We
start our show with a dramatic shot of a street at night. It is pouring down
rain, and a young boy comes running around a corner towards us. He takes a left
into a hospital and finds a doctor in the emergency room. The boy tells the
doctor that his mother is very ill, and begs him to come back to his house to
see her. After some convincing the doctor finally agrees, and they head over to
the boy's house. There they find Rahkee (once again, no name is given to her, so
I'll use the actress' name) looking rather disheveled and unconscious.
The doctor makes some observations, and tells the boy that she will be okay.
He asks the boy to come by the hospital tomorrow to get some medicine, but
she'll be fine. The doctor leaves the house and is stopped by a group of people
who were watching from outside. They express their hopes that she will recover
soon, but the doctor says he's not sure what to tell them since from his
examination she doesn't appear to actually be ailing from anything. He suggests
that they keep her well fed and rested, and see what happens.
We
cut to scenes from the next day, where little Ajay is seen washing dishes for a
food stand, presumably to earn money for his mother's medicine. He goes home
with a plastic bag, and pours a cup of tea. He gently wakes his mother up and
has her drink it, as well as having something to eat. We learn a little ritual
that they have here. She won't eat anything until she is sure that he's been
fed. He swears that he has eaten already, and gets her to eat some dinner.
Rahkee begins to weep as she realizes how her son is caring for her, and he
tells her she shouldn't cry. He will make the one who has caused them to suffer
cry instead. As he says this, we have a freeze-frame on his rather hostile
looking expression while the first of two credits sequences begins. As they play
out, we have some scenes of young Ajay doing odd jobs around town to make some
money. We also see a quick look at Ajay going through a stack of photos in a
suitcase, then getting angry and throwing them up in the air. We don't see what
the pictures are of however, so we'll have to live in wonder.
Once
the first round of credits are over, we see Ajay sleeping at home. We cut to a
dream sequence, reminiscent of
another
Rahkee film in that they use negative images to make it clear that this is a
dream. We have a few rapidly cut shots that don't make a lot of sense. We see a
rainy night, a cart falling over, a man falling down, and a baby rolling around
on a slanted surface. Little Ajay calls out, "Look what's happened to the little
girl!" This leads to a funeral procession, a pyre, then Rahkee slapping the
daylights out of someone. At this point, we flash forward about ten years to see
the adult Ajay jerk upright in bed. The camera pans in around his face in a
close-up, making sure we see he has green eyes.
Ajay rubs his face, then puts on his glasses. A woman we don't know comes
into his room and asks if he's ready yet. She says that she has breakfast ready,
but his mother won't eat until he does. He smiles and has a resigned sigh, and
says he'll be right out.
We
go out to another room and see Rahkee sitting up in bed, looking as if she has
aged extremely well. Ajay comes in and smiles, telling her how lovely she
looks, then giving her some of her breakfast. While she's aged well physically,
she's not doing so well mentally. She asks Ajay if the little girl has had her
milk. Ajay plays along and says that she has, and that father is out getting
medicines for them. He then adds an odd little footnote, and tells her that the
little girl has become "naughty," and that she won't obey anyone.
The readers respond! Our friend Norjahan writes in to tell us:
"By the way, Ajay's baby sister in Baazigar
actually has a name - Munni. I noticed the subtitles referring to her as
'the little girl'. In fact, in every scene where the little girl was
mentioned, Ajay and his mother actually referred to her by name."
I had thought it odd that the family would have such a detached way of
describing their child, but this clears that up. Way to go subtitles!
Thanks, Norjahan!
After this, he says he has to go. The other woman in the house comes over and
tells him that he should be happy that all of his work with his mother has at
least got her speaking again, and that he's taking very good care of her. (Oops,
we learn here that the other lady is their neighbor.) As he goes outside, he
sees a coin in the grass. Ajay picks it up and flips it in slow motion as we
have our other credits, including the title.
Once these are complete, we join Ajay on his quest to get into town.
