Chachi 420 (India, 1998)

Jai Prakash (Kamal Hasaan) and Janki (Tabu) elope, have a daughter, Bharti, but then become divorced. Jai can't get the access to the daughter that he wants. His wealthy father-in-law, Durgaprasad Bhardwaj, always disapproved of the marriage, even offering him a substantial sum of money to go away when he was courting Janki. Jai can’t bear to be separated from his little daughter, Bharti, whom he is now allowed to see only once a week on Fridays. He notices that Durgaprasad is advertising for a nanny for the little daughter. Jai persuades a friend who is skilled in the prosthetic make-up department to turn him into a woman, which he does. He calls himself Lakshmi Gobole.

Jai goes to the interviews for the job, outwardly a middle aged woman. But there are a lot of applicants, and the job goes to someone else. Jai and the others are told to go home. But the servants are letting off fireworks in the garden, and a carelessly set one burns the little girl. Jai, as Lakshmi, rushes to her and saves her from being badly hurt. A doctor is summoned, and praises Lakshmi's actions, and she gets the job on the spot.

The little girl soon recognises her father, the female disguise notwithstanding, but he persuades her to keep the secret.

Complications arise now at Jai’s house, where he lives on his own. He arrives, still dressed as Lakshmi, but Jai’s landlord is waiting for him; worse, a girl called Ratna from the film studios is waiting to see him too. Jai (as Lakshmi) has to invent the ruse of an urgent bath, and he climbs out of the window and re-enters the house as Jai. Explaining that Lakshmi is his aunt, for a moment the coast is clear.

Janki wants to go shopping in the market, and takes a man-friend, and Lakshmi and the little girl. Obviously Lakshmi is unhappy about the man-friend. At the market a thug molests Janki, and Lakshmi shows "her" strength in dealing single-handedly with the man and his friends.

Back at the house, Durgaprasad is confiding in Lakshmi about Janki and her plans to remarry, to Jai’s dismay. Durgaprasad is proud of having imposed his will on Janki, and Lakshmi gently suggests that love is more important. However Durgaprasad has a heart attack, and there is no help at hand. In another display of strength, Lakshmi picks him up and carries him to the hospital where he makes a recovery. Back home, Durgaprasad again confides in Lakshmi, that he is a widower, and in view of Lakshmi’s dedication he proposes marriage to her. She is startled by his advances and when pressed she states, unconvincingly that she is already married.

Back at Durgaprasad’s house, Durgaprasad is planning a shopping trip to get yet more jewellery for Janki, and he tells Lakshmi that she should come along as she is part of the household. In the jewellers Lakshmi encounters the friend who did the make-up, and of course he recognises that it is Jai. He has been drinking and he needs some money, and he is pawing Lakshmi for it. Durgaprasad steps in to protect her, but the man is too drunk to be coherent. Fearing that he will give her away, Lakshmi tells Durgaprasad that the man is her husband. Durgaprasad sends him away, but later offers him a fortune in cash to go away and renounce his marriage to Lakshmi.

At home, Durgaprasad scolds Janki over a small argument and sends her to her room; Lakshmi intercedes, saying that Janki has lost a husband, but has nothing to replace him. In a sudden volte face, Durgaprasad decides to find Jai and ask him to return to the house and to Janki.

Jai telephones his landlord just as Durgaprasad arrives there looking for him, and, still dressed as Lakshmi, speaks to him as Jai on the telephone, to say that Durgaprasad is coming. Durgaprasad takes the phone and asks him to return to the house and take Janki back, which he agrees to. However a cook in Durgaprasad’s house, who is an old friend of Jai’s, overhears part of the conversation and misunderstands. He refuses to believe that Lakshmi is really Jai, so Jai partly undresses in front of him. Janki and Banwa see part of this through an open door. Janki is distraught, and feels betrayed by Lakshmi’s immorality (as she thinks), so she drives off to see Jai at his house.

Jai, still dressed as Lakshmi, follows her, but when Janki gets to the house, Ratna, a work colleague of Jai's, is there, and introduces herself as Jai’s "partner". She explains that she sees him in the daytime, and that Lakshmi is there with Jai every night. Janki loses faith in everyone and drives off to kill herself. Jai follows her and they both end up in the river. But it’s shallow water, and Jai explains who he really is. They decide to say that Lakshmi saved her in the river, but drowned in the process. Back at Durgaprasad’s house, everyone is satisfied and they all live happily ever after.

HF March 2006

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