I’m still fighting off a case of the Mondays, and nothing cheers me up like fanfic! And this is fun fanfic, the ones where I don’t have to come up with characters and stuff, I can just piggyback on characters we already know and love.

Luck By Chance Sequel

When we ended the film, Farhan had managed to become a big star by seducing an innocent second generation actress and dumping his girlfriend aspiring actress Konkona. Who was trapped in her own thing with a sleazy producer, but finally broke free and found some version of respect and success as the lead in a TV soap opera.

Wouldn’t it be fun to come back to these characters ten years later? Farhan is now at the top of the industry and everyone hates him but has to put up with him. The innocent young actress tries to kill herself after he gives another thinly veiled interview about their affair. Her mother, Dimple, is furious. And at just this moment, she happens to meet with Konkona, now a TV producer, who wants her to do a guest appearance on one of her (many) hit shows. Konkona mentions something a little bitter about her past relationship with Farhan and Dimple files that away. She starts courting Konkona, inviting her to parties, relating to her as a fellow powerful woman who has been through some stuff. And eventually Dimple sits Konkona down and gives her a sales pitch on how it is time for them to take Farhan down. Konkona sleeps on it, remembers all the other man who messed with her life, and finally agrees. Dimple and Konkona reach out to Sheebha (who has now been dumped by her sleazy producer husband) and Juhi (who is now widowed after Rishi died) and they form a little group of avengers determined to make Farhan, and all the other men, pay for their crimes. First they arrange for Sheebha’s sleazy ex to be producing his next movie and Konkona agrees to co-produce, while Dimple announces a big return from semi-retirement to play a role. And then they work on destroying his career with this film, delaying and delaying and delaying, convincing him to put in his own money and dig himself deeper and deeper, and then once it is done, making sure they have all the rights and refusing to ever release it. Meaning his money is gone, his stardom is damaged, and the greatest performance of his career will never be seen. Once Farhan is fully destroyed, we see all the women returning to their lives, feeling freed. Konkona finally agrees to go to lunch with the nice editor guy who has been trying to get something going but she can’t trust him. Sheebha and Juhi go to their favorite restaurant together. The first time they have risked going out in public since Sheebha’s divorce and Juhi’s widowhood. And Dimple goes to visit her daughter for the first time since her suicide, finally feeling able to look her in the face.

Talaash

Aamir and Rani are reunited, finally. Aamir goes back to work, healthier and happier. Rani starts working as a grief counselor. Aamir starts investigating another murder, of the parents of a little girl. He interviews the little girl and builds a bond with her. He brings her to Rani who takes her to a lovely children’s home and keeps visiting her. Rani gets closer and closer with the little girl and starts to get the idea that something really strange was happening in that house. Aamir interviews the servants and so on and starts to build the same idea. After Talaash explored the red light district side of Bombay, this movie explores the expensive flats in high rise buildings side of things and the secrets they hide. Aamir learns the parents were involved in the mob, the husband had affairs, and the wife was a drug addict. Rani learns that the little girl has nightmares and strange drawings and memories and so on.

The final discovery, reached by both of them simultaneously, is that the little girl killed her parents. They used to alternately abuse and ignore her, and her mother would routinely give her “medicine” to put her to sleep because she just didn’t want to deal with her. The only person who loved her was her old nanny who died six months earlier leaving her at the mercy of her parents. Finally one night, confused and sleepwalking, she saw her parents stumbling up the stairs and pushed them down, killing them. Then went back to sleep, thinking the whole thing was a dream. Her father’s mob connections showed up later and tore up the house looking for their money, her mother’s drug dealer came later, that’s why the evidence was so confused. She sobs the whole thing out to Rani and Aamir, and then Aamir and Rani have a big fight because Rani thinks he can’t possibly prosecute this little girl and he feels like it is his job. Rani ends up taking the little girl and leaving town, planning to go on the run with her. And then Aamir has a memory of his son and starts to think about things, and in the end he arrests the mobsters and the drug dealer, having created a version of events that matches the evidence where they are guilty of the murders. Rani hears him announce it in a press conference on the radio, and turns around and goes back home. Flashforward, Rani and Aamir and their new daughter are happily playing together on the beach.

Dil Dhadakne Do

At the end of the last movie, Anil and Shefali finally talked out the issues of their long marriage (him having affairs, her shutting him out) and agreed to start fresh. And they supported Priyanka in leaving her husband and (it is implied) going back to her carefree happy boyfriend from before Farhan. And they supported Ranveer in pursuing his dream of being a pilot and chasing after the dancer Anushka he fell in love with.

10 years later, Anil and Shefali surprise the kids by giving them a joint holiday cruise for their anniversaries. Farhan and Priyanka and Anushka and Ranveer both got married right after the last cruise. Anil and Shefali are different people, relaxed and happy together, spending all their time traveling or spoiling their grandkids, and they think a big family cruise will be a wonderful joyful time.

What Anil and Shefali don’t know is that their kids have been hiding their problems. While the first movie was all about pretending things are okay for the sake of appearances, this time around it is for the sake of not hurting their parents. Ranveer and Anushka are living in New York, and are separated. They are both happy in their careers and other parts of their lives, but Ranveer wants children and Anushka knows it would be the end of her dancing career. Anushka has a regular thing now with her dance partner but turns him down when he suggests they move in together, Ranveer turns down the younger co-pilots and stewardess who come on to him because he isn’t interested. They are talking about making it official and getting a divorce, Anushka thinking it is what Ranveer wants so he can start over with a younger woman and have a family, Ranveer thinking it is what she wants because she must be in love with her boyfriend. They pretend to be joking and casual about this vacation, a nice end point to the ten years together, but secretly they are hurting. Meanwhile, Priyanka and Farhan are pretending their marriage has no issues at all. Priyanka loves her work and is great at it and feels alive at work. Meanwhile, Farhan stays home with their three kids. Only now he is beginning to feel unappreciated and lonely because Priyanka is always at work, and Priyanka is beginning to be tempted by a new business acquaintance who has the same ambitious hard-driving attitude towards life that she does. They go through the motions of being the perfect couple, even lie to themselves, but really they are both miserable.

On the cruise, it all comes out eventually. Priyanka’s crush shows up and surprises her, but when she spends more time with him she starts to miss Farhan and realize it actually was just a crush. Just in time for her to worry that she is losing Farhan because he is spending all his time hanging out with a single mother on the cruise. Ranveer and Anushka on the other hand are forced to spend time together and have a wonderful time doing everything. In the end, Anil and Shefali talk to their kids and find out what is happening with their marriages, and tell them that the most important thing is to be with the person you want to spend your life with. Priyanka realizes she wants Farhan even if he did have an affair, only to learn that Farhan was really talking to the single mother about writing a book on childrearing together because he is thinking about his next act now that the kids are getting bigger. Ranveer talks to Anushka and tells her he doesn’t care about having babies if he can have her, and they decide to put a pin in having a family until Anushka is done having her dancing career. Happy ending, with a big joyful family dance.

Gully Boy

Ranveer and Alia have been dating since middle-school, she is in med school planning to be a surgeon and he dreams of being a rapper. He finds success after a lot of struggle and ends the film as an up and coming musical star, still in a relationship with Alia who confidently plans to marry him once she finishes med school.

5 years later, Alia and Ranveer finally break up after fighting for a long time. Ranveer always puts his art and career ahead of her career. But after the break-up, he discovers he has writer’s block. He decides to go back to the neighborhood, he’s been sending money back all along, for a school and a clinic and stuff, but he’s been so busy touring that he hasn’t visited. He goes back home and thinks he finds a smart kid to mentor, like him, only to notice something odd about the lyrics he writes, and eventually track it down and realize it is his little sister who is writing the lyrics. He starts mentoring this teenage girl and understanding why her life is so hard and why she is so angry and needs to write it out. He fights with her family for her, and with the studios who don’t believe a female rapper will work. And somewhere in there he starts talking to Alia again, they fight and they talk and they fight, she doesn’t believe he has changed, he gets frustrated with her, and finally she shows up for the concert he funded himself for his protegee and sees him up there giving the intro about how he thought he had it bad until he realized how much harder it is to be a woman in a man’s world. And realizes he finally really gets it.

English/Vinglish

Sridevi came to New York to stay with her sister and found herself by studying English and gaining pride, before returning home to her husband and teenage daughter and small son.

Sridevi’s daughter comes to New York for college, staying with her aunt and cousin. She is excited and thinks it will be wonderful, but then it is horrible. Her accent makes her stand out, her clothes aren’t right, she doesn’t belong. She ends up finding herself at an Indian dance class. She loves it, it’s what she wants far more than the perfect pre-med degree her family planned for her. Her cool older cousin keeps pushing her to study more and take classes seriously and dress more “American”. But her aunt is more understanding of her sudden interesting in her culture. She helps her learn how to wear a sari and do her hair and make-up and so on for the dance classes. She secretly drops out of her classes at college, spends all day at home rehearsing instead, until her father finds out from her cousin and is furious and rushes to visit and talk to her. They confront her, but she tricks them into coming to her dance recital where she talks meaningfully about her connection to her heritage and her identity as an Indian, and then gives a triumphal performance. Her family finally understands her dreams and agrees that she can go back to India and study dance.

Dear Zindagi

Alia is a young woman with serious mental issues. She blows up her relationship and her career, and retreats to her hometown of Goa where she starts going to therapy with understanding wise therapist Shahrukh. She falls in love with him by the end of their sessions but he gently explains that it isn’t real love and sends her off, cured, to meet a cute boy Aditya Roy Kapoor months later and start something fresh.

Years later, Alia gets pregnant and it messes with her mind. She has been with Aditya Roy Kapoor for a while and it is going really well, but she keeps resisting his proposals. When he finds out she is pregnant, he proposes with full romance and she can’t handle it. Her two good friends are already married and happily raising babies, somehow that whole life terrifies her. She decides she has to go off and find Shahrukh again. He is now working in a hospital in Ooty (why not more beautiful scenery?). He is reluctant to work with her again, but is convinced when he sees what bad shape she is in. They start their sessions and she keeps avoiding calls from ARK and her friends, hiding away from life. She finally confronts all her fears about growing older and having children and making a commitment and returns to ARK, feeling freed.

Alternate:

Alia recommends Shahrukh to Deepika, an actress in her latest film. She has serious mental and addiction issues. Shahrukh sees her, but at the end of their session says that she needs the kind of in patient care he can’t provide. Deepika is terrified and admits she is an orphan and has no family, and no close friends because she has pushed everyone away. Shahrukh takes pity on her and agrees he will be with her, as a friend, get her checked in to the treatment facility and visit her there so she isn’t alone. Deepika goes through the scary world of serious residential treatment, deals with drug withdrawal and suicide watch for her depression and Shahrukh is there on visitor’s day through the whole thing. She finally comes out the otherside with her meds figured out and all and tells Shahrukh she loves him. Shahrukh gives her his usual understanding speech, but Deepika rejects it because he was never her therapist, he was just her friend. Shahrukh still rejects it because she is vulnerable and barely healthy and all. But she makes him agree that if she still feels the same way in a year, they will meet up on the same Goa beach where they first met. A year later, Shahrukh is sitting on the beach, and surprised when she comes. He never thought it would happen. But he has been sitting on the beach every evening for a year just in case, he fell in love with her, but he couldn’t admit his feelings. Until now, when he sees her healthy and happy and independent and still in love with him.

Qarib Qarib Singlle

Parvathy is a 30-something widow who has been hiding from life and finally signs up for a dating site. Her first match is Irrfan Khan, a strange poet with a lot of money that he throws around in a tacky manner. He convinces her to go on vacation with him, she goes just to break out of her rut and get up the nerve to see her old boyfriend as part of the trip. But by the end, she doesn’t want the boyfriend any more and Irrfan goes looking for her and they are together for real.

Irrfan and Parvathy return from vacation, engaged and in love. Before they go home, they try to have their first kiss and first night together, but then Parvathy has an allergic reaction and Irrfan ends up just taking care of her all night. They get home to find Parvathy’s friends ready to surprise her, they got a message she was engaged but thought it was her rich ex-boyfriend. Irrfan is an awkward surprise, and the whole party is kind of awkward. Parvathy has to go through the same thing when Irrfan’s motley assortment of friends throws them a party. They still have moments together when everything just seems to work, but then the world interferes and it is hard again. Parvathy’s parents and brother show up, and don’t approve of Irrfan, try to convince her to end the engagement. Irrfan’s friends try the same thing, tell him that this woman is ashamed of him and doesn’t appreciate him. But in the end, they both walk away from these other people and go looking for each other, and decide that even if no one else understands it, they are happy together.