Crook - 2010

Story

Jai has a knack of getting into trouble. His Father was a gangster who wanted to reform. On assurance from his friend Inspector Joseph, Jai's father agreed to rat on his evil bosses. Inspector Joseph guaranteed him that he would find Jai's father and Jai a safe passage into the world of good once his bosses have been exposed.

But the unexpected happened. Jai witnessed the fatal double cross on his father, despite his confession, by a senior police officer. Joseph's valiant effort to save him went in vain. This traumatic incident left a lasting impression on Jai's mind that there was no point in being good and that 'It's Good to be Bad.'

Joseph adopted Jai out of guilt and tried to instill his Christian values of finding a God within but the memories from the past had already cast themselves deep in Jai's mind. Despite repeated attempts to reform him, Joseph failed to ignite the light of good within Jai's soul. And when matters went almost completely out of hand with Jai's checkered criminal life, Joseph arranged an alternate identity for him as Suraj Bhardwaj and sent him away to Australia ? a land far away from his past.

Jai had promised Joseph in Australia he would stay clear of any trouble. It was a golden chance to feel the grass on the other side of the fence. Almost immediately after landing, Jai met Suhani, an Indian Australian with an unadulterated honest vision of 'one world'. Although she hailed from a conservative traditional Punjabi family that took pride in being Indian, Suhani secretly fostered a much liberal outlook towards life. Her elder brother Samarth was just the opposite. Samarth was convinced that Australians had a one-point agenda to bring Indians down.

Jai found his home with the bumbling punju boys GoldE and gang. They were happy go lucky 'sardar' boys who knew that the ticket to heaven was through attaining a permanent residency in Australia. GoldE almost echoed Joseph's voice when he warned Jai to stay out of trouble and concentrate on his work ? he arranged for Jai to get a job as a taxi driver in Samarth's garage.

Suhani was intrigued by Jai's manner. He was flirting but with a flair. He was lying but in style and he was conniving but with a pure heart. She could spot in the first instant that she met Jai that beyond his prankster lying front, Jai had a deeper side to himself that he refused to acknowledge.

Jai knew that if he could make Suhani fall in love with him he could eventually attain permanent residency by marrying her but her brother was too much of an obstacle. So while Jai was busy scheming for Suhani's love he was also flirting with Nicole, the stripper from a nearby strip club. But his problems with Nicole were almost similar to Suhani's as Nicole's brother, Russel, was a rowdy skinhead from the block.

Trouble followed Jai where he tried to run away from it as he witnessed the cold-blooded racial assault on Samarth. Going to the police would mean an investigation on Jai's credentials and walking away would mean losing Suhani. Jai had fled from India to find a new hassle free life and now found himself in the heart of a racially disturbed city. Jai's plight grew as the racial attacks spread across the city. The only way to deal with the issue at hand was to take the bull by its horns. He found himself at a crossroad of good and bad. But ironically the line dividing good and bad was running straight through his heart. It was a time when Jai had to figure whether it's Good to be bad or it is Good to be Good.