Baghban - 2003

Story

Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini are Raj and Pooja Malhotra, a couple who have been married for forty years. And in their marriage, they have sired four sons who are played by Aman Verma, Samir Soni, Sahil Chadda and Nasir. They also have daughter-in-laws who are married to three of their sons and the fourth one (Nasir) is not married yet. Presumably the casting director ran out of supporting actresses and decided to leave him as a bachelor instead. Ah yes, we must not forget the adopted son Alok (Salman Khan), who in a flashback is shown as a sweet little orphan living on the streets with a perfect grasp of Hindi and talking like a grown-up. Aman needs a loan and Amitabh readily offers it to him even though he is retiring. He does this because he believes that his successful sons will do anything to take care of their parents.

Then comes the ingenious twist in the story. Mama and Papa want their sons to take care of them. Bete and bahuranis are fidgety at this idea? so fidgety that they demand a few hours to pace up and down the room to mull over this one. Eventually some bright spark suggests that they share their parents. They can take turns to look after one of them for six months each. The Bright Sparks only came up with this plan because they thought that Mama and Papa would refuse this offer and tell them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine. But they do the opposite and the Bright Sparks? mouths drop. Incidentally, all the sons and their wives seem to adopt identical expressions when they are in the same scenes together. When it is like that it is so easy to lose track of who's who, especially since these actors are not wellknown (except maybe Suman Ranganathan? oops did I forget to mention her before?). Oh how one pines for Himani Shivpuri and Johnny Lever! Uhm, well, not really.

Upon tearfully leaving their house, Amitabh and Hema are followed by their landlord, played by Sharat Saxena, who is shedding even more tears (maybe he is asking for the overdue rent). But wait! Who will take care of those two lovely dogs in the garden? Any volunteers? The youngest son (the Bachelor) goes running to take those adorable little pets home. He is the same one who said that he does not have the time to look after his two parents. Geddit? Did you get the irony? He can't look after his parents but is excited about caring for the dogs! Ha ha! Oh never mind.