My Beautiful Laundrette - Script
by Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi
(In a house)
Genghis: Hell.
Johnny: We're moving out.
Genghis: Got a fire?
Johnny: Too early in the morning. All right.
Man: Get out of there. Come on.
(At Omar’s flat)
Papa: Come here. I'm fixing you up with a job...with your uncle. Work now,
till you go back to college. If your face gets any longer here, you'll
overbalance...or I'll commit suicide.
Bilquis? Good. And Tania and the other girls? I say...can't you give Omar
some work in your garage for a few weeks? Come on, yaar. The bugger is your
nephew, after all. He's on dole... like everyone else in England. He sweeps
the dust from one place to another...he squeezes shirts...and he heats
soup. I mean, that hardly stretches him. His food stretches me. Oh, come
on, yaar. I'll send him to college in the autumn. One thing more, try and
fix him up with a nice girl. I'm not sure his penis is in full working
order.
(At the garage)
Nasser (on the phone): We've got one parking space. Ł25 a week. And from
this afternoon...we're offering a special on-the-premises... clean-the-car
service. New thing.
Salim: Is that your car? Why you feeling it up, then? Come here. Here, I
said.
Nasser: This bastard who almost beat you up is Salim. You'll be seeing a
lot of him.
Salim: I've heard many great things about your father.
Nasser: I must see him, but where is the time?
Salim: You're too busy keeping this damn country in the black. Still,
someone's got to do it.
Nasser: So, your papa got thrown out of that clerk's job I fixed him with?
Pissed, was he? Can you wash a car?
Salim: Have you washed a car before? Your uncle can't pay you very
much...but at least you'll be able to afford a decent shirt...and you'll be
with your own people, not in the dole queue. Mrs. Thatcher will be happy
with me.
It's easy to wash a car. You just wet a rag and rub. You know how to rub,
don't you? Do this one first. Carefully...as if you were restoring a
Renaissance painting. It's my car.
Hi, baby.
Rachel: My love.
Salim: Here.
(In the office)
Nasser: What do you think I am, your trampoline? Speak my language, damn
it.
Rachel: I'll do nothing else, Nasser. Do you think we'll ever part?
Nasser: Not at the moment.
Rachel: I'm serious.
Nasser: Just keep moving. Just there. I love you. Darling. Christ, you move
like a liner.
Rachel: I love you, too. Can we go away somewhere?
Nasser: Yes, I'm taking you.
Rachel: Where?
Nasser: Campton Park. Saturday.
Rachel: Really? Great.
Rachel: Can we take the boy?
Nasser: I've got big plans for the boy.
Rachel: You aren't gonna make him work.
(At a bar)
Nasser: By the way, Rachel is my old friend.
Omar: Hello. How's Auntie Bilquis?
Nasser: At home with the kids.
Omar: Papa sends his love. Uncle, if I picked Papa up...
Nasser: Have you ever been to a high-class place like this before? I
suppose you spend most of the time in your black-hole flat.
Omar: If I picked Papa up, Uncle...
Nasser:He is one of those underprivileged types.
Omar: ...and squeezed him, squeezed Papa out like that... I often imagine
I'd get...
Nasser: Two fat slaps.
Omar: Two bottles of pure vodka and a kind of flap of skin. Like a French
letter.
Nasser: What are you talking, madman? I love my brother like I love you.
Omar: I don't understand how you can love me.
Nasser: Because you're such a prick.
Omar: You can't be sure that I am.
Rachel: Nasser.
Nasser: She's right. Don't deliberately make me laugh at you...when I've
brought you here to tell you one essential thing. Now, move closer. Get up.
In this damn country,which we hate and love...you can get anything you
want.It's all spread out and available.That's why I believe in England.
Only you have to know how to squeeze the tits of the system.
Rachel: He's saying that he wants to help you.
Omar: What do you want to do with me?
Nasser: What am I going to do with you? Turn you into something damn good.
Your father can't do it, can he? Here, damn fool. Take it. You're like a
son to me. To both of us.
(At the garage)
Nasser: Like the work? Come on, for Christ's sake. Help me with my
accounts.
Kiss Rachel. I said give her a kiss, not a shower.
Omar: I'll finish your paperwork tonight, Uncle.
Nasser: Such a good worker. I'm going to promote him.
Rachel: What to?
Nasser: You come to my house next week, and I'll tell you.
Rachel: It's a long way. How will he get there?
Nasser: I'll give him a car. That one there. The keys are in the office.
Anything he wants. I've got a real challenge lined up for him.
(At Omar’s flat)
Papa: You must be getting married. Why else do you dress like an undertaker
on holiday?
Omar: I'm going to Uncle's house, Papa. He's given me a car.
Papa: Brakes must be faulty. Tell me one thing...'cause this is something I
don't understand. It must be my fault. How is it that scrubbing cars could
make a son of mine look so ecstatic?
Omar: It gets me out of the house.
Papa: Don't get too involved with that crook. You've got to go to college.
(At Nasser’s house)
Bilquis: This is my nephew, Omar. Auntie Fasia. Auntie Farida. Auntie
Salma. And this is Cherry, Salim's wife. Of course you remember our three
naughty daughters.
Cherry: He has his family's cheekbones, Bilquis. I know all your gorgeous
family in Karachi.
Omar: You've been there?
Cherry: You stupid. What a stupid. It's my home. How could anyone in their
right mind...call this silly little island off Europe their home? Every day
in Karachi...your other uncles and cousins come to our house...for bridge,
booze and VCR.
Bilquis: Cherry, my little nephew knows nothing about that life there.
Cherry: God, I'm sick of hearing about these in-betweens. People should
make up their minds where they are.
Tania: Your uncle's next door. Can you see me later? I'm so bored with
these people. Games room, okay?
(In Nasser’s bedroom)
Nasser: I presume my brother, the boy's papa...was out screwing some
barmaid, somewhere. So, when these damn things went on...I got out of bed,
went to the balcony and opened the door. And there was my brother, standing
outside with some woman...and they were completely without clothes.Blue
with cold, like two bars of soap. This I refer to as my brother's blue
period.
A man: But what happened to the woman?
Nasser: He married her... Come along. Your father is a good man.
A man: So this is the famous Papa's son.
Nasser: The exact bastard. My blue brother was also a famous journalist in
Bombay. And a great drinker. He was to the bottle what Louis Armstrong is
to the trumpet.
Salim: But you are to the bookies what Mother Teresa is to the children.
A man: Your brother was a clever one.
A man: You used to carry his typewriter.
A man: Isn't he coming tonight? What ever happened to him?
Omar: Papa's lying down.
A man: I meant his career.
Nasser: That's lying down, also. What chance would an Englishman give a
leftist, communist Pakistani...on newspapers?
Omar: Socialist.
Men:
What chance would an Englishman give a leftist, communist socialist?
What chance a racist Englishman has given us...that we haven't taken it
from him with our hands?
Best phrased, yaar?
Zaki, you need a stiff drink, man,that good port.
Nasser, please, God.
I'm on the verge already.
Can I make you a drink?
Make him a man first.
Salim: Give him a drink, Zaki. I like him. He's our future.
(In the games room)
Tania: It's been years. And you're looking really good now. I think we
understand each other. Were they being cruel to you in their typical men's
way? You don't mind?
Omar: I think I should harden myself.
Tania: Wow. What are you into?
Omar: Your father's done well.
Tania: Has he? He adores you. I expect he wants you to take over the
businesses. He wouldn't think of asking me. But he is too vicious to people
in his work. He doesn't want you to take over that shitty laundrette, does
he?
Omar: What's wrong with it?
Tania: And he has a mistress, doesn't he? Rachel. Yes. I can tell from your
face. Does he love her? Yes.
Bilquis: Please, Tania, can you come and help me?
Tania: Families. I hate families.
(In Nasser’s bedroom)
Nasser: Take care of him.
Omar: Good night, Uncle.
Nasser: Take my advice. There's money in muck. What is it that the gora
Englishman always needs? Clean clothes.
(Outside the house)
Salim: Go on. Pick it up.
Cherry: Drive us back, will you? You can pick your own car up tomorrow.
Salim's not feeling very well.
(On the road)
Skinheads: Hello, darling. Fucking nice, man, I want to see it!
Salim: Get off the car, will you? Get off the fucking car!
Omar: It's me.
Johnny: I know who it is.
Omar: How are you? All right? Working? What are you doing now?
Johnny: This kind of thing.
Cherry: Omar, come back! Come...
Johnny: What are you now, a chauffeur?
Omar: No, I'm onto something.
Johnny: What?
Omar: I'll let you know. Still living at the same place?
Johnny: No, I don't get on with my mom and dad. You?
Omar: She died last year, my mother. Jumped onto the railway lines.
Johnny: I heard. All the trains stopped.
Omar: I'm still there. Got my number?
Johnny: Like my friends?
Omar: Ring us, then.
Johnny: I will...Leave them there. We can do something now. Just us.
Omar: Can't.
(At Omar’s flat)
Omar: What are you doing?
Papa: I want to pee.
Omar: Can't you wait for me to take you?
Papa: My tool will drop off before you show up, these days.
Omar: You know who I met? Johnny.
Papa: The boy who came here dressed as a fascist with a quarter-inch of
hair?
Omar: He was a friend once, for years.
Papa: There were times when he didn't deserve your admiration so much.
Omar: Christ, I've known him since I was 5.
Papa: He went too far. They hate us in England. And all you can do is to
kiss their asses. Think of yourself as a little Britisher.
Omar: I'm being promoted...to Uncle's laundrette.
Papa: Illustrate your washing methods.
(At the laundrette)
Nasser: It's nothing but a toilet and a youth club. A constant boil on my
bum...Where did you get those?
A boy: Church.
Nasser: You little bastard. That's how machines get buggered... All right,
get started. You have the broom, move it.
Omar: I don't only want to sweep up.
Nasser: What are you, Labor Party?
Omar: I want to be manager of this place. I think I can do it. Please let
me.
Nasser: Here I was thinking how to tell your father...how four punks nearly
drowned you in a washing machine. On the other hand, a little water on the
brain might clear your thoughts. Okay, I'll charge you basic rent. Above
that, you keep.
Omar: Please, Salim. I don't know how to make this place work. I'm afraid
I've made a fool of myself.
Salim: Never make a penny here. Your uncle's given you a dead duck. That's
why I've decided to help you, financially. Go to this address near the
airport. Pick up some videocassettes...and bring them straight back to my
flat. That's all.
(At Salim’s place)
Salim: Go and sit down. You're okay? No problems?
Omar: No.
Salim: It's one of the best collections of modern Indian paintings, Omar. I
patronize many painters. Right. Won't be a minute. Make yourself
comfortable. Watch something, if you like. You're one of us now.
Omar: Hello, can I speak to Johnny, please? Right. Do you know where he's
staying? Are you sure? No, I just wanted to help him. If you see him...ask
him to ring Omar.
Salim: Is that the tape playing? What the hell are you doing?
Omar: Watching something.
Salim: Not these. Who gave you permission to touch these?
Omar: It's just a tape. What are you doing? What business?
Salim: Nasser tells me you're ambitious. But you failed your exams twice.
You've done nothing with the laundrette, and now you're trying to screw me
up. Become like those white assholes that call us "wog"? Your family, rich
and powerful back home, has been let down by you. Go on, fuck off.
(In the street)
Omar: Have you seen Johnny?
Genghis: Piss off back to the jungle, wog-boy.
(At Omar’s flat)
Papa: These people, they're too tough for you. I'll tell Nasser you're
through with them. Hello? ... Why did you do that? Useless fool.
Omar: Hello?
Papa: Now look!
Omar: What?
Papa: Bloody ass.
Omar: hat?
Papa: You've amputated my entire fucking foot! Didn't I say you should've
been a doctor?
Omar: Hello?
Papa: Typical, you know that?
Omar: Johnny. See you later, Johnny-boy.
Papa: I'll throw you out of this flat...if you ever bring that bumliability friend of yours here.
(At the laundrette)
Johnny: I'm dead impressed by all this.
Omar: You were the one at school, the one I liked.
Johnny: All the Pakis like me.
Omar: I've been through all that, with my parents and that...and with
people like you. But now there's some pretty big things I've got in mind. I
need to raise money to make this place good. And I want you to help me with
that. I want you to work here with me.
Johnny: What kind of work is it?
Omar: A variety. Variety of menial things.
Johnny: Cleaning windows kind of thing?
Omar: Sure. And you can start by cleaning those bastards out.
Johnny: Now?
Omar: I want everything done now. That's the only attitude, if you want to
do anything big.
Salim: Christ. Sorry, what happened before. Too much to drink. Just go on
another little errand for me. Same as before.
Omar: For Ł50.
Salim: You little bastard. All right.
Omar: Come on. I saw Salim's game. This is going to finance our whole
future. Cut him out. You know where to sell this stuff? Don't you?
Johnny: I wouldn't be working for you now if I wanted to go on being a bad
boy.
Omar: This means more. Real work. Expansion.
Johnny: Salim will kill us.
Omar: We'll resell it fast, tonight. Come on. I couldn't be doing any of
this without you.
(At Salim’s place)
Salim: Will you excuse me a moment? Let's have a private chat. You can go.
Omar: You haven't paid me.
Salim: I'm not in the mood. Nothing happened to you on the way here?
Omar: No.
Salim: Something may happen to you on the way back.
(Nasser’s bedroom)
Omar: Tell me a about the beach in Bombay, Uncle. Juhu Beach. Or the house
in Lahore... when Auntie Nina put the garden hose in Father's bedroom
window...'cause he wouldn't get out of bed, and Papa's bed started to
float.
Tania: Baba...
Omar: You look beautiful.
Nasser: What about my laundrette? Damn these stories about places you've
never been to. What are you doing, boy?
Omar: What am I doing? It'll be going into profit any day now, partly
because I've hired a bloke...of astounding competence and strength of body
and mind... to look after it with me.
Nasser: Yasmeen, fiddle with my toes. What bloke?
Omar: He's called Johnny.
Nasser: And how are you going to pay him?
Zaki: Nasser, sahab.
Nasser: Zaki!
Zaki : Everything is good. But...
Nasser: Speak in English, so he can understand.
Zaki: Doesn't he understand his language?
Nasser: Not only that, I've given him that pain-in-the-ass laundrette to
run.
Zaki: I know.
Nasser: But this is the point. He's hired someone else to do the work.
Zaki: Typically English, if I can say that.
Salim: You haven't fucked your uncle's laundrette, little fool?
Tania: I don't think you should talk to him like that.
Salim: Why, is he royalty?
Tania: No. I don't like it.
Zaki: She's a hot girl.
Omar: In my small opinion, much good can come of fucking.
Nasser: Your mouth has become very big lately.
Omar: Well?
Nasser: All right. Let's all take it easy.
Salim: Who is that sitting in the drive? It's bothering me. Some friend of
yours?
Nasser: Zaki, please go and see who it is.
Omar: It's only Johnny. My friend. He works for me.
Nasser: No one works without my permission. Tania, bring him in.
Tania: How much good would come of us fucking, later tonight? I know why
you put up with them. 'Cause there's so much you want. You're greedy, like
my father.
Omar: He's a great man.
Tania: Why did you leave him sitting out here?
Omar: He's lower class. He won't come in without being asked. Unless he's
doing a burglary.
Tania: My father wants to see you.
Johnny: How's Salim today?
Omar: Wearing too much perfume...Eyelash.
Nasser: Tania, please. You like Tania?
Omar: Yeah.
Nasser: I'll see what I can do. And now on to business. I've been to see
the laundrette. You boys will make a beautiful job of it, I know. You need
nothing more there. But in exchange... I want you to do something. You look
like a tough chap. I've got some bastard tenants in one of my houses that I
cannot get rid of.
Johnny: No. I don't do nothing rough no more.
Nasser: I'm not looking for a mass murderer, you bloody fool.
Johnny: What does it involve, please?
Nasser: Unscrewing.Your favorite subject, Salim.
Salim: For Christ's sake.
Johnny: What's this "unscrewing"?
Zaki: You're getting into some family business, that's all.
Salim: What the hell else is there left for you in this country now?
Nasser: Send him to the garage and call Tania. Ask her to bring some
champagne. We'll drink to Thatcher and your beautiful laundrette.
Johnny: Do they go together?
Nasser: Like dal and chapatis. To us. Cheers.
(outside the laundrette)
Johnny: Timber's coming tomorrow morning. Getting it cheap.
Omar: I've had a vision of how our place can be. Why don't people like
laundrettes? Because they're like toilets. This could be a Ritz among
laundrettes.
Johnny: A laundrette as big as the Ritz. Yes.
Genghis: Why are you working for these people? Pakis?
Johnny: It's work, that's why. I want to do some work, instead of always
hanging around. What, you're jealous?
Genghis: No, I'm angry, Johnny. I don't like to see one of our blokes
groveling to Pakis. They came over here to work for us. That's why we
brought them over. Okay? Don't cut yourself off from your own people.
There's no one else who really wants you. Everyone has to belong.
(In the car)
Johnny: I can't ask you in. You better get back to your father.
Omar: I didn't think you'd ever mention him.
Johnny: He helped me, didn't he, when I was at school?
Omar: Yeah. And what did you do but hurt him?
Johnny: I want to forget all of them things.
(At the garage)
Salim: I passed by the laundrette. So, you gave them the money to do it up?
Where did they get it from, I wonder?
Nasser: Government grant. Almost just like us, yaar. It's your bloody
family. So, like you, God knows what he does for money. Come on in.
Salim: That joker's a bad influence on Omar, I'm sure of it. There's some
things between them I'm looking into. So they let you out of prison. Too
crowded, was it?
Johnny: Unscrew.
(At one of Nasser’s houses)
Nasser: He's changed the lock. You better take off the whole door, in case
he changes it again. He's only a poet with no money.
Johnny: I ain't hurting nobody, okay?
Black man: That door you've just taken off, hang it back.
Johnny: Excuse me.
I'm just a poor man. This is my room.
Black man: Let's leave it that way! Thieving Uncle Tom parasite! I will
kill you! Glory of God!
Nasser: Throw this bugger out!
Black man: Filthy, imperialist swine! Working dog! Enemy of the Third
World! You and your kind, your days are numbered!
Johnny: Doesn't look too good, does it? Pakis doing this kind of thing.
Nasser: Why not?
Johnny: What would your enemies have to say about this? Ain't exactly
integration, is it?
Nasser: I'm a professional businessman, not a professional Pakistani. And
there is no question of race in the new enterprise culture... I'll forward
your mail!...Do you like the room? Omar says you have nowhere to live. I
won't charge.
Johnny: Why not?
Nasser: You can unscrew. That's confirmed beautifully. But can you unblock?
Can you keep this zoo under control?
(outside the laundrette)
Omar: I wish Salim could see this.
Johnny: Why? He's on to us. Yes, he's just biding his time, and then he'll
get us. Moose, make yourself useful.
Omar: You've taken the room at Nasser's place? Make sure you pay the rent,
or you'll have to chuck yourself out the window.
Johnny: Moose.
(In the laundrette)
Omar: Let's open. The whole world's waiting. I've invited Nasser to the
launch, and Papa's coming.
Johnny: They're not here yet.
Omar: Papa hasn't been out for months. We can't move till he arrives.
Johnny: What time did they say they'd be here?
Omar: An hour ago.
Johnny: They ain't gonna come. Follow me. Shall I open the champagne?
Omar: Didn't I predict this?
Johnny: You did, man.
Omar: This whole stinking area's on its knees, begging for clean trousers
Johnny: The jewel in the jacks, here, South London, this place will be.
Omar: Jesus Christ.
Johnny: Do you want to open the place up?
Omar: Not till Papa comes, remember?
Johnny: Your father?
Omar: He went out of his way with you... and with all my friends. He did,
didn't he?
Johnny: What you on about, man?
Omar: About how, years later, he saw the same boys. And what were they
doing?
Johnny: What?
Omar: Marching. Marching through Lewisham. It was bricks and bottles and
Union Jacks. It was "lmmigrants Out," kill us. People we knew. And it was
you. He saw you marching, and you saw his face watching you. Don't deny it.
We were there when you went past. Papa hated himself and he hated his job.
He was afraid on the streets for me... so he took it out on her, and she
couldn't bear it. Such failure. Such emptiness.
Johnny: There ain't nothing I can say to make it up to you. There's only
things I can do to show you...that I am with you.
Nasser: What a beautiful thing they've done with it, isn't it? Oh, God. And
with music, too.
Rachel: It's like a wonderful ship. I'd no idea.
Nasser: He's a marvel, that boy, I tell you.
Rachel: You don't have to tell me.
Nasser: But I tell you everything five times.
Rachel: At least.
Nasser: Am I a bad man to you?
Rachel: You are sometimes careless. Dance with me. We are learning.
Nasser: But where are those two buggers?
Nasser: Johnny did all the physical work on this.
Rachel: You're fond of that boy.
Nasser: I want to do something more to help the other deadbeat children
like him.
Rachel: And you're tired of work.
Nasser: It's time I became a holy man.
Rachel: A sadhu of South London.
Nasser: Yes. But first, we must marry Omar off.
Johnny: Shit! Typical.
Nasser: What the hell are you doing? Sunbathing?
Omar: Asleep, Uncle. We were shagged out. Where's Papa?
Johnny: Would you do us the honour, madam?
Rachel: Love to.
Johnny: Here. Okay.
Nasser: We thought we'd do the bloody area a favor, you know. Lift up the
place a bit. I can't do that. Here you are. Hello, welcome. Hello. Enjoying
your wash? Lovely.
Zaki: Laundrettes are impossible. I've got two laundrettes. Two ulcers,
plus piles.
Rachel: What's your surname?
Johnny: Berthoty.
Rachel: That's it. I know your mother.
Omar: I thought Papa might just make it today, Uncle.
Nasser: He said he never visits laundrettes.
Johnny: Good. It's Tania.
Rachel: I've never met her, but she has a beautiful face.
Nasser: Who invited Tania, damn it?
Omar: I did, Uncle.
Johnny: Do you two know each other?
Tania: At last. After so long in my family's life.
Nasser: Bring Tania over here.
Rachel: Tania, I do feel that I know you.
Tania: But you don't.
Nasser: Marry her. What's wrong with her? When I say marry her, you damn
well do it.
Tania: I don't mind my father having a mistress.
Rachel: Good. I'm so grateful.
Tania: I don't mind my father spending our money on you...
Rachel: Why don't you mind?
Nasser: Please be nice to her. Pressure off my fucking head.
Tania:...or my father being with you, instead of with our mother.
Nasser: Your penis works, doesn't it?
Tania: But I don't like women who live off men.
Nasser: Get going.
Tania: That's a pretty disgusting, parasitical thing, isn't it?
Omar: Tania, come and look at the spin dryers. They're fluff drying.
Rachel: But tell me, who do you live off? And you must understand... we're
of different generations... different classes. Everything is waiting for
you. The only thing that has ever waited for me...is your father.
Nasser: We'd better get going. See you, boys. I didn't ask her to come,
Rachel. Please... I'll explain to you. Darling, listen. Please listen to
me. It's not my fault, I didn't ask her to come.
Rachel: Didn't you, then? Who did?
Nasser: The boys!
Rachel: That's what you say. You made me look stupid.
Nasser: Can we go to the club or something, for God's sake?
Rachel: No! I'm not going anywhere with you.
Nasser: Please.
Zaki: Goodbye, Omar.
Omar: Bye-bye.
Tania: I want to leave home. I need to break away. You'll have to help me,
financially.
Genghis: As well as everything else, why don't you go to the Palace no
more?
Johnny: Palace ain't my team. Millwall me.
Omar: I'm drunk. Will you marry me?
Genghis: What about England? I bet you don't even support England anymore,
do you?
Moose: Palace gave you a trial, didn't they?
Johnny: Yeah. Told my mom. Palace wanted me for a sweeper. She said, "I
reckon that's about your level."
Tania: If you can get me some money.
Salim (to Johnny: Omo's getting married.
Salim: I'm afraid you owe me an awful lot of money. The beard, remember?
Good, it's all coming back. I think I better have that money back.
Omar: I haven't got money like that now.
Salim: Because it's all in the laundrette. I'd better have a decent down
payment, then. About half. By the time Nasser has his annual party, say? Or
I'll instruct him to get rid of the laundrette.
Omar: It took you a while to get on to us.
Salim: Wanted to see what you'd do. How's your Papa? So many books written
and read. Politicians sought him out. Bhutto was his close friend. But
we're nothing in England without money.
(At one of Nasser’s houses)
Johnny: Didn't I tell you? Didn't I tell you about that noise last night?
Omar: Where did you go? You just disappeared.
Johnny: Drinking, I went. With my old mates. It ain't illegal.
Omar: Of course it is. Laundrettes are a big commitment. Why aren't you at
work?
Johnny: It'll be closing time soon. You'll be locking the place up, and
coming to bed.
Omar: No, it never closes. One of us has got to be there. That way, we
begin to make money.
Johnny: You're getting greedy.
Omar: I want big money. I'm not gonna be beat down by this country. In
school, you and your friends kicked me around. And what are you doing now?
Washing my floor. That's how I like it. Now get to work. Get to work, I
said, or else you're fired.
Johnny: What about you?
Omar: I don't want to see you for a little while. I got some big thinking
to do.
Johnny. But today...it's been the best day.
Omar: Almost the best day.
(At the laundrette)
Papa: I recognize you, at least.
Johnny: We was expecting you today.
Papa: I've come.
Johnny: The invitation was for 3:00, Mr. Ali.
Papa: It's only
place. That I'd
Pinner... where
are you still a
3:10 now. You know... I thought I'd come to the wrong
suddenly found myself in a ladies' hairdressing salon in
one might get a pink rinse. Do you do a good pink rinse? Or
fascist?
Johnny: You used to give us a lot of good advice, sir... when I was little.
Papa: When you were little. What's it made of you? Are you a politician?
Journalist? Trade unionist? No. You're an underpants cleaner. Oh, dear. The
working class is such a great disappointment to me.
Johnny: I ain't made much of myself.
Papa: You'd better get on and do something. Help me. I don't want my son in
this... underpants-cleaning condition. I want him reading in college. You
tell him. You go to college. He must have knowledge. We all must, now... if
we're to see clearly what is being done and to whom...in this country.
Right?
Johnny: I don't know. It depends on what he wants.
Papa: No. You use your influence. Not a bad dump you've got here.
(At Nasser’s house)
Johnny: What did you make me come all this way for? What's going on?
Omar: It's heavy, man. Bilquis is making magic potions from leaves, bird
beaks and stuff. She's putting them on Rachel.
Johnny: Is it working?
Omar: The furniture is shaking. The trousers are walking by themselves.
Rachel's come out in a rash. Glass is all over the place.
Nasser: I'm out.
Omar: Salim's got to have money, soon. A lot of money. He's threatened me.
Johnny: This city's chock-full of money. When I used to want money...
Omar: You'd steal it.
Johnny: Decide, now, if you want it to be like that again.
Omar: She's illiterate. Tania's writing to her sister for her. Bilquis is
thinking about going back to Pakistan... after she's hospitalized Rachel
with her potion. Nasser's on a marathon sulk. He's going for the world
record.
Johnny. We'll just have to do a job to get the money.
Omar: I don't want you going back to all that.
Johnny: Just to get us through. We're going to go on. You want that, don't
you?
Omar: Yeah. I want you.
Johnny: Fuck me, what's she doing with that mouse?
Nasser: Bilquis! God damn you!
(In front of Nasser’s house)
Johnny. Who does he reckon he is, your uncle, some kind of big, gaspy
geezer?
Omar: Right, maybe this just ain't my world.
Johnny: Still getting married?
Omar: I can't really get out of it.
Johnny: If you wiggle fast enough, you can, I reckon.
(At Nasser’s party)
Men: England needs more young men like Omar. The more boys like that, the
better.
Salim: Now that Cherry's pregnant... I will buy a house, and we'll have
many children.
Nasser: Listen, Zaki, here is Omar. You talk to him about your laundrette.
He will run it for you with Johnny.
Zaki: Omar, my boy. I got these two damned laundrettes in your area. I need
big advice on them.
Omar: I will advise you. If the laundrettes are giving you trouble... I'll
pay you rent for them plus a percentage of the profits.
Zaki: Really?
Cherry (to Johnny): Please, can you take charge of the music for us?
Zaki: You've taken a great weight off my head. It's a deal.
Omar: I've got it. The installment. It's hefty.
Salim: Don't ever offer me money. It was an educational test I put on
you... to make you see you did a wrong thing. Don't, in future, bite the
family hand when you can eat out of it. You need money, just ask me. Years
ago, your uncles lifted me up, and I will do the same thing... All right.
He's no one.
Nasser (to Tania): Bitch. What the hell is going on here?
Salim: Can't you control your bloody people?
Nasser: What do you mean?
Salim: Why should you be able to? You gamble most of your money away.
Tania: That smooth suppository owns us. Our education, your businesses...
Rachel's stockings. It's his.
Nasser: I thought you two were getting married.
Omar? Any day now.
Tania: I’d rather drink my own urine.
Omar: I heard it can be tasty with a slice of lemon.
Nasser: Get out of my sight.
Tania: I'm going further than that.
Omar: Let's get out of here.
Tania: Take me.
Omar: Salim will give us a lift.
Johnny: What?
Omar: I need him for something I've got in mind.
(In the car)
Omar: So, I was talking to Zaki about it. I want to take over both of his
laundrettes. He's got no idea. None. Do them up with this money.
Salim: Is it enough?
Omar: I thought you might want to come in with me, financially. I could do
with some straight outlets.
Salim: You're a smart bastard... Look at them. What a waste of life.
They're filthy, ignorant. They don't respect people, especially our people.
What this scum needs is a taste of their own piss.
(At Zaki’s laundrette)
Omar: Right, I think I can do something with this. Me and my partner.
Zaki: Take it. I trust you and your family.
Salim: I'd happily put money into it.
Omar: Right. Wait a minute... Want to come in and take a look at this
place? Think we can do something with it?
Johnny: Can't tell without seeing it.
Omar: Come on, then.
Johnny: Not if that scum Salim's there.
(At the laundrette)
Tania: I'm going.
Johnny: Where?
Tania: Away. I'm going. You can come.
Johnny: No good jobs like this around.
Tania: Omar just runs you around everywhere, like a servant.
Johnny: I'll stay here with my friend...and fight it out.
Tania: My family, Salim and all... will swallow you up like a little kebab.
Johnny: I couldn't leave him. Not now. Don't ask me to. You ever touched
him?
(At the bar)
Rachel: So, today is the saddest day for us. I thought that I'm taking you
too much away from your family. Love...money...you. Besides, it's not
possible to enjoy being hated so much. Your wife is a brilliant woman.
Nasser: Oh, my God.
Rachel: And what's worse, my furniture keeps moving about the room. It's
not what I'm used to. The council's been around. We've had a time.
Nasser: A short time.
Rachel: A nice time.
(At the laundrette)
Salim: I want to talk to Omo... about business.
Johnny: Don't know where he is.
Salim: Is it worth waiting?
Johnny: In my experience, it's always worth waiting for Omo.
(At Omar’s flat)
Papa: Listen, damn country has done us in. That's why I'm like this. We
should be there. Home.
Nasser: But that country's been sodomized by religion. It's beginning to
interfere with the making of money. Compared with everywhere... it's a
little heaven, here.
(On the street)
Zaki: You are planning an armada of laundrettes?
Omar: What do you think of dry cleaners?
Zaki: They're the past. But then, they are the present, also. Mostly, they
are the past.
(In front of the laundrette)
Johnny: Salim, get out of here! ... Listen to me, Genghis, I don't want to
fight! That's enough, man.
(At Omar’s flat)
Papa: Why are you so unhappy?
Nasser: Rachel's left me, and I don't know what I'm going to do. Still look
after you. I'm finished.
Papa: Only Omar matters.
Nasser: I'll make sure he's fixed up with a good business future.
Papa: And marriage?
Nasser: I'm working on it.
Papa: Is Tania a possibility?
Nasser: Tania! ... Where the hell are you going?
(At the laundrette)
Johnny: I...
Omar: What?
Johnny: I think I better go. I think I had.
Omar: You were always going at school. Always running about, you. Christ,
your hand is bad. I couldn't even pin you down, then.
Johnny: And now I'm going again. Give us my handbag.
Omar: You're dirty. You're beautiful.
Johnny: I'm serious. Don't keep touching me.