talk to the manager who hired me, and I can’t even get her voicemail. I have a really bad feeling about this.
Hiating? Is that a word? <looks suspiciously over reading glasses>
Don’t you be hiating me for my lame attempts at humor! (see, **Spats **isn’t the only one who can pun).
Floor will not be delivered today–it hasn’t left the manufacturer’s yet. I am not happy, but I do have a garage full of cabinets…unfortunately, the floor needs to go in first. I am resigned to at least 2 more weeks of intrahouse camping. Fun for the whole family!
PS-get your cabinets from HD, but not your floor-all I’m sayin’.
Off to spend more money-on paint this time.
Ok, now that I’ve read the OP and all the responses, I can say - good job, Bus Guy! Tell your wife she has pretty hair.
This is a dreadfully busy week for me as I am flying out on Friday! So have a ton of things to do. But first, let’s get with the program. I apologize for not finishing this last week, but here it is. I’ll do it in three separate posts.
Namak Halaal
Namak Halaal is a sort of idiom in Hindi. It means literally, “faithful to the salt.” Colloquially it means “If someone gives you a good job and gives you money to put food on the table, then you must be faithful to them.” The closest thing in English is “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” but even that’s not close enough to the extreme loyalty it commands. This is a comedy, but there is a lot of serious stuff interspersed, too.
This is the first movie your **‘Mika **ever saw in her life. I was only about 2 years old, and it gave me a lifelong love of Amitabh Bacchan, the main actor.
The movie opens up with a man coming home injured. His wife Savitri scolds him, saying “How long will you continue to put your life in danger for Setji?” (Note: Setji is a title, not a name. Means “Sir” or “Master”.) In the background you see two young boys.
The man, whose name is Bhim Singh, tells his wife “Look Savitri. We owe Setji a great deal. If I lose every drop of blood in my body for him, it won’t be enough to repay him.”
“If there is so much danger, why don’t you call the police?”
“Because I only have suspicions against Setji’s step-brother Girdhar Lal and no proof yet.”
“Then why not look for another job?”
“Savitri. Do you remember when our Arjun was so sick and all the local doctors had given up? Do you remember how Setji called in American doctors? He spent money like it was water to cure our son. Can we forget that, ever?”
Just then, Setji enters and scolds him, saying Savitri has been like a mother to his own motherless son, Raja. Raja has even drunk Savitri’s milk and thinks of Savitri as his mother. And he says that every drop of mother’s milk is worth more than blood.
He goes on to say that he has brought his lawyer, and has transferred his entire fortune over to Savitri to enable her to take care of his son Raja. He says the men’s lives are fragile, and he knows she will always take care of his boy. His lawyer hands the paperwork over, and Setji asks the lawyer to make arrangements to send Raja to London to study.
Bhim Singh and Setji go out onto the porch. Bhim Singh is worried that people may think that he has done all this to get at Setji’s money. As Setji is admonishing him, he and Bhim Singh are both shot by assassins, who then proceed to set fire to the house. Savitri screams and runs to her husband. Setji is killed instantly but Bhim Singh lives a little longer.
Bhim Singh’s dying admonition to his wife is to raise Raja. He begs her to neglect her own son if necessary and if it should interfere with Raja’s upbringing at all. She tearfully agrees, and turns to the lawyer and begs him to flee with Raja and get him out of the country. He agrees, and leaves.
Bhim Singh then tells Savitri to send Arjun to his grandfather, Dashrath Singh, in the small village of Lakhanpur.
The lawyer has a gun, and thus escapes easily with Raja, after shooting a couple of assailants. The ayah runs with Arjun, but she takes a bullet on the way.
Roll credits and the movie begins. This was all prologue, you see.
The ayah makes it to the grandfather, and tells him his son is dead and that this is his grandson Arjun. Dashrath’s heart breaks of course but the ayah dies before she can tell him anything else.
Some time later Savitri comes to see her son. In his rage and heartbreak Dashrath lashes out at Savitri, blaming her for her husband’s death, and claiming she pushed him into getting her signed onto the will. He extracts a promise that Savitri will never again see her child nor tell him she is his mother. He says, “You have come begging your child from me. But from whom do I go and beg my child?”
Savitri says she has no proof of her innocence today, but one day her innocence will be revealed. But now she will put a stone on her heart and forget she ever birthed a child.
A month or so later, Savitri and the lawyer receive news that Girdhar Lal – Setji’s stepbrother – was killed in a plan crash. They are cautiously happy but resolve to keep Raja in London for the best education money can buy.
On the other side, Dashrath loves his grandson. The scene closes on him putting him to sleep with a famous children’s lullaby, on the gramophone.
Fast-forward about 20 years.
Arjun (Amitabh Bacchan, one of the most famous actors in the last 30 years) has grown into a handsome but immature youth whose only thought is to live in the village and serve his grandpa. There is a very funny scene where his grandpa is asking him about a dream he had.
Grandpa says, “So tell me, tell me, what did you dream?”
Arjun answers, “I dreamt you were leaving me, Dadu! (Poppa). And I was yelling, ‘Don’t go, Dadu, don’t go!’”
Grandpa says, “You moron! At your age boys dream of girls. Chords stir in their hearts. Their minds sing. Spring blooms in their hearts. I know what the problem is, I won’t play this song anymore.” On the gramophone is playing, “Wake up, O dear Krishna.”
Arjun asks, “What shall you play, Dadu?”
And Grandpa retorts, quoting a song “ Jaag, darde ish, jaag (Awaken, O loving heart, and learn the pain of love).”
Arjun says, “Oh! What a dirty song, Dadu!”
Dadu goes to a neighbor to ask what to do about this boy of his. The neighbor suggests that Arjun be sent to his own son, who lives in the city. He will get him a job. Arjun is hesitant, but his grandpa says, “Go and make me proud of you. As tall as you are, become something even higher in the world, so the world will look at me and I can say, ‘There goes my grandson Arjun Singh.’ Go and learn to stand on your own feet. Who knows how long I will be in this world? Who knows when God will call me back?”
At this Arjun interrupts him and begging him not to speak of his death, agreeing to go to the city or anyplace else Dadu wishes him to.
The scene shifts to an old man and his son – the infamous Girdhar Lal. Twenty years ago he had done possibly the only good deed in his entire life. He had been about to get on a plane when he saw a man begging the ticket seller for one ticket. Apparently the man’s wife had been sick, and he desperately needed to fly home. Girdhar Lal felt some pity, and gave him his ticket. The plane crashed shortly after, and the world thought Girdhar Lal was dead. He of course leapt headfirst into a life of crime.
He shows his son Ranjit a picture of Savitri Devi and tells him all the property his stepbrother the Setji left should belong to Ranjit, and not to Savitri Devi. His son is currently working as a top manager in the Delhi hotel that will one day belong to Raja Babu, Setji’s son (as he is now known). Savitri does not know Girdhar Lal has a son. Girdhar Lal encourages Ranjit to kill Raja and Savitri and take all his holdings.
We then see Savitri – now respectfully known as Malkin (Mistress or Lady) giving out sweets to some local children. When asked why, she claims it is her son’s birthday. The child then asks where her son is, but before she can answer, Arjun walks on scene. (Now don’t forget they are son and mother but haven’t lain eyes each other in 20 years). He is wearing his best turban and shiny clothes that he only wore once, to a wedding (his best clothes of course - darn villagers). He asks her politely for directions. She gives them to him, then offers him a sweet. He is surprised, saying it’s his birthday too, but his mom has gone to heaven. But Malkin is like his mother, too, so he gladly accepts a sweet.
So he gets to his friend Bhairon, who is appalled at his clothing and looks askance at the turban. He promises he’ll get Arjun a job - and some new clothes. He tells Arjun to go wash up and shave; they are going to a five-star hotel later tonight to look for a job.
Later, Arjun is shaving. The door bangs open and a very fat man with a huge mustache walks in. He accuses Bhairon of taking pictures of himself and someone else’s wife.
“You took pictures of me with that idiot’s wife!”
Bhairon responds adroitly. “Well-um-you know-“
“I’ll make sure you never work in this town again! Where are the pictures?”
“In the camera!”
“Where is the camera?”
“On the table!”
“Where is the table?”
“In the corner!”
“Where is the corner?”
This whole time, Fat Man has been bumping Bhairon with his big, fat belly, so they are upon the corner, and Bhairon squeaks, “Here it is!”
Fat Man takes the camera and pulls the film out and dumps it on the floor, above Bhairon’s protests. He says, “If you ever take a picture of me again with some other woman, I will break your face!” He then punches Bhairon right into Arjun, who has come out to see what is happening. “YOU HEAR?!”
Fat Man leaves. Bhairon says, “Oh, he was just joking, he’s an old friend, don’t worry about it.”
Then another man comes in. He says “Ah, Bhairon, do you have the pictures of my wife with that man? Now I can make this court case against her.”
Bhairon nervously responds, “Yes, sir, I did take the pictures, but there is something wrong with them. The camera broke.”
“What? I hired lawyers on the strength of that evidence. I have a massive court case! Now what will I do? Where is the faulty camera?”
“On the table!”
“Where is the table?”
“In the corner!”
“Where is the corner?”
“Here it is!” He then takes the whole camera and smashes it on the floor, punches him, and leaves. Arjun comes out, and Bhairon again says, “He’s just a friend, he’s joking, don’t mind him.” Seeing Arjun is not believing him, he says, “Don’t leave! Don’t go back to the village! Dadu will be so disappointed. You stay, OK, and we’ll get you such a good job…don’t worry.”
They go to a huge 5-star hotel. Yes, it is Raja Babu’s hotel. Arjun is awed, and says so, loudly. Bhairon has to scold him to behave.
The star performer that night, Tom Tom, is drunk and completely wasted. As drunken men are wont to do, he makes immediate friends with Arjun and tells the hotel – in English – that Arjun will be singing in his place. Arjun doesn’t understand right away, but when told, panics. Still, Bhairon convinces him by saying “There are famous people, you may get a job!”
Arjun sings the famous song “Pag ghungroo bandh Meera nachi thi, par hum nache bina ghungroo ke” (The famous Meera danced with bells on her feet but I dance without any bells) and the crowd loves it. ¾ of the way through the song he sees Poonam (Smita Patel) and is instantly smitten and sings part of the song to her.
The next day, he is summoned to the hotel to interview. Bhairon tells him to give 10 answers to every question, and naively he does. When asked what he thinks of the world, Arjun tells the three laws his Dadu told him:
Don’t ever covet another man’s woman or possessions.
Be loyal and faithful to the person whose salt you’ve eaten.
Don’t suffer or allow injustice.
When asked if he speaks English, Arjun launches into a detailed description of cricket matches. “In the year nineteen hundred and seventy-seven…” and says he can translate with ease. “Bhairon becomes Baron, and Baron becomes Bhairon, because their minds are very narrow.” (Bhairon is pronounced to rhyme with narrow.)
The interviewer figures he is an idiot but a hard-working one, and hires him. He is taken to his new manager – who happens to be Poonam. They both hear music as they look into each other’s eyes, and both of them fall totally in love, though they do not admit it yet.
His job is to help the hotel guests, and change the towels, etc., every day. He is shocked that the towels have to be changed every day, saying the guests must be very dirty.
While Poonam is training him, a call comes to his post from room 666. Poonam takes him there, commenting wryly that she will show him how to deal with guests, but this guest is truly worthy of his room number.
Indeed, when they get there, the man immediately hits heavily on Poonam. Poonam shoots him down coldly, and Arjun yells at him, too.
Arjun is then shown Raja Babu’s room. Upon realizing he is the manager, he swears to abide by the rules of* namak halaal*, and asks where the manager is. Poonam says he is studying abroad.
Cut to Europe, where Raja Babu is about to participate in a skiing match. There is an attempt on his life, and he chases down the man, but just as he is questioning him someone else shoots him dead. In the man’s pocket he finds a letter saying Savitri Devi was the one who hired the assassin!
Raja Babu’s heart is broken. His uncle tells him Savitri is not his real mother but his adopted mother, and Raja Babu begins to think that an adoptive mother could kill him where a real one couldn’t. However, we are shown a scene where it is clear that Girdhar and Ranjit are actually behind the attempt and are trying to frame it on Savitri.
Meanwhile, Savitri is going crazy trying to make everything perfect for Raja Babu’s arrival home. Arjun asks, since they have such a beautiful home, why make the **hotel **nice? And Savitri says her son is very moody. What if he wakes up in the middle of the night and says he wants to go to the hotel? Better to have it ready, just in case.
Just then, Raja Babu arrives on the scene. He brings 4 sluttish girls with him and says some things calculated to both hurt and test his mother. He says even motherhood can be poisonous. He also talks about his own death in graphic detail, making his mother cry. He passes it off as a big joke. Tomorrow is his birthday, the 13th, and he says it’s a very unlucky day. He asks for a gift, and his mother says, “What do you want? Anything, of course. All this is yours, anyway.” And he says, slyly. “I know, dear mother. And after I die – it’s all yours.” She says “Raja!” and scolds him. He covers by introducing himself to Arjun Singh in a very funny manner.
Raja: “Your introduction?”
Arjun:” My introduction? Introductions are for big people. I am very very small.” Keep in mind Arjun is about a foot taller than Raja, and Raja has to look quite far up to see into his face. Raja looks him up, then down.
Raja: ”What do you do, then?”
Arjun: “I am your faithful servant, your namak halaal.”
Raju: ”Salt? Do we run a salt factory? That stuff is old-fashioned. It’s a very self-serving society, right, Mom? Anyway, get me 4 champagne bottles, chilled.” The last part he says in English, and Arjun doesn’t know what ‘chilled’ means.
Arjun: “Chilled?”
Raju: “Chilled.”
Arjun: “Chilled.”
Raju: “Chilled.”
Arjun, reflectively, “Chilled.”
Raju: “Make them cold, ok?!”
Arjun: “Right!”
Raju turns to leave and sees his manager, Ranjit, Girdhar’s son. He asks for his introduction, and he says, “Your manager – I mean, this hotel’s manager.” He is obviously shocked and not pleased to see Raju back here. Raju notices but lets it pass, and says “Ok, get my four special friends” – the girls – “four special rooms, if you catch my drift.” The manager agrees, then walks away. Raja softly calls him an idiot. He then goes off-screen.
Arjun approaches Savitri, and says, “May I ask a question? I don’t understand this mother-son relationship.”
Savitri, hurting and confused, says, “Do you have a mother?”
And Arjun says “No.”
And she retorts, “Then you have no need to understand it. Take care of my son.”
End of Hour 1. Whew!
Pente! Pente! Pente! Yesterday my 8 year old won against me in 4 games. In fairness, I was distracted by my 6 year old and my husband. I expect to win tonight against him. Mwhahahahahahaha!
Hour 2, a little bit abbreviated!
The next day, they celebrate Raja’s birthday. When a dog eats the birthday cake and dies it is discovered the cake was heavily poisoned. Of course it rather ruins the mood of the party! Raja begins to suspect Ranjit, too, as Ranjit made all the arrangements for the cake. He tells Ranjit to go order a new cake but this time, *Ranjit *will have the first bite.
Arjun’s heart breaks, seeing Savitri’s worry and her tears over her son. He swears to find the true killers.
That night Arjun catches a woman sneaking out of Raja’s room. He accuses her of thieving, and in the middle of it a very drunk Raja shows up. The woman accuses Arjun of attempted rape – which is a pretty terrible thing to say – and punches Arjun. Arjun stops the second swing, and defends himself. He grabs the girl, and in front of Raja goes through her pockets, finding Raja’s wallet and watch. Raja is contrite, and Arjun walks off-screen.
Next morning, Raja intercepts Arjun who is leaving. They have an emotional talk where Raja tells him all his problems. Arjun realizes that Raja is under a great deal of stress and tension, as he believes his own mother is trying to kill him, and so Arjun’s heart is touched and he agrees to stay until the killer is found.
Later that day, as Poonam is leaving Arjun asks to walk her home. She refuses, somewhat coldly, saying there is someone waiting for her. Arjun’s hopes are dashed.
Cut to Poonam waiting at the bus station with an obviously blind man, when the resident of room 666 shows up. Remember him? He realizes Poonam’s companion is blind, and after some desultory talk grabs Poonam and starts to drag her to his car. The blind man tries to help but is thrown to the ground. However, Arjun shows up on scene. Cue fight scene, where Arjun kicks the shit out of the room 666 guy.
Arjun then escorts them to their home. The blind man asks Arjun to stay for tea. When Arjun agrees, he turns to Poonam and says, “Poonam, would you bring some tea for our guest?” And Poonam says, “Yes of course, dear brother.”
Upon hearing the word ‘brother’, Arjun is ecstatic. He goes out in the pouring rain – monsoon season – and begins to laugh, crazy and happy. When Poonam comes out to check on him, they look into each other’s eyes, and then fall into each other’s arms. The umbrella comes down to block them, so you think they’re kissing*, and then it blows away. As it blows away, Arjun chases it, but the corner of her sari is caught in his ahem pants, and part of it comes off. Then follows a very nice dance number, with Poonam in a wet clingy sari and Arjun dancing around her, etc.
As the song finishes, Raja drives by. He stops, and asks if they need a ride. He is of course, very amused, and Arjun and Poonam embarrassed as they quickly hurry off, declining the offer of a ride.
Cut to Girdhar Lal turning to the screen and shouting “ARJUN SINGH ARJUN SINGH ARJUN SINGH! Who is this Arjun Singh?” He and his son Ranjit decide to hire a famous femme fatale who hires herself out to destroy men’s reputations. She makes them fall in love with her, forsaking their wives and their regular lives, and then takes their money and possessions and leaves. However, this time, they decide to have her kill Ranjit.
We see a scene with Nisha, who is the femme fatale. She is very hesitant about committing a murder and obviously weary and disgusted with her job as femme fatale. Her mother, who was one herself, promises her that this will be the *last *job and then after that they’ll have enough money to escape.
She appears at the hotel and dances…Raja is irritated at first but when he sees her dance begins to be interested in her, like every man does. (Cue really flashy song and dance number – my SO laughs his head off every time he sees it. The woman is wearing a gold lame dress, she is on a gold stage, with a large 6 foot golden ball rotating behind her. Tacky!)
After the end of the song, Dadu – the grandfather, remember him – shows up at the hotel, but he is in somewhat of a disguise. He pretends he is a rich intercontinental businessman. Of course Arjun rushes to meet him, but Dadu pretends not to recognize him and actually grows irritated with him. Arjun doesn’t believe him right away, but when Dadu orders wine and pot and women, Arjun is forced to believe it.
In the middle of the night Arjun bangs on Dadu’s door, and says “You could never be my grandfather! You’d never measure up!” In the morning Dadu calls the manager – who happens to be Poonam at that moment – and complains. Poonam begs him not to take it too badly, and says, “When you get to know Arjun, you will love him too.” And Dadu says, “Too? What do you mean, too?” Poonam blushes, and her secret is out. Dadu is very happy and tells her not only has his son done really well but has also found a wonderful woman to marry.
Interval
Later, someone comes to Dadu and tells him Arjun’s birthday is tonight. Dadu is surprised, as it’s most definitely not Arjun’s birthday tonight, and so he goes to see.
But this is just a plot Arjun has enacted to ferret out whether this is the real Dadu or not. He pretends he is rip-roaring drunk and generally living bad. He speaks of getting four women pregnant, and tells them all when his Dadu dies, he will take the money and then he can take care of them all. Cue song and dance number. While he is playing this trick, Poonam catches him with all these women – snap! – and runs off crying. She is broken-hearted but Dadu consoles her, telling her this is just Arjun’s game to make him admit who he really is.
Just then someone tells Dadu Arjun is dead, that he walked out in front of the bus. Dadu rushes to the door, shouting, “My son! My son!” upon which Arjun walks in. Dadu begs his forgiveness for lying and pleads with him never to play such a cruel trick again. Grandpa and grandson are reunited, and we find out the whole thing was an elaborate ploy on behalf of Dadu to find out if Arjun was truly independent or not. He says that he is convinced and will now take not just a son but also a daughter (Poonam) home, but Arjun explains the situation with Raja, and says he must stay until that is resolved.
Meanwhile, they kidnap Nisha’s (femme fatale) mom because she is not working fast enough, and they say if she doesn’t kill Raja quickly, her mother will die. They agree to have her perform again, and make a trap for Raja to die.
*I may have mentioned this but up until very recently - think last 10 years - there was no kissing in Indian movies. There would be lots of violence, and even some rapes (which usually took place off-screen) but never kissing. As late as the early 2000’s there was kissing but no tongue. The actors wouldn’t even move their mouths but instead would just press their lips together. I’m not sure if they’re doing tongue now.
End of Hour 2
Now, I’m not one to go about picking nits, but Mika didn’t you do this one last week? Or are you refreshing us before we get the ending? Cause that’d probably be good. But, see, I did remember reading this, so I am paying attention. 
I’m refreshing, darling. I figured it’s be better than trying to make people go back. 
Last post coming up after dinner…I’m still writing it.
Is now. Isn’t speaking a live language fun for the whole family?
**Hour 3
**
Nisha then arranges a party in which she sings a song to Raja. Her intent is to get him onto a bridge with a trapdoor in the middle of it so he will fall through. Under the bridge is water, of course, a sort of artificial pool. As she sings, however, Arjun begins to suspect something. He goes up himself and falls through the trapdoor. A man in full scuba gear is waiting in the water, presumably to overpower and kill Raja.
Raja runs to look for him, but mysteriously all the guests disappear and he is surrounded by some butt-ugly goons with stockings on their heads. (If they are this ugly with their faces covered, I can only imagine what they look like normally). Cue mega-fistfight, in which Raja takes on like 10 of them.
Under water Arjun is fighting the scuba guy.
The action cuts back and forth until Raja overpowers everyone (knocks them out) and turns on Nisha, who has been merely watching this whole time. He yells at her, saying if anything happens to Arjun…but Arjun shows up on screen right then, carrying the dead scuba guy. When Raja asks who sent the scuba guy, Arjun answers that he didn’t get a chance to question him, but as Nisha threw the party, maybe she knows.
Raja turns on Nisha and backhands her. He is furious, telling her he had looked for love and solace in him but all she is is a bought-and-paid-for bird in a golden cage, that sings on command. He tells her to kill herself or else he will do it for her.
Nisha says she had only just found the man of her dreams and already she is losing him. She doesn’t want Raja to get in trouble for killing her, so she agrees to kill herself. Arjun hands an extra gun over (Raja has one from the other goons). She puts the gun to her head and pulls the trigger. The gun clicks empty. Raja looks at Arjun, who presents the bullets and says he removed them because if Nisha died, they’d never find out who was behind it all.
They question Nisha, who truthfully says she only ever hears a voice and a female one at that. Raja once again believes it’s his foster mother. Arjun still has faith in her, though. Raja then shows him the letter – remember the letter? And Arjun takes it from him. Raja storms out.
Meanwhile, Savitri (Raja’s mother) sees Girdhar Lal (bad guy) getting into his car. Remember, he’s supposed to be dead. She immediately calls up the lawyer from the beginning of the movie and says “I saw him, he’s still alive.” Raja overhears this part of the conversation and assumes she’s referring to him, Raja. He yells at her and accuses her and she is horrified of course. He says some very nasty things and she slaps him. She says this is how all her sacrifice is rewarded.
While this is going on, you see Arjun in the background, starting to approach, then he hesitates. Raja shouts loudly that Savitri and her husband Bhim Singh did it all for the money only. Arjun recognizes his father’s name and realizes he’s Savitri’s real son.
Savitri goes on to tell Raja of her promise to her dying husband and to her father-in-law, Arjun hearing it all. She says she doesn’t want anything. Raja shouts that he will sell everything, if it means his life will be safe.
Arjun comes out and she begs him to stop Raja from selling his inheritance. He swears he will do anything to stop him.
Arjun goes to his Dadu and tells him the real story, too, and asks why Dadu kept his mom from him for so long. Dadu tells him he had not heard the full story and had also believed she was chasing the money. Arjun says that today a man (Raja) was yelling at his mom, saying nasty, horrible things to her, and he couldn’t even step up rightfully as her son and defend her.
Girdhar hears of the impending sale and arranges to fill the room with all of his own men. Arjun plays a bunch of tricks, however, and gets them all driven away.
Arjun then shows Poonam the letter. Poonam recognizes the handwriting as being Ranjit’s. Arjun confronts Ranjit, bringing about a 1000 copies of the letter. He pretends to be on Ranjit’s side, saying he’ll go in for 50 % of the profit. Ranjit of course agrees. However, Ranjit records the conversation, and immediately brings it to Raja.
Raja of course is angry, and punches Arjun. Arjun says, “Don’t hit me again”, Raja hits him once more. Arjun says, “This is your last warning.” Raja raises his fist and Arjun catches it. He says, “That’s it. Up until now your namak halaal kept me faithful and loyal but no more. From now on the namak halaal is finished.” Raja pulls a gun on Arjun but Ranjit grabs his hand, shouting this mere servant isn’t worth going to jail for. Ranjit drags Raja out.
Arjun shouts at him to come back and face him, calling him a coward. Savitri hears, and smacks him one, then another. She starts to grab a cane from a nearby person, but it turns out to be her father-in-law (Dadu). She is overwhelmed at seeing him again, and leaves.
Her father-in-law follows her, and says he has come to beg her forgiveness. She says there is no need for that, but her only regret is not seeing her son. Dadu says he cannot return all her lost years but he will not keep her son separate from his mother any longer. He turns and presents Arjun, and mother and son reunite.
She tries to apologize for slapping him, and he says that he has been waiting for a mother’s slap and a mother’s loving caress afterward his whole life. Arjun then explains that he did everything to try and uphold his mother’s sacrifices.
Meanwhile, Ranjit tells Raja that Arjun and Savitri are mother and son. He tells him Savitri must be behind the murders. He brings Bhairon, who confirms the relationship.
Ranjit goes to harass Poonam to find out where Arjun is. While he is doing so, Arjun shows up. Ranjit shoots him, but Arjun is wearing a bulletproof vest and manages to get the gun from Ranjit. Now Arjun asks him who is behind the plot as obviously Ranjit is too stupid to engineer it. Ranjit reluctantly tells him it is his father, Girdhar Lal. Arjun orders Ranjit to take him there.
They get to Girdhar’s place and they are surrounded by butt-ugly stocking head men again. Girdhar comes out, too.
Girdhar shows he has five hostages – Savitri, Dadu, Bhairon, Nisha’s mom, and Nisha. So he holds all the cards. He orders Arjun to give the gun to Ranjit and make a deal or else. Arjun agrees.
Ok. The next bit is like the card game Find the Lady. Remember this game? You go to some shyster and he has three cards on the table and switches them around fast, and you have to keep track of the Queen. Not exactly like that, but it does get kind of complicated.
The deal is this – Arjun must go to Raja, get his signatures on a document signing over his possessions to Girdhar, and then kill Raja. Then Girdhar will free the hostages. Arjun demurs at killing Raja, and Girdhar says no problem, Ranjit will do it but Arjun will take the rap. Arjun finally agrees.
In the meantime the lawyer comes to Raja and tells him Savitri can’t be found for two days. Raja says he doesn’t care and why doesn’t the lawyer call the police? The lawyer says he will do that, but in the meantime hands over Savitri’s last will and testament. Raja reads it and realizes that seventeen years ago Savitri had already signed over all her papers and possessions to Raja. So there is no way she could be behind the murder. However, before he has time to continue, Poonam comes running in and tells Raja Arjun is gone.
Raja calls the police for Savitri. Then, Arjun and Ranjit show up. Arjun makes Raja sign the papers. Ranjit has a gun so he does so. Arjun knocks Ranjit’s gun out of his hand, and Raja produces another. In the scuffle, Ranjit gets Raja’s gun and shoots Raja four times in the chest. Poonam picks up Ranjit’s gun, though, and they take Ranjit prisoner.
They bring him back to Girdhar and tell him Raja is dead and hand over the papers. Arjun insists on a fair trade, and they release the prisoners. They try to get the people out but Girdhar shouts at them to stop – there is no signature on the papers.
In the interim, Raja shows up with Poonam! He has a gun in his hand, and manages to take control of the situation again.
It turns out that when the guns were switched, that was part of a plan enacted by Raja and Arjun. The new gun, the one Raja was holding, had only blanks in it. Not only that, but the pen Raja used to sign the papers was filled with disappearing ink.
Ranjit manages to get his hands on his gun, and once again power shifts hands. However Arjun sneaks off and starts a fight. Cue major fistfight.
Nisha’s mom is stabbed to death during the fight. With her dying breath she gasps for her daughter not to continue in the femme fatale path, to marry Raja and live a chaste life.
Arjun finds the papers and rips them up.
Eventually, Girdhar and his son escape while everyone is fighting the goons. Arjun and Raja give chase and when they catch them, handcuff them together and leave them in the jungle. They give them the option of walking 2 miles to the nearby police station, or get eaten by tigers (of which there are plenty in the Indian jungles). Arjun and Raja leave. Everyone is reunited.
Scene cuts to the family. Dadu is ecstatic because he came to town to get one grandson. Instead, he is picking up two grandsons (Raja & Arjun), two granddaughters-in-law (Poonam & Nisha) and his own daughter-in-law. He swears he will live until his grandkids have grandkids.
Scene cuts to Arjun and his wife back in the village, celebrating.
The End!
Wow! They like to pack a lot into those films in India! I’d definitely need the dvd to watch at home so I can take bathroom breaks. I get a kick out of all the twists and turns and sub plots and sub sub plots. So, does every 5 star hotel in India get trashed regularly or is that just in the movies?
wow - page 2 already and Monday isn’t even over yet.
I haven’t read it yet but I will. But man - that’s some OP MBG. BTW - I flagged your second post to the mods so hopefully, “MMP” will be added to the tread title
anyway - I hibernated today - stomach oogies - something I ate. I’m better now. But man - this being out from work is really cutting into my websurfing time 
I know you all are breathlessly awaiting the update on my kitchen remodel.
I went to HD this evening to buy paint, and whom should I see, working the paint counter but my very own Athena! She of the squeaky voice and dithering pesonality. She was “helping” a man buy two gallons of paint. I looked at paint chips for about 10 minutes, but Athena was still twittering away.
I went to Flooring to find out about mine. Met very nice man named Kevin, who was happy to call the vendor for me to check on my floor(unlike the woman on the phone this afternoon). Vendor was closed, but I am going to go back tomorrow and have the Floor guy check for me. I am also praying to the Kitchen God and his Wife that Athena is off tomorrow, so I can purchase some paint…
Nice movie, but it sounds exhausting! Do people in Indian movies ever rest? :eek:
Off to watch more Six Feet Under --love that series.
Hey y’all. Thought I’d do a quick drop by, and say I’m alive. Or a really realistic AI. I can’t tell myself some days.
I came back last night from a long weekend in Peabody, MA. If you watched the news last week, I’m sure you saw images of the flooding in Peabody. Where the flooding was was just down the road from where I was staying, but by the time I got there the water was gone. I did see the lines on the sides of the buildings showing how high the water came up - it truly was amazing to see.
The weekend was kind of fun, but not as fun as others have been. I have a cousin who is a great, great woman, and really fun to be around. Unfortunately, she has had some bad times in the last month - a car accident, and then someone she is very close to died. Then she had to spend three days basically trapped alone in her apartment - not fun. She did a lot of crying this past weekend, and it’s going to take her some time to get back to herself. It really was hard to see her that way, and we all did what we could to support her.
There was some fun though - a birthday dinner out for a different cousin, a trip to the zoo, homemade soup, and we saw Over the Hedge.
Susan
Oh, boy. Got some work done in transferring files from The Big Main Computer–it’s dying–onto CD, and in clearing out messages in Thunderbird. Thunderbird doesn’t play nicely with “export”. And housework, belatedly. Rainy days off are supposed to be all domestic and productive, right?
An old friend of my husband’s came over to visit with his two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is autistic. This is slightly stressful, involving loudness, semi-destructiveness, and being impervious to social cues that other children seem to pick up on. He wandered outside a time or two or twelve and was heading up the mountain and into the park when dad went outside to check on him–finally. :eek: Five, maybe ten, minutes later, and he’d be into the woods and out of sight. And we all took the dog out for a walk but the boy kept trying to pick her up and “make her walk two legs”. She’s only four pounds, cut that out! Grumble, grumble to parents who just shrug, ignoring the behaviour for the most part with an, eh, that’s the way he is.
On the other hand, I don’t know how the parents do it–the only other two children I’m around much these days are not challenged in any way at all, and yet they are highly challenging just as they are!
I am feeling horrible because I am slightly relieved that they are all gone and out for a while, including my husband. Alone time! Alone time with most of the housework done!
And we needed to have the carpets cleaned anyway, right? (A rainy day means dirty shoes and kids going in and out that didn’t take their shoes off.)
I could never be a parent; I just don’t have what it takes. Here’s a toast (raspberry cider, yum) to a job I don’t have the guts to take on.
Savannah, I’m sorry about your houseguests. “He’s just that way” is not an acceptable excuse. My oldest daughter is autistic, and we would never allow her to be destructive in someone else’s house. Just because they are autistic does not mean they get to run wild! They need to learn how to behave in public (as much as possible), just like other kids. Daughter’s class goes to restaurants and other public places to learn how to behave in public. Places. Whoa, redundancy rules! I guess their mileage varies.
In my personal geeky news, season two of The 4400 comes out on DVD tomorrow! I’ve got birfday money burnin’ a hole in my pocket!
Happy Monday:)
Sneezy
Oh, yeah almost forgot, Go Mavs!
I think I died at work. My coworker spent the night throwing up, and I hurt all over and have no balance and my hearing’s all funny and I’m coughing. We were definitely in the Holiday Spirit at work this evening.
Ow ow ow! My head and chest really hurt. Ow. When Mr. Lissar gets out of the shower I’m having a hot bath.
When I got home Mr. Lissar was making sandwiches. I go into the living room, and hear a voice say conversationally, “You know what we need? Slaves. We just need one for cleaning and sandwich-making. Maybe we could timeshare”.
:rolleyes:
I’m going to go off and die again.
:eek:
::Runs for vitamin C::
::Reflects on need for vitamin C; decides to take it anyway, cuz, well, Rue is nice and special and all, but colds are no fun, even when one has a trinket::
Well, my allergies have been really bad today, or so I thought… (Where’s the squinty-eyed suspicious-looking smiley when you need it?) Oh…it’s over here: :dubious:
Got a few things done in the garden, but wasn’t very inspired. It’s been a veggie kind of evening (activity-wise, not food-wise).
Didn’t get to the part where I tell you in gory detail about the SW Ohio Picnic, Funtime etc. Figured it could wait since we’ve had a lot of storytelling today already.
Love that movie, Mika. I’m afraid to go look for it because it might not live up to my expectations…
Sorry you’re under the weather, rosie. And Drae, you know we live for your kvetching. No hiatus for you. (But please feel better soon!) And, on preview, I see everyone’s sick today: hope you feel better soon, Lissla. Maybe I need to pass the vitamin C…?
Hi to everyone I’ve missed. I’ll try to catch up in morning…
GT
Howdy all! I made it through another long weekend at work. Nobody puked at home today, so life is good. The Hurricane won again, 4-3. They are 9-0 when I drink a beer form the Official Hurricanes mug( the Hockey Gods love a libation). Cool OP MBG. I have trouble remembering names too. Maybe that’s part of the reason that there isn’t a Mrs. dogbutler(dogmaid?)
Get better soon Drae.
** Twinkie** Four years? :eek: The very first place I went when I bought the Net was The Straight Dope.
rigs, embrace the random chaos mess!
Greetings from the zoo!
YMMV FDIC BOHICA FUBAR
Trinkets? And I’m trinketless!!! 
Done, da-done, done, done!
