Anglo / Indian fiction hero ?

Khandoma

Namaste Friends,

For a book I'm preparing, I'm looking for fictional popular heroes that must match a list of criteria. The search for the Indian hero has got me stumped, and I need your help.
Could you suggest names of fictional figures that match the following ?

(I'd be happy to explain why, only I'd have to kill you afterwards... Please bear with me until my book project gets picked up.)

- - - The Anglo / Indian Hero(in) - - -

- Not necessarily "anglo-indian", I hasten to say.

- Hero or heroin. I'd prefer a woman actually, but can't afford to be picky.

- Our hero lives in books or movies or TV series.

- Must be born, according to his fictional biography, in India and living in the UK, or born in the UK of Indian descent, or born anywhere in the world with Indian origins (or Anglo-indian origins) and living in/ working in / travelling to the UK.

- The hero's creator (author of books or films etc) can be of any nationality. What matters is the hero's biography.

- I need to be able to place the hero in London at some point in their adventures.

- Should that hero take pleasure in eating or drinking, that would really make my day.

- I don't care about the genre. Anything goes, from pirates to musical to sci-fi.

- Hero is in the general sense here. The figure can be a secondary character, as long as it's a well-noticed one. An equivalent would be the character of Higgins the British butler in the TV series Magnum P.I., for instance. Not the main part, but people remember and enjoy him.

- The "hero" can also be a Villain, an arch-enemy. The Kamal Khan character (played by Louis Jourdan) in James Bond's Octopussy could have worked, except he didn't make it to star status as the characters of Goldfinger and Blofeld did.

- We're talking about a major popular figure here. The films / books / TV programs must have met wide popular appraisal. Even if the success was "limited" to the UK and / or India.
I'm not interested in classic literature or film unless they generated wide popular acclaim in our time.

Now there must be some hero matching that portrait somewhere.

I've looked in many places, from the Sarah Dars books to Sandokan to My Beautiful Laundrette (did the guy have any dialogue?) to Kipling to many, many TV series and Bollywood movies. No match.

I simply can't believe that neither Indian nor English writers came up with a "crossover" character that both audiences would enjoy.
What am I missing here ?

I'd be grateful for your suggestions !

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nayan

How about Raj(hero - played by shahrukh khan) or Simran(heroine - played by kajol)in "Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge"?

The charecters are born/brought up in London and of Indian descent.

they definitely didnot look like they were on a diet

If you dont know about the film a google search will give you an information overload. Its a superhit bollywood movie from the mid nineties and has instant recognition among Indians all over the world.

Khandoma

Wow, quick and to the point. Thanks a lot Nayan !
I did some looking up, and this looks very much like what I'm looking for, indeed.

You're right, either character would work. Added bonus for me, as I was hoping for a female character.
Quite right there too!
I liked the song very much.

I'm going to watch the film today and let you know whether it works for me.
Thank you for the excellent tip !

de_cooky

Another superhero is Krish..He appears in a movie with the same name and the movie is a sequel of another hit movie'koi mil gaya" ..Koi mil gaya says the story of Krish's father and Krish obviously is about the super hero Krish and his adventures in a foreign country..I am not very sure which country does he go to fight his villan but it can very easily be the UK..U sud find that out..It was a blockbuster movie and more sequels are in Lline..

nayan

Krish is in singapore I think - not UK.

de_cooky

There was another TV series with the name 'vilayati babu" where Shekhar Suman plays a UK return guy who has problems when he comes back to India..but it wasnt a very popular series

Khandoma

Thank you very much for your suggestions, De Cooky.
I checked Krrish (that's the spelling on IMDB) and Nayan is right, it's Singapore. No UK there I believe.

As for Walayati Babu (again, IMDB spelling for IMers who'd like to check for themselves), I could find little info. But it seems indeed that the show wasn't extremely successful, and hasn't lasted very long in the audience's memory, so I'm not sure it works in my case.

Thanks again !

bonded

Would "Ramji Londonwaley", "Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal" or "Namastey London" help?

nayan

Ramji Londonwale is a forgotten flop from a few years ago.

Goal and Namaste London are pretty widely known but I dont think the charecter names(or any dialogues) from them will lead to an instant recognition from a lot of people the way "Raj and Simran" does.

Khandoma

"Ramji Londonwaley" is great, with the hero being a cook and the partly UK-based plot.

"Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal", from what I can tell after a quick search, didn't quite get the success it aspired to.

"Namastey London" : also an interesting lead.
Many thanks !

Oh darn. Just posted that, and saw Nayan's message. I had great hopes in "Ramji Londonwaley". Anyway, thank you all for the precious feedback here.

bonded

A few years back there was a TV show named "Des Main Nikla Hoga Chand". May be that could help?

nayan

Pammi - from "Des me nikla hoga chand" does have some recall value.

BTW - is that soap still running?

bonded

There is a re-run in Star Utsav.

de_cooky

How bout Lagaan..The guy bhuwan doesnt go to UK but he plays a historical cricket match against the Britishers. and lagaan is an oscar nominee
I just thought of comic book heros and their are two very famous heros Nagraj and Super commando Dhruv..They would have certainly had stitnts fighting crime in the UK

abracax

Hadji Singh in the Johnny Quest cartoon. Seriously, how lazy are you, anyway?

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