Chachi 420

Chachi 420
Directed by	Kamal Hassan
Produced by	Kamal Hassan Chandra Hassan
Written by	Kamal Hassan Gulzar
Starring	Kamal Hassan Amrish Puri Om Puri Tabu Johnny Walker Paresh Rawal Ayesha Jhulka Nassar
Music by	Vishal Bhardwaj
Cinematography	Jehangir Choudhary
Release date(s)	19 December 1998
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	8 crores [citation needed]
Box office	25 crores [citation needed]

Chachi 420 (Devnagari: चाची ४२० English:The cunning aunt) is a 1998 comedy film, made in India and directed by Kamal Haasan who also starred in the film as the main character. Other actors include Amrish Puri, Tabu, Om Puri, Johnny Walker, Paresh Rawal, Rajendranath Zutshi, Ayesha Jhulka, Nassar and Baby Sana. The Executive Producer is Sab John aka John E. This is a remake of Tamil film Avvai Shanmugi also starring Kamal Hassan which was in turn inspired by the American film, Mrs. Doubtfire.

Plot

Jaiprakash Paswan aka Jai(Kamal Hassan) & Janki Paswan aka Janki(Tabu) are fighting for divorce. Janki was the only daughter of Durgaprasad Bharadwaj(Amrish Puri), a staunch Brahmin businessman. Jaiprakash was an assistant music director. The duo fell in love & married against the will of Durgaprasad. However, Janki buckled under the pressure of living a life of a middle class housewife. Differences soon cropped up between the duo & they got divorced. Jai is allowed to meet their daughter Bharti(Baby Sana), once a week, but when he sneaks into the Bharadwaj house to meet Bharti, he loses the right.

Meanwhile, Durgaprasad puts an ad in local newspaper for a nanny for Bharti. Jai sees this as an opportunity & calls Durgaprasad, impersonating as a female. He calls himself Laxmi Godbole & applies for the position. With help of a drunkard makeup artist Joseph(Johnny Walker in his last & memorable role), Jai goes a complete transformation as Laxmi. Jai goes to the interview, where he is generally viewed as the last pick. But when Bharti has an accident & Laxmi saves her, Laxmi gets the job & respect of the family.

Jai/Laxmi takes the job, but creates plausible stories so that his real job schedule does not clash with the job in Bharadwaj's home. Nobody knows Jai's secret other than Joseph & Bharti(who is the only person who recognizes the real identity of Laxmi). Jai learns that Durgaprasad's secretary Banwari(Om Puri) is not exactly thrilled on Laxmi's entry. The reasons are various, ranging from his womanizing nature(which naturally views an old woman like Laxmi as unacceptable) & his inability to siphon Durgaprasad's money via the maids.

Jai also learns that although Janki loves Laxmi, who by now has earned the affectionate title of Chachi(a respected aunt), she still loathes Jai. Meanwhile, Jai has other problems in his own home as well. His landlord Haribhai(Paresh Rawal), is behind Jai for his rent. After he sees Laxmi, Haribhai falls for her. As if that is not enough, a struggler named Ratna(Ayesha Julka) tries to cozy up to Jai. Meanwhile, Durgaprasad also falls for Laxmi & goes to the extent of proposing her.

As Laxmi, Jai buys time by telling to Durgaprasad that she is married but her husband has left her & got converted into a Christian man named Joseph. But Laxmi also convinces Durgaprasad that she still waits for her husband, who has converted. On the other hand, Jai tells Haribhai that Banwari is Laxmi's husband Durgaprasad, but calls himself Banwari as he has converted. He also makes clear to Haribhai that he should harbour no feelings for Laxmi. At same time, Jai tells Banwari that Laxmi's husband has converted & calls himself Haribhai.

Before this tangle gets complicated, Jai decides to take matters in his hands as Laxmi. Meanwhile, Durgaprasad decides to get Janki remarried to Dr.Rohit(Rajendranath Zutshi), Durgaprasad's doctor & Janki's childhood friend.When Janki & Rohit get attacked by goons in market, Rohit scampers. Chachi saves both of them as well as Janki's modesty. Later, Durgaprasad tells Laxmi about his plans. Laxmi is more than relieved to know that Durgaprasad has cancelled the plans forever, learning of Rohit's cowardice.

Laxmi exposes the maid in the house, causing her to be fired. Banwari has no other option but to let male cook be appointed at home. Jai runs into his old friend Siraj(Nassar), a restaurant chef, who is now running his own shop. Jai learns that Siraj's master fired him after he found the latter stealing money(although Siraj was keeping money back). Laxmi introduces Siraj to the household as Pandit Shivraj Sharma, a mute cook. Interestingly, even Siraj does not know that Chachi & Jai are same person.

Banwari intensifies his efforts to discredit Chachi in eyes of both Durgaprasad & Janki, but in vain, as the duo already seem to know what he is trying to tell. Meanwhile, Janki & Durgaprasad realize that they have punished Jai too hard for all the things he has done. Janki goes to reconcile with Jai, but on seeing Ratna in his home, gets a wrong message & turns back. Banwari gets a small victory when he blows up Siraj's cover. But Laxmi makes Durgaprasad see sense. Durgaprasad keeps mercy on Siraj, giving a verdict that Siraj can stay & he need not put up his act anymore. However, now Durgaprasad ends up hurting Janki.

Banwari & Janki see that there is something fishy about Chachi. Due to a goof up, they think that Laxmi is a loose charactered woman. Janki, who is very hurt by the turn of events, leaves her home & goes to commit suicide. Laxmi follows her on a motorcycle & jumps in a river with Janki. There, Laxmi reveals her true self to Janki. Janki realizes the whole story & reconciles with Jai. They come up with a story that Chachi died trying to save Janki.

To tie up other loose ends, they convince Banwari that Chachi is dead. They also threaten & blackmail Banwari with his secrets. They tell Haribhai to let it go. Joseph almost accidentally leaks some part of the truth, but Jai hushes up the matter by saying that Chachi will always remain alive in hearts of everybody who knew her.

Cast

• Kamal Hassan - Jaiprakash Paswan/Laxmi Godbole
• Amrish Puri - Durgaprasad Bhardwaj
• Om Puri - Banwarilal Pandey aka Banwari
• Tabu (actress) - Janki Paswan/Janki Bharadwaj
• Johnny Walker - Joseph (as Johny Walker)
• Paresh Rawal - Hariharan 'Haribhai'
• Nassar - Siraj Akhtar / Pandit Shivraj Sharma
• Ayesha Jhulka - Ratna
• Baby Sana - Bharti
• Rajendranath Zutshi - Dr. Rohit

External links

• Chachi 420 at the Internet Movie Database