Des Hoyaa Pardes (ਦੇਸ ਹੋਇਆ ਪਰਦੇਸ)

How are you, Gurshaan? - Hello, Gurmail

Everybody's busy working in his field. How come you're idling away your time?

I’ve sold my piece of land. - You've sold your land...?

Land is like mother to a farmer. And you've sold your mother...?

You must surely have been in trouble. - Not at all

I’m moving to America

I’ve paid the travel agent 800,000 rupees for an American visa

Well done, my brave lion! The British ruled us and we were their slaves

We had a tough time driving them away so we could shape our own destiny

And now the Punjabis are all making a beeline for America and England...

to become their slaves all over again. - But there's no dearth of work there!

Oh yes. Those who won't help themselves to a glass of water here...

nor work in their own fields, go there to sweat it out in other people's farms!

They sweep their toilets and dig graves for them!

If they're lucky, they get to drive a cab

Do you even know who owns the biggest mansion in the village?

It's Kaher Singh, the one who's away in America

And who lives in the mansion? Neither Kaher Singh nor his children

There are several such mansions lying vacant in Punjab

They are havens for the pigeons

And what are you going to do there? You aren't even educated

You are educated. So why're you rotting here in the heat and dust?

In the soil of this land lingers the fragrance of my forefathers

It’s meant for noses that are not blocked with the scents of America

Well then, get on with preparations for America...

and I’ll go back to my heat and dust

Gurshaan... - Yes, father?

Come here. - Coming... one minute

Check out the salt and spices and tell me how it tastes

Why do I need to check it? Everytime you ask me to taste it...

I say it's excellent. Let me see today... it's a bit hot

Excellent again!

Father, if you open an eatery...

I bet, every restaurant on the national highway would close down!

Wow! Bravo, my boy! Hear that, missus...?

your son wants me, a god-fearing Jat to start an eatery!

What can I say? I’m a sworn vegetarian - You never ask me to taste

You also discriminate between son and daughter

True. After all, daughters go away

Used to. Now it's the sons who go away

They fly away as soon as they have sprouted wings

That reminds me, Darshan is arriving from America tomorrow

We're having an Old Students' gathering at the college

You will surely be going then? - Oh yes, I ought to

What better opportunity to meet up with old friends?

One gets to know of their well-being too

Friends of yours have become fathers of grown up children

and you're still a bachelor!

See father? There goes mother again! Should I run away?

Shut up and stay right there! Don't you dare put on an act!

Now tell me, are you going to Delhi to receive Darshan?

No, he's going to land at Chandigarh

In that case, drop Guddi on your way

Tomorrow's a Monday. And she has to attend college

Monday...? Mom, I had heard of Munde (boys). Now what's Monday...?

Is it the monday of English or the monday of Punjabi...?

Shut up, will you? Rascal!

See you, father... I’m coming!

Hurry up, Guddi! I’ve got to pick up Darshan too

Just a minute! - Concentrate on your studies

The Hansraj number, right...? - Start the jeep, will you?

Why haven't you brought your wife along?

An old students' gathering is an occasion to remember old times...

to meet old friends, old flames...

and those girls one never got to score with

If I had brought her along, the cat would have been out of the bag

You could still be exposed. - How come...?

If this friend of yours decides to tattle on you...

and tells your wife about you? - My wife isn't so easily swayed

She has faith in me... that I will never change!

What was that girl’s name...? Malhotra! What an amazing babe!

I was really taken in by her

Go Paris, go Rome... there's nothing like sweet home!

Uncle, this Scotch whisky. For you. - Scotch

How did the custom officials let you through with it?

I was carrying two. They kept one

I already have a dozen bottles dug in the fields, my son

What am I going to do with this one?

The bottle isn't a seed which is likely to grow into a plant...

and sprout bottles on its branches So drink it all up!

And here's a suit for you. Who knows? You might trap a girl after wearing this

Behave yourself, will you? - Girl? He can't trap even a sparrow!

How's he ever going to woo a girl?

Mother, this shawl is for you! - For me?

Drape this and God will grant you every wish

An American ascetic has invented this after a lot of research

No wonder the Americans have every wish fulfilled

Good Lord! If only I could have a daughter-in-law!

And this camera is for Guddi. - For Guddi? It’s nice

Nice pose... - No!

Gurshaan, you're as old as I am and I have two children already

What sort of a girl do you really want?

Cook like my mother

A singer like Lata Mangeshkar

And a beauty like Madhubala

She should be well educated. And well-versed with household chores

Should be a daughter to my parents, a good host to my guests...

and live with me in my village. Tell me... am I asking for too much?

Oh no, not at all! But God has stopped manufacturing such girls

In which case, you will have to marry half a dozen girls!

Even if God has pulled down the shutters of His factory...

I’m sure he has manufactured a girl just for me

And where are you going to look for this girl?

If He has really made such a girl for me...

He'll find a way for me to meet her. Today, or tomorrow or in the future

“When the mustard fields glow yellow, come home, my love”

It gives me immense pleasure to say that despite the unrest in Punjab...

all of you have assembled here from distant corners of the world

Music is the soul of any gathering

Some of our students who had really created a sensation...

at the youth festivals with their talent, are here among us today

They are Miss Jassi Sandhu...

Mr. Gurshaan Singh Somal...

Mr. Darshan Singh Gill... and Mr. Onkar Nath

I now request them to start the function on a musical note...

with the new generation

The sight of the new generation makes me nervous

I won't be able to sing. - But our names have been announced

How about a quick drink...? It’ll give us the confidence

This is a college in Punjab. Not America. If caught...

shoes would rain on our heads and make us bald!

It might remind you of the times you spent in this college

Lend me the flute, she's going to sing. Memories are going to cloud back

I’ll be back soon. - Where to...?

America! - You won't ever change!

“My dear college, you have given me knowledge”

“To you, I gave 5 years of my life”

“Our hearts beat for you”

“You are our rose-garden, you are the one who tends to us”

“The principal and the teachers are your guardians”

“Here it is, that we hone our skills. Thanks to you, we earn our livelihood”

“Some of us went on to become soldiers, and some turned scientists”

“Do always think of our honour”

“Fun and frolic... the fun and frolic of the college”

“How we miss every moment we spent here...”

“having fun and frolic”

“There was so much of fun sitting in the college canteen”

“The simple snacks appeared to us to be like a royal feast”

“We thought we looked like heroes in our torn and tattered jeans”

“In the game of romance, you didn't count at all”

“The moment you spotted a girl, you fell in love”

“Bets used to be settled in snacks and sweets”

“The fun days we spent in the college...”

“Around girls we hovered, to the left and to the right”

“The one who smiled, we thought had taken the bait”

“I don't blame you boys for what you supposed...”

“but love isn't a game meant for kids”

“How the lover-boys paid dearly for their ouvres towards their beloveds”

“Days are gone...”

“when the scent of sweat was said to be sweet”

“Now, even when we use a perfume...”

“there's hardly any fragrance”

“Boys nowadays know not how to make a conversation”

“Even if they bathe thrice a day...”

“they can't get rid of their stink”

“Unlike the girls, boys aren't shy”

“They are modest. However...”

“they aren't decent enough”

“But my sandal could get rid of every roughneck”

“Pitchers are in water”

“But how to talk to them? They are dishonest”

“You are feeling shy, pretty one...”

“It’s not the looks...”

“but the brains which you lack”

“You look like a chicken's leg...”

“I’ve heard you coughing when you pass by my house...”

“why don't you cough in my presence now?”

“Which naive place does she come from?”

“How may I cough in your presence? You are my very cough syrup”

“For you, I could lay down my life”

“Fun and frolic...”

“how we miss them”

“How we miss those celebrations we used to have in the hostel...”

“those songs we sang under the running water taps...”

“and the fuss we kicked up when the water ran out”

“The way we powdered our clothes to hide the dirty stains”

“Every time our mothers feed us bread...”

“we sorely miss the dry bread we ate at the mess...”

“how we miss it all”

“The movies we saw on the sly, and the pocket money we got!”

“Fun and frolic... oh for those college days!”

“How we miss them... the fun and frolic in college”

That girl sang like Lata and even looked a bit like Madhubala

I wonder whether God made her for you or for someone else

You will think every other girl in the world was made for me

Before some girl’s parents descend on me to beat me up...

better you go back to America!

Fun and frolic... - Behave yourself!

Look at this news story!

“Dreaded terrorist Balkar Singh escapes from jail”

Madam, this movement of Hindu-Sikh unity we're trying to bring about...

through our plays in every village, is it doing any good at all?

Navtej, as Lord Krishna has said in the holy Gita...

“Do your duty. And worry not about the fruit”

So let's do our duty

The Vandana Kar Club of Chandigarh will present a play before you today

It deals with a family in which the elder brother is a Sikh...

and the younger one is a Hindu. In the present conditions of Punjab...

you will see in this play what upheavals this family goes through...

Cut it out!