Aa Ab Laut Chalen

Plot synopsis:
Rohan Khanna (Akshaye Khanna) is a jobless graduate living with his grandfather (Alok Nath) and his mother (Moushumi Chatterjee). Rohan has been tirelessly looking for a decent job without success. One day, Rohan's neighbour, Ranjit arrives. He lives in America, owns a motel, a perfect living and is married to an American woman. Ranjit wishes to keep his parents in America to live in peace. After listening to Rohan's desire for a job, he suggests that Rohan should also move to America. Looking at Ranjit's success, Rohan is immediately persuaded. He tells his mother and grandfather of his wish and they are abruptly reminded of Rohan's late father, Balraj Khanna (Rajesh Khanna) who left his wife and son for America after a bitter argument with his father. Prior to leaving for America though, Balraj died in a bus accident, leaving Rohan orphaned and his mother widowed. To avoid the same fate for Rohan as his father's, Rohan's grandfather prepares Rohan's visa for America.
Rohan arrives in America and immediately meets Sardar Khan (Kader Khan), a Pakistani man who drives a taxi. Rohan's good manners and friendly personality wins Sardar over as he drives Rohan to Ranjit's motel. Rohan did not have any spare cash to pay Sardar so he asked Sardar to wait while he asked Ranjit for the taxi fare. He is shocked when Ranjit does not pay his fare or give him a place to stay saying that Rohan should help himself. Rohan also discovers that Ranjit's parents are working at the motel and facing verbal abuse from his wife. Sardar offers Rohan a place to stay much to the dismay of his roommate, Iqbal Singh (Jaspal Bhatti), a Punjabi man from India. Rohan is allowed to stay with Iqbal and Sardar with the persuasion of Chaurasia (Satish Kaushik. Chaurasia runs an Indian restaurant and betel leaf shop. Rohan is given a job as a taxi driver. One day, he picks up a young Indian woman named Pooja (Aishwarya Rai) at the airport. She has just arrived in America to live with her older brother and his wife. To her shock, her brother only brought her because his boss had seen a picture her and had fallen for her. Pooja's brother insists that she should marry his boss. In anger, she leaves his house without money and nowhere to go. Rohan sees Pooja crying and offers her a place to stay with Iqbal and Sardar.
Iqbal and Sardar discover that Pooja and Rohan have brought happiness into their house. They pitch in to provide jobs for the newcomers. They are also acquainted with PC Jack Patel (Paresh Rawal) who is a police inspector and a Hindu priest, and observes both jobs faithfully. Pooja and Rohan begin to work at the Dunkin' Donuts but, after a tussle with some customers who tried to harass Pooja, they are fired. This protective relationship between Rohan and Pooja causes Pooja to fall in love with him deeply. Rohan then finds a job at a gas station. One day at Chaurasia's restaurant, Rohan becomes frustrated with his lack of progress and Chaurasia advises Rohan to get a Green Card by marrying an NRI girl. Rohan and Pooja go to an Indian dance to search for an NRI girl disapproved by Pooja. There, he met the seductive Loveleen (Suman Ranganathan) and he falls for her immediately. Pooja, Iqbal, and Sardar do everything to keep Loveleen away from Rohan until he gets aggravated and tells the three to stay away from him. Sardar advises Pooja to follow Rohan and Loveleen to Seaside Heights and declare her love for him. She is rejected by Rohan and he later tells her to stay away from him. Iqbal and Sardar accuse him of being consumed by money. Rohan tells them that they are envious of his progress. Iqbal tells Rohan that one day he will regret his decision and come back to Pooja. Rohan leaves the house for Loveleen in rage.
To forget Rohan, Pooja finds a job as a caretaker for a rich Indian man who is ill. He is Balraj Khanna, Rohan's estranged father who has not died. Balraj has been living in New York with his son, Karan. Karan's mother left Balraj when Karan was very young. Karan has grown to be a spoiled and arrogant young man who is friends with Loveleen. He consistently asks his father for money to spend for his enjoyment. He even took a loan from Marko, a dangerous drug dealer. To pay back his debts, he is assigned to transport drugs around the country. Balraj takes a liking to Pooja and considers her as a daughter. He wants to keep her in his home so he asks her to consider marrying Karan. Karan and Pooja are against the idea. Meanwhile, Rohan begins to realise that Loveleen's American culture deeply goes against his. He gets fed up with her ways and realises he is really in love with Pooja. He leaves Loveleen with nowhere to go because of his poor decisions. Jack Patel forces Iqbal, Sardar, and Rohan to reconcile and they forgive Rohan for his mistakes.
Rohan sets out to ask Pooja for forgiveness. She is in Springfield with Balraj, and Rohan arrives there to meet her. After a confrontation between Rohan and Pooja, Rohan tells her that they will go back home to India together: "Aa Ab Laut Chalen" (Come, Let's Go Back). Pooja forgives Rohan and Rohan gives her a locket with a picture of his mother inside saying that it is a promise that he will marry her. Pooja tells Balraj that she has fallen in love with a man named Rohan and he encourages her love for him. Meanwhile, Karan becomes desperate for the money so he decides to marry Pooja. After violently urging her to marry him, her locket falls on the ground and Balraj picks it up. When handing it to her, he sees Rohan's mother and his wife. He realises that Rohan is his son but does not tell Pooja. After hearing that he is employed in a low paying job, he tells Pooja that he will give Rohan a job in his company. But he fears that his son will not accept him as a father because he left him and his mother back in India.
Rohan accepts the job and is deeply grateful to Balraj. He wishes for a chance to meet him. Balraj continues his generosity from afar by giving Rohan a $5000 bonus. Rohan returns to Ranjit's motel and frees Ranjit's parents by paying for their tickets to India. Ranjit and his wife are arrested by Jack Patel for keeping his parents' passports. His mother is happy to know that Rohan has found the love of his life and a decent job. One day, Rohan is invited to a party which Balraj would attend. When Rohan meets Balraj, he is stunned to realise that Balraj is his father and very much alive. He reacts in anger. Balraj openly confesses to everyone that he has left his wife and son in India and does not deserve everyone's respect. Balraj reveals that after he arrived in America, he went back to India to find his family but he could not. Hence, he remarried. Rohan cannot bring himself to forgive his father because he has caused his mother's suffering. Balraj insists to speak to his wife to ask for forgiveness. She immediately forgives him and asks them to come back to India. Karan emerges saying that if Balraj leaves for India, he has to leave his fortunes to Karan in America. After a heated discussion and on Rohan's consent, Balraj agrees but on the condition that he will disown him as a son.
Balraj, Rohan, and Pooja all leave for India. Before they check in, PC Jack Patel appears with Karan. PC Patel relates that Karan has got Marko arrested by police along with the entire gang. So, even the police services and government agencies have forgiven his mistakes. Balraj and Rohan are very happy to hear that. Karan tells Balraj that he does not want the wealth but a family he never had. They accept Karan and the family leaves for India. Rohan's mother welcomes them home and they finally live happily together.

Tags: melodrama, flashback

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