Bawarchi: Difference between revisions

Unlike most Indian films that open with credit titles, the film has has [[Amitabh Bachchan]]’s booming voice introducing the cast. Satirical in tone and treatment, the fast-paced narrative opens in a noisy, crowded household, paradoxically named "Shanti Niwas" ("Abode of Peace"). No domestic work sticks in this household, consisting of the patriarch retired postmaster, Shivnath Sharma ([[Harindranath Chattopadhyay]]), affectionately called Daduji, and his three sons and their families. The first son is Ramnath ([[A. K. Hangal]]), a lowly paid clerk, with a cantankerous wife Seeta Devi ([[Karz (film)|Durga Khote]]), and their daughter Meeta ([[Namak Haraam|Manisha]]), a [[Kathak]] dancer of sorts. The second son is Kashinath ([[Kali Banerjee]]), a pompous schoolteacher, with his quarrelsome wife Shobha Devi ([[Chupke Chupke (film)|Usha Kiran]]). The third son is Vishwanath ([[Asrani]]), an aspiring [[music director]], and the last member of the Sharma family is Krishna ([[Abhimaan (1973 film)|Jaya Bhaduri]]), the talented and sedate, orphaned granddaughter who is in love with a handsome wrestler named Arun whom the Sharma family does not approve of.  

Into this tensed up household enters a fun-loving multifaceted character, Raghunandan ([[Rajesh Khanna]]), also known as Raghu, who just appears on the doorstep one day, volunteering to be their new cook. Raghu is a master of all, a smooth-talker, boasting of mastering various skills while working with real-life legendary characters, and a singer, dancer, and a no-mean musician as well. He loses no time in winning everyone’s hearts through his cooking expertise, insistence on a low salary, and with his winsome ways, restoring faith and affection of the otherwise disjointed family — all the while keeping an eye on the family jewellery box chained to Daduji’s bed when a casually thrown-in single comment about the presence of a thief in the vicinity keeps the characters as well as the audience speculating about his identity. At the same time, Raghu also tutors the recluse Krishna and brings her talents to the fore. He even helps in clearing up the misunderstandings and calling truces between the family members. Daduji cannot help but think that Raghu is actually a saviour sent by the deity. Meanwhile, Raghu is well-aware that Krishna is in love with Arun and that the Sharma family is strictly against her union with him.

Amongst all the tangle, Raghu suddenly disappears from the house while the Sharma family is aghast to discover that the family jewellery box is missing as well, thus not taking Daduji and Vishwanath time to put two and two together. At the same time, the Sharma family receives a shock when Arun arrives at the house with their jewellery box, explaining that he witnessed Raghu in a suspicious condition with the box and when asked about the box, Raghu tried to run away while Arun tried to stop him, even beat him up, but Raghu threw the jewellery box down out of fear and managed to escape from him. Stunned by these unexpected turn of events, the attitude of the Sharma family towards Raghu immediately changes and they all agree to get Krishna married to Arun out of gratitude, although Krishna and Meeta refuse to buy the story. When the Sharma family begins abusing Raghu, Arun is not able to take it anymore and decides to confess to them what had really happened, explaining that he actually met Raghu at his own wrestling ground and had a little friendly match with him where he suffered minor injuries.  

Further, Arun saw the jewellery box with Raghu and questioned him about it when Raghu instructed Arun to take the box to the Sharma family and lie to them that it was stolen by him, so that Arun can get back his place in the house and win Krishna and the family over. When asked about his true identity, Raghu revealed to Arun that his real name is "Professor Prabhakar" but he took the fake name of Raghu and posed as a cook as he had seen many families like the Sharmas which were on the brink of breaking up and hence decided to use his knowledge to stop this. Upon learning this, a stunned Sharma family has to accept that Raghu went out of his way to save several homes like Shanti Niwas. Meanwhile, Krishna sees Raghu outside the house and approaches him, asking him why did he do all this. Even though Krishna manages to stop Raghu in time from going somewhere else, Raghu tells her that this is his life's mission and that now he has to go. The film ends with a scene of Raghu travelling to a new destination and Amitabh Bachchan narrating that "Raghu is going to a new home. Let's hope it's not yours."