Original subtitles

[NAZNEEN SINGING DOL DOL DULUNI IN BENGALI]

NAZNEEN: I have a song in my head.

[RESUMES SINGING DOL DOL DULUNI IN BENGALI]

I remember the songs we used to sing, my sister and I.

[GASPS]

[HASINA GIGGLES]

I always said, "I will not marry and be sent far away.

"I will go no further than these paddy fields."

[BOTH GREETING IN BENGALI]

But our mother told us we must not run from our fate.

What cannot be changed must be borne.

The test of life is to endure.

[IN BENGALI]

[IN BENGALI]

[ALL LAUGHING]

But our mother could not endure.

[SPEAKING BENGALI]

Amma.

No one spoke of our mother's death,

and I remembered her saying,

"If Allah wanted us to ask questions, he would have made us men."

Our fate was decided then.

[IN BENGALI]

I was to be grateful when Father chose me an educated man living abroad.

[WOMEN GIGGLING]

My sister would stay, I would go.

[ADAM'S LULLABYPLAYING]

You can spread your soul over a paddy field.

You can feel the earth beneath your toes and know that this is the place.

The place that it begins and ends.

But what can you tell to a pile of bricks?

I think of my sister.

I think of home.

My husband promises me we will be coming home soon.

[ADAM'S LULLABY CONTINUES PLAYING]

Good.

Good.

I will test you both on your Tagore tonight.

BIBI: Okay, Abba.

CHANU: Do you hear me, Shahana?

Abba,will you get the promotion today?

Very likely. Very likely.

NAZNEEN: Get your lunch box.

BIBI: Okay, Amma.

My colleague Wilkie thinks he will get the job.

Feet up on his desk in Mr. Dalloway's office,

using the telephone at the lunchtime.

I say to him, "They need an educated man like me."

They will not pass me over this time.

Shahana, sit up.

If I just get the promotion confirmed,

then many things are possible.

Don't cut the meat very small.

I need big pieces tonight, for dinner with Dr. Azad.

Good luck with your...

BIBI: It's from Auntie Hasina.

So, who has your sister fallen in love with today?

[CHANU CHUCKLES]

[IN BENGALI]

CHANU: Come on, Bibi, Shahana.

Hurry up, you can't be late for the school.

BIBI: Shahana.

[HASINA IN BENGALI]

HASINA: Do you tell your daughters the story of the princess

who lived seven seas and 13 rivers away?

That is how I think of you, in your tall tower.

Now I cook for the jute men.

I tell them of my sister living in London.

There is one I like.

His is skin like lassi.

I can see your worried face, but there is no need.

When will you ever come home?

[BOTH GIGGLING]

RAZIA: Tariq!

Stop messing around with the sewing machine.

[TARIQ REPLYING IN BENGALI]

Oh, hello, Razia.

Hello.

How do you like living the other side of the block?

I'll tell you when I've moved in.

How's your hip?

Very painful.

Oh, hello, Mrs. Ahmed.

You two are going to be neighbors.

[BOTH GREETING IN ARABIC]

[WHISPERING] She keeps herself to herself.

She has two daughters, but she lost her first.

Such a boy.

The devil always takes beautiful babies.

Have you heard about Jhodi?

NAZNEEN: Allah, please light in my heart.

Light in my tongue. Light in my hearing.

Light on my right hand, on my left.

Light before me. Light behind me.

Light above me and light below me.

Allah, who knows the secret of our hearts,

lead me out of the darkness and give me light.

[DOOR SLAMS]

Your coat?

Is everything okay?

I resigned this afternoon.

They do not appreciate my talents.

But I'm not worried.

I have some very good leads I will chase in the morning.

[WOMAN CHATTERING ON TV]

You know, when I left the council office,

Mr. Dalloway shook my hand.

He was sorry he was losing a good man.

[CHANU CHUCKLES]

We must be on our best behavior tonight.

[SHAHANA YELLING]

"Ah, what a thrill! In autumn, O mother mine

"in the full-blossomed paddy fields I have seen spread all over sweet smiles

"Ah, what beauty, what shades what affection, and what a tenderness!"

You will take over from your sister now.

[SIGHING]

"What a quilt..."

"What a quilt you have spread

"at the feet of banyan trees and along the banks of rivers!

"O mother mine, words from your lips are like nectar to my ears

"Ah, what thrill is sadness

"O mother mine,

"Casts a gloom on your face

"My eyes filled up with tears"

[DR. AZAD APPLAUDING]

A little more inflection next time.

But better.

[HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

[LAUGHING]

[PANTING]

[BOTH GREETING IN ARABIC]

Got a lot for you this time.Good.

I need to make enough to keep the kids happy.

Some of the women, they're sewing at home. Even I...

Will you smarten me up a little?

Which do you think is the happiest nation on Earth?

Ranked number one in "world's happiest" survey?

Bangladesh.

I'm worried about my sister.

All along I've been telling her we're coming home.

She has met someone.

No, no, no, no.

My cousin is not going to go and rescue her again.

If he could just visit her once.

Maybe I could go.

I could go and walk around the streets and say,

"Have you seen my wife's sister? She cooks for the jute men."

[SNICKERS]

I only have job to find and children to feed.

But what of our plans to go home?

I will work my contacts.

But you were so sure of the promotion.

They gave it to Wilkie.

Wilkie got the promotion?

Wilkie got the promotion.

People here are, by and large, ignorant

and know nothing of Brontes and Thackeray.

Can Wilkie quote from Chaucer?

No, he cannot.

Don't worry, I will have new employment by the end of the week.

I will clear my office today.

[SIGHS]

[SIGHS]

[GROANS]

[LAUGHING]

I've got them.

Thank you.

I'm Razia.Hello.

You wanna have some tea?

I haven't unpacked yet, but come.

Hmm?

Come.

I just got it, 12 speeds.

5.99 over 49 weeks.Thank you.

My daughter did it.

I was fed up with all that brushing and brushing.

She wants to do hair and beauty at college,

but I'm hoping university if she works hard.

SHEFALI: Bye, Amma.

Bye.

SHEFALI: Love you.

Tariq.

Always needing money for his books.

However much you give, they always need more.

What can you do?

You'll need a machine.

I'll send the boy over once you've had a chance to practice.

You can earn a pound a piece.

[BIBI GIGGLING]

NAZNEEN: Bibi.

BIBI: I can see you, Amma.

I can see your feet.

SHAHANA: Let me measure your head, Amma.

Shahana.

BIBI: Try mine, try mine, try mine.

How big is my head?

For a small brain, you have such a big head.

No, I don't.

[BIBI GIGGLING]

BIBI: Hello, Abba.

What is this?

I will take the television, then.

It is a pound a piece.

I will take food in my room.

MAN ON TV: Chiswick Auction House, West London,

just down the road from where the great painter Hogarth lived.

The two teams' items...

NAZNEEN: Sister, my husband says a loss of pride is a terrible thing.

But pride won't buy us tickets home.

I have work now, just like you.

I sew, and every hem brings me closer to you.

[IN BENGALI]

[GIGGLING]

[GASPS]

What are you doing?You're so dumb.

I'm trying to get the blossom.

He's so childish.

What do you mean I'm so childish?

Why do you even want to get a blossom?

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[KARIM SPEAKING BENGALI ON CELL PHONE]

[BOTH GREETING IN ARABIC]

Your husband in?

It's okay.

I visit a lot of the women. If it's okay with him?

This is a test batch. Jeans. Forty-two pairs.

[CELL PHONE RINGING]

[IN BENGALI]

Yeah, Abba, see you later.

My dad.

Always calling me when I'm at work.

Parents are always worrying.

I'll pay you Thursday, okay?

Thank you.

Don't thank me. It's a chore, man.

[BIDS FAREWELL IN ARABIC]

My mum had a sari like that.

[BIDS FAREWELL ARABIC]

BIBI: What is it, Abba?

CHANU: This is birthday present for your mother.

Her birthday is ages away.

Now, I'm also thinking about the home fund, girls.

SHAHANA: Wait, Bibi.

There are some uneducated types who believe if the wife is working

it is because the man cannot put the food on the table.

Lucky your mother married an educated man.

So, you have found new employment?

I have been told by a reliable source

that they are in much need of lecturers at Dhaka University.

To teach sociology, for example. Or philosophy.

From today, we are joining the World Wide Web.

I will e-mail them straightaway.

But where did the money come from?

BIBI: Can I open this one for you, Abba?

One has to speculate to accumulate.

What shall we start with?

I can access the entire world.

Too boring for the memsahib?

What is the wrong with you?

Do you mean, "What is wrong with you?"

Okay.

From now on no one speaks English.

You said that last time.

Your behavior is getting bad to worse.

[IN BENGALI]

This is what they teach you at the school? This is what they teach you?

I will not allow this to happen!

[YELLING IN BENGALI]

To learn manners and to respect her father!

SHAHANA: I didn't ask to be born here.

[DOOR SLAMS]

[LOUD POP MUSIC PLAYING]

[IN BENGALI]

[CHANU SNORING]

Go home, you fucking Pakis!

[INAUDIBLE]

[BANGING ON DOOR]

[GREETS IN ARABIC]

Sorry about this.

What happened?

I know who they are.

The Lionhearts.

They've gone.

Took it right from under their nose, man.

"Multicultural murder.

"Do you know Britain is being slowly suffocated?

"Muslim extremists taking over our streets."

Who does all this?

Idiots.

You're thirsty.

Yeah.

[KARIM SIGHS]

This is nice work.

There's a pair missing.

Forty-two. There should be 42.

I know. Probably my mistake.

[CELL PHONE RINGING]

Father.My dad.

Twenty-five years as a bus conductor, and now he doesn't even leave the flat.

Just ringing me all the time.

Every day the same.

And your mother?

Died five years ago.

"Don't make trouble for yourself," that's all my dad ever says to me.

It's too many years getting called all the names.

Kids giving him cheek. Men giving him aggro.

He never made trouble for anyone his whole life.

He thinks he's Mahatma Gandhi.

He thinks he's Jesus Christ. Always saying to me, "Turn the other cheek."

[SIGHS]

That's what you get, man.

Yes, yes, what you get.

A lot of books.

My husband.

[UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ Put that light out

♪ Put that light out

♪ With me around, you'll be as safe as can be ♪

I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment.

According to Hume,

"All objects of human enquiry may be divided into two kinds."

That is, relation of ideas and matters of fact.

To explain the meaning of relation of idea, Hume gives an example,

that the three times of five is equal to half of 30.

Are you resting?Hmm?

This one is nice.

I can say that it is nice or not nice,

and how could I be wrong, according to Hume?

The search for knowledge. Is there anything more satisfying?

The foundation of modern philosophy. It is a very interesting module.

Hume also says that the sun will not rise tomorrow...

HASINA: Praise be to Allah, so much to thank him for.

I have news.

I have accepted a proposal from Mr. Lassi. His skin is so white.

[GIGGLES]

Shahana. Shahana.

"Sister, we are married.

"People stop and stare because he is Mr. Lassi and I am now his wife."

Give it back. Shahana. Shahana, give... Shahana.

"I enjoy their stares, walking arm-in-arm together.

"I am in love, sister. I am in love!"

What is this?

I was just trying them on.

Shahana, off. Off, I said!

Shahana. Give it back.It's romantic, man.

What's Auntie like? Is she like me?

As pretty as you and as naughty as you.

At least her life is exciting. At least it's not boring.

The test of life is to endure.

I know, Amma. You tell me all the time.

And so did my Amma.

Please, please...

Shh. Bibi's sleeping.

Please, please.

No, no, no.

Give it to me.

"...walking arm-in-arm. I am in love, sister.

"I am so in love."

HASINA: I thought I knew love before, but it was not like this.

He is always watching me, never letting me out of his sight.

Like I might vanish.

This time I am sure it is right.

[IN BENGALI]

Thank you.

Talk to me.

This won't sew itself.

You talk, I will listen.

KARIM: So many kids, man. Smoking shit, doing nothing.

Do you only go out with your husband?

I go out when I need to shop.

How long you been living here?

Sixteen years.

My mum came over when she was 17.

Me, too.For real?

You look younger.

You know, when I was young,

if you wanted to be cool, you had to be something else.

A bit white, a bit black, a bit something.

Anything but Bangladeshi.

[STAMMERING IN BENGALI]

What?

You always stammer when you talk Bengali.

Only when I'm nervous.

There's gonna be meetings every week.

You should come.

Bring your husband.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[ALL GREETING IN ARABIC]

Thursday.

MRS. ISLAM: Your girls haven't been seen at the madrasa.

I will speak with my husband.

Never mind.

Place the money in the side pocket. I won't count it.

£50, as arranged. Your husband owes me.

I see how it is. He hasn't talked to you.

I will collect every week £50.

It is simply an arrangement between friends.

Pay when you can.

You will find a way. Allah always gives a way.

Ah, what a boy.

Too beautiful.

MRS. ISLAM: Hello.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Anyone home?

[COUGHING]

I hear her sons wanted to buy her a hip replacement.

[IMITATING MRS. ISLAM] "No, no, no, no, no. Don't waste a good hip on me.

"I don't want to be buried with a new hip.

"God does not love a wasteful woman."

[CHUCKLING]

My husband's borrowed money from her.

How much she charging?

I don't know.

How much does a computer cost?

Certificates from everywhere, but your husband's a bloody fool.

I know one family, they've been paying six, seven years.

Whatever you pay, she'll say you owe more.

You'll never get rid of the debt.

She's got a system inherited from her husband.

That's how usurers work.

She's a usurer?

You take care.

Zips and seams to finish.

[GREETING]

[HASINA IN BENGALI]

[LAUGHING]

KARIM: I suggest we call ourselves "United Muslim Action."

[CROWD AGREEING]

I say, let's get our own neighborhood straight first.

Show that Banglatown is defended.

You ask what about Chechnya? What about Palestine?

Well, I say, what about here?

[CROWD AGREEING]

This community has been taking shit from people like the Lionhearts.

What about your children? Who's gonna fight for them?

If we can't change things, who can?

I suggest we call ourselves "Bengal Tigers."

I say, let's vote and get Banglatown represented.

[CROWD APPLAUDING]

Secretary, let's take a vote.

[CHATTERING]

Okay, "Muslim Action"?

"United Muslim Action."

[PEOPLE MURMURING]

"Bengal Tigers"?

[PEOPLE MURMURING]

Bengal Tigers is duly elected.

[ALL APPLAUDING]

I should go.

Thursday.

Mmm.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

[BIBI URINATING]

[CHANU SINGING IN BENGALI]

[IN BENGALI]

[CLEARS THROAT]

As you are all aware,

your mother and I have decided that we as a family will return home.

Your mother is doing everything she can do to facilitate this dream.

But today, I have also become the employee of Kempton Cars.

Driver 1619.

So the home fund will prosper.

[SIGHS]

Memsahib, prepare!

[GROANS]

[SINGING IN BENGALI]

BIBI: What's that, Abba?

Massage car seat cover.

Very good for back.

For relief of tension and unknotting of muscles.

[CHANU HUMMING]

BIBI: Abba, can I have a go?

All I have ever seen in this country is the Houses of Parliament.

That was in 1979.

So many years of struggling.

I have barely had time to lift my head and look around.

Oh, no, Alec, not here. Someone will see.

I love you so.

We must do some visiting.

Sightseeing.

Brompton Road.

RAZIA: Look how much these English are paying for their kameez.

NAZNEEN: It is giving you ideas.

This is too bright.

And a rip-off.

Okay, I will leave you.

See you later.Bye.

RAZIA: Yeah, we need to get some of that, don't we?

There's something I wanna show you.

Where are you taking me?

This is my uncle's factory.

Just closing up right now.

[DOOR BANGS]

NAZNEEN: Sister, there is something I must tell you.

If you were here, I would spend so much time talking to you.

Something is happening.

I know it is foolish, but I cannot help it.

I tell myself, "Be careful, be careful."

[LOVE BLOSSOMSPLAYING]

Children, are you enjoying yourself?

You see,

when you have all the time in the world to see something,

you don't bother to see it.

Now that we are going home, I have become a tourist.

[CHUCKLES]

It is so ironic.

CHANU: "Buckingham Palace has been the official

"residency of British sovereigns since 1837."

Do you have the cream? I'm going black.

CHANU: "The palace evolved from a townhouse."

Shh. Your father is speaking.

If he ever stops, let me know.

Shahana.

Look, Shahana. Look at this beautiful building.

[SIGHS]

If you have history, you have pride.

People here know nothing of our national heroes like...

Like Colonel Usmani and, also Shah Jalal, both from Sylhet.

I know. I know who they are.

CHANU: Excuse me?MAN: Yes, mate?

Can you take a picture for me?MAN: Sure.

Turn, turn. Turn.

Where are you from?Bangladesh.

Why has he got to fiddle around for?

I will buy you the earrings.

The really long ones?

For God's sake, smile.

Down to your knees.

Now smile.CHANU: Wait, wait, wait. I want to go in.

Smile.

Okay, ready.

[CAMERA CLICKS]

[BOTH GIGGLING]

[EXCLAIMS]

[ALL LAUGHING]

BIBI: Amma,stop.

CHANU: Are you feeling well? Too much excitement, perhaps?

See how happy your mother is now we are going home.

[CHANU GRUNTING]

NAZNEEN: Sister, there is something I have to tell you.

I am...

I am in...

[CRUMPLING LETTER]

Hasina, my husband thanks you.

Thepudina for his ulcer is working well.

I am praying for you and your new husband every day.

NAZNEEN: My sister.

She ran off with one of the men who worked for my father.

He never forgave her.

They stole his bicycle.

My boy.

He was my first.

I found him in his cot.

He'd stopped breathing.

We don't talk about it anymore.

He's beautiful.

Yes.

The devil only takes beautiful babies.

What?

Why do you like me?

Who says I like you?

There's two types, right?

Your westernized girl, into going out, having a laugh,

short skirts as soon as she's out of her father's sight.

Then you have your religious girl, and you think they'd be good wife material,

but they ain't, because all they wanna do is argue.

So what about me?

You?

You're the real thing.

A girl from the village.

Don't you ever want to go home?

[SIGHS]

This is my home.

[MAN EXCLAIMS]

Excuse me.

CHANU: The world has gone mad.

REPORTER: The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts.

CHANU: It will be just like when I first arrived. There will be a backlash.

There has been enough planning. Start packing.

We will be in Dhaka within the month.

What?

No more pop CDs. All money goes to the home fund.

Ow!And cover your legs.

Take more sewing.

We need more money.

I will speak to him.

No!

Who?

Who you do not wish me to speak to?

No, no, no one.

I'll do it.

Do what?

Speak to him.

Anyway, you tell him you want paying

extra 50% if we are ever to get home.

TONY BLAIR: As for those that carried out these attacks,

there are no adequate words of condemnation.

Their barbarism will stand as their shame for all eternity.

Community meeting. Come along.

CHANU: Shahana, Bibi.

Come on, girls.

BOY: You fucking terrorists, get out!

Go back to your own country, you Bin Ladens!

Go on, fuck off!

REPORTER ON TV: This has already been a year of racial tension in Britain,

with race riots in the North.

The fear is now that this tension will increase.

Many claim that in the last seven days, "Muslim" has become a dirty word.

FEMALE REPORTER: Broken windows at a mosque in South London,

a consequence of these misconceptions.

MUSLIM WOMAN ON TV: People are saying to us,

"You shouldn't be here. Why are you here? Go away."

KARIM: It's getting crazy out there.

My dad's really scared now.

Some white boy goes and pulls my cousin's hijab down in the street today.

He was only about 10.

I'm telling you, man, things are changing.

The way people look at you now in the street, so much mistrust.

I wanna say, "If I was a bomber,

"do you think I'd be carrying 50 pairs of jeans on my back?"

Stop.What?

[DOOR OPENS]

[SOFTLY] Things are getting bad out there.

[GREETS IN ARABIC]

[GREETS IN ARABIC]

Is it interesting?

I was just browsing. You don't mind?

[CHUCKLES] Why should I mind?

When I was a young man like you, do you know what I wanted to be?

A British civil servant.

Right-hand bloody man of the prime minister.

And I saw no reason why not.

Anything is possible when you are young.

Then you get older.

And the thing about getting older is

that you don't need everything to be possible anymore.

You just need some things to be certain.

[DOOR SLAMS]

[WHIRRING]

SHAHANA: Abba?

Hmm?

If you left me and Bibi behind,

you wouldn't have to save as much and we could be adopted.

Do you want me to beat you?

Yes.

Well,

I won't beat you and I won't leave you behind.

One day, Abba, I'll run, and you won't ever catch me.

Shahana?

[DOOR SLAMS]

[IN BENGALI]

Why did Allah curse me with daughters?

Shahana!

[IN BENGALI]

Shahana!

Do you think your cheek will serve you well in the world?

Can you imagine the things I have had to fight?

Do you know what you're going to have to face out there every day?

Every day.

[WHEEZING]

Shahana.

[DOOR OPENS]

Do you think I'm like this for the good of my health?

No, Abba.

Good.

I'm glad we have talked father and daughter like this.

[GRUNTS]

NAZNEEN: Sister, I have an unquiet mind.

And it is so long since I have heard from you.

It was still on the mat.

You must have been busy.

You think she's enjoying married life?

My cousin says she has left her new husband.

He has seen her working the hotels.

It is where all the floating girls go.

You think she lived off cooking all these years?

All these years, all these letters, hearing what your sister had to say.

Give me my letter.

Maybe I should have been asking what you are writing to her?

Give it to me. Give it to me! I said give me my letter!

Give, give!

You are no different from your sister.

[DOOR CLOSES]

[SOBBING]

HASINA: Sister, Mr. Lassi is gone.

Hussain from the factory has been very kind to me.

He brings me a little food.

Haven't I always known how to take care of myself?

We all survive in different ways.

[NAZNEEN SOBBING]

Last night was so funny. I sang for Rehan.

He makes me sit on the bed like when he first saw me.

Mr. Chowdhury is like a father to me. He treats me very well.

They tease me, but I know they're only joking.

Ahmed likes to bring me to his house.

CHANU: Are you all right in there?

HASINA: I do not tell him I am a married woman.

I have never been good at staying still.

Abba went with other women.

Mr. Chowdhury says these boys are like moths to a flame.

I won't be likeAmma.

She took the forbidden path.

She did not endure, so why should we?

SHAHANA: Can you do any? Look at my bubble, look at my bubble, okay?

Okay, look at my bubble, okay? Amma?

She awakes.

[CHANU CLAPPING SOFTLY]

Will you have some food now?

Just a little rice.

Rice it is.

Dr. Azad said the illness will leave you hungry.

REPORTER ON TV: Even the organizers said it was vital that

people collectively voiced their opposition

to the UK government's support of the U.S.-led bombardment.

The rally was told another major...

I started to pack.

Oh...

Wait.

How?

Where there's a will, there is always a way.

What should I take? Thackeray or the Proust?

I will take both.

You rest now.

Now, where are my certificates?

Do you know what Gandhi said when asked what he thought about western civilization?

He said he thought it would be a good idea.

[CHANU LAUGHING]

RAZIA: When do you go?

The tickets are booked. In three weeks.

So, have you seen him?

Karim?No.

Did he visit while I was ill?

I haven't seen him for days. Someone said he's away.

Don't make trouble for yourself.

I already have.

It looks like you are doing well.

Mmm.

I'll need people to sew.

[DOORBELL RINGING]

[DOOR OPENS]

[RAZIA GREETING IN ARABIC]

You angry with me?

No.

I've been away.

Visiting family in Bradford.

If I'd known you was ill...

I can see you're angry with me.

Why do you not believe me when I tell you that I'm not angry with you?

I turned down a girl last week for you.

My dad keeps asking me why.

What can I do?

You could stay. He could go.

Let him divorce you.

We'll get married. I'll sort it.

And then what?

[DOOR OPENS]

SHAHANA: Amma?

[DOOR SLAMS]

Goodnight.

Are you in love with him?

I mean, have you ever been in love with him?

Maybe before he got fat?

[IN BENGALI]

You don't have to go, Amma. You don't have to go.

We shall wait and see.

That's no answer.

That is my answer. Goodnight.

NAZNEEN: Sister, may Allah take care of you.

I'm sending you a little more money to help keep you safe.

How long have we been talking?

How long have I not been hearing what you say?

I, too, have secrets.

Now is the time for truth.

I feel as if I'm waking from a dream.

The world is changing, and me with it.

[INAUDIBLE]

We are coming home. How can we stay?

[DOOR OPENS]

BIBI: Amma?

[SIGHS]

[ALL CHATTERING]

[FIRECRACKERS EXPLODING]

[CROWD WHOOPING]

MRS. ISLAM: Mrs. Ahmed.

I know you have been ill. Just give me what you owe.

How would it look if I let you off?

Let one slip, they all slip through.

Your husband is trying to run away. But I won't let him.

He comes asking for more, and I tell him, "Pay what you owe."

BOY: Shahana.

What?

Who are they?

Her friends from school.

Ew!

Bibi.

In Bangladesh, you have to brush your teeth with a twig.

And go toilet in a bucket.

Auntie Hasina goes to the toilet in a bucket. Next to a goat.

Shahana.

It's true.

Less talking, more brushing.

It's true.

[SPEAKING BENGALI]

Do you even want to go?

You don't.

[DOOR SLAMS]

What Mrs. Islam says, is this true?

This is a good question.

When you feel something so strongly, you have to ask yourself, "Is this true?"

I still have my coat on.

Isn't it fair to say that you hate it when I come inside and forget to take it off?

I'm not totally blind.

Don't worry.

A little business venture I have in mind.

I'm gathering together samples.

Soap is the future.

I think we should go to this meeting.

In fact, I have prepared a short speech.

Will you come?

MAN: Our fathers have been spat at.

Our young brothers stopped and searched again and again

by our so-called police force.

Our sisters, they've been abused

when they walk the little children in the streets.

Banglatown needs defending.

[PEOPLE AGREEING]

Karim has a list of estates.

We need volunteers to wipe out this kind of filth.

[ALL MURMURING]

Brother.

Thanks a lot.

Out there are people twisted with hatred for us and Islam.

[CROWD AGREEING]

We're gonna show them how wrong they are.

[CROWD AGREEING]

We've become victims, but not for long!

We stand arm-in-arm with our Muslim brothers, ready to defend.

[CROWD AGREEING]

What is it you plan to defend?

[MURMURING]

What is it you are planning to defend?

MAN 1: Islam, brother!MAN 2: Yes!

[ALL CLAMORING]

KARIM: No, no, no, no, no, no, let the brother speak.

Let the brother speak.

You think Islam unites us all?

KARIM: Yes.

You think Islam is the place you come from?

Islam is not a country.

You think you are my brother more than the next man on the street

because we are both Muslims?

[CROWD MURMURING]

KARIM: Listen, listen, listen.

All this fighting talk that we are all brothers.

Three million. Three million died in East Pakistan in this lifetime.

Not in my lifetime, Uncle.

In your parents' lifetime.

MAN: That's our parents, though, ain't it?

What was that?

Brotherly love?

It was Muslim killing a Muslim.

Have you forgotten? Are you so lost?

My Islam is in here.

And that is the only thing worth defending.

MAN 1: Right.MAN 2: Hear, hear.

MAN 3: We plan to defend against hatred.

[CROWD CHEERING]

We all stand together, brothers.

MAN: All right. All right, moving on.

Our brother Karim has got the list of all the local estates.

Everyone in here will be allocated an area.

[INAUDIBLE]

It is the time to go home.

[BOTH GREETING IN ARABIC]

I've only got 10 minutes.

I've talked to some of the other brothers. It's not looking good.

I cannot marry you.

Well, yeah, not straightaway, but...

No, I do not want to marry you.

Come on, come.

Look at me.

Say it again.

Look at me and say it.

I do not want to marry you, Karim.

Right.

Right, right.

You don't wanna marry me?

[IN BENGALI]

Is it the sin of it? Is that it?

No, no.

Karim, that we have already done.

I am not the real thing.

I am no longer a girl from the village.

Yes, you are.No.

You just wanted me to be. We just made each other up.

What did you want?

I just wanted to feel like I was at home.

Karim...

[SNIFFING]

You better pray like hell. That's what I'm gonna do. Allah forgives.

[BIDS FAREWELL IN ARABIC]

[BIDS FAREWELL IN ARABIC]

Hello? Hello?

Mrs. Ahmed? Hello?

Hello?

Just give me what you owe.

I need my money.

From the goodness of my heart I give,

and when those who receive don't want to pay back what they owe,

they run off to foreign countries and they say,

"Why should we pay her? She's just an old sick woman."

How much do you want?

£200 to settle the debt.

No.

We paid it all and some more as well.

The money is for the madrasa, but what is that to you?

£200 and settle it.

But we paid what we owed!

We paid at least £300 on top of that. I am not gonna pay any more interest!

[COUGHING]

Do you think, before God, I will charge interest?

Am I a moneylender?

No?

[COUGHING]

Just swear on Koran that you're not and I'll pay you the £200.

Just swear on it!

There are certain things a wife does not want her husband to know.

My husband knows everything.

Just swear on the Koran. That is all you have to do. Swear on it.

Allah sees all your wrongs.

Anyway, you have paid too much.

And he sees yours, too.

[SCOFFS]

CHANU: We will store these boxes.

Okay, Mr. Ahmed.

The rest is for the auction. Thank you.

[HUMMING]

A colleague from Kempton Cars will collect us.

He's more or less an ignorant type, but a goodhearted man.

As they say, salt of the earth.

[CLATTERING]

I will marry the memsahibto the first fakirI can find.

The first thing I do when we step off the plane.

What is so funny, memsahib?

You are.Shahana!

You are, with your stupid phrases.

You're always encouraging us to fit in. It worked. We do fit in.

You're the one who's stuck somewhere, Abba.

Tell him.

Tell him you don't want to go.

CHANU: What?

He takes away my son and curses me with daughters?

Be careful what you say, memsahib.

We're not the ones lost, Abba, you are.

She's been married to you for nearly 20 years,

and in all my life, Amma, I have never heard you say what you want.

Please, Amma, tell him.

Tell him, Amma. Please, for once, please tell him.

Please, Amma.

Tell him you don't want to go! Just tell him you don't want to go!

Tell him! Please!

Please, Amma.

You're pathetic!

Bangladesh is gone. It's another time.

[DOOR SLAMS]

BIBI: Amma?

She will be back.

Shahana! Shahana!

Shahana! Shahana!

Shahana!

Shahana!

Shahana.

Shahana, stop.

[SOBBING]

I don't wanna go.

Ammais here.

Don't worry.

[GRUNTS]

Shahana is asleep now.

She is bound to be nervous.

She will settle later.

I know it is almost time...

I know how exciting it is.

I have checked our passports and tickets for the last time.

But I wanted to...

Let us look forward now.

Just imagine, house in Dhaka, holiday in Cox's Bazaar.

A little trip for the girls to Sundarban.

[LAUGHING] They could see a real Bengal tiger.

I should have said this before.

You see, all these years

I dreamed of going home a big man.

Only now when it is finished for me,

I realized what is important.

As long as I have my family with me, I'm strong as any man alive.

What is all this "strong man" about?

Do you think that is why I love you?

You're coming home.

This is my home.

I cannot leave.

I cannot stay.

I cannot stay.

Then you must take the plane.

Allah has taken our son. But he blessed us with daughters.

We will always be here.

[SOBBING]

NAZNEEN: No one told me there are different kinds of love.

The kind that starts big and slowly wears away,

that seems you'll never use it up and then one day it is finished.

Then there is the kind that you do not notice at first,

but which adds a little bit to itself every day.

Like an oyster makes a pearl grain by grain, a jewel from the sand.

That is the kind I have come to know.

Sister, thank you for your letter.

For all your letters.

There has been a change of plan.

I have suggested, and your mother has agreed,

that the three of you come later.

[CLEARS THROAT]

But who will cook for you, Abba?

Who will cut your corns?

Don't you know?

I'm a better cook than your mother.

Be good girls. Do as your mother tells you.

And do not think there is anything you are not good enough for.

Remember.

Abba.

SHAHANA: How will we manage without you?

Your mother is in charge.

I think you should be fine.

Everyone thought I married a simple girl from the village.

But...

That should do for now.

I'm sorry.

Never be sorry.

[NAZNEEN IN BENGALI]

NAZNEEN: When I was born, the midwife said,

"Dress her for her burial, this scrap is too weak to feed.

"Take her to the hospital, if you must."

"No," said myAmma.

"My child must not fight against her fate. That way she will be stronger."

BIBI: Shahana, Amma,look.

NAZNEEN: And so I lived.

Sister, I have this dream

that you are always running...

Shahana.

...and I am torn between two worlds...

Come.

...leaving you behind.

But then I wake

and see that it is not you but me who has been running,

searching for a place that has already been found.

Bibi.

I'm gonna get you!

[ALL LAUGHING]

[DOL DOL DULUNIPLAYING]

Look at me!

I'm gonna try. Come on, Amma.

[ADAM'S LULLABYPLAYING]