- The protagonist of Hyderabad Blues is Varun, played by the director, Nagesh Kukunoor. The movie revolves around his visit home after 12 years in the USA and his resulting culture shock.
- Varun (Nagesh Kukunoor), a Non Resident Indian, returns home to Hyderabad, India after a span of 12 years. Varun landed in Bombay but had to take a train to Hyderabad due to a pilots strike due to which he could not take a flight to his hometown. Varun is on a vacation for a month.
He quickly finds that he can't relate to most things that were once second nature to him. The cows on the roads, the traffic, the potholes, the narrow lanes and so on. The house is full of uncles and aunts and countless cousins. Varun is expected to make small talk and give gifts to everyone, including the maid in the house. Shashi (Anne Chengappa) is one of his younger aunts. Sandhya (Zain-Ul-Wara Zaheer) is Shashi's daughter.
His parents Darshan (D V Ramana) & Kusuma (Revathi Alwar), relatives, and even his milkman want to know why he isn't married, since he is slipping past his prime into the dreaded thirties. Everybody wants to invite Varun for dinner. The food has too much saturated fat in it. Varun is rumored to have many girlfriends in the US and has the reputation of being a bit of a womanizer. He is not allowed to get a haircut on a Saturday. Everybody wants to know his salary in the states. It is rumored to be $3000/month and $/Rs is 30. Even the temple priest wants a big donation since Varun makes nearly Rs 1 Lakh per month. Varun can only share his true feelings with his two friends, Sanjeev (Vikram Inamdar) and Harish (Anoop Ratnaker Rao).
Varun cannot believe that his best friend Sanjeev is going through an arranged marriage. Varun sees how effortlessly Sanjeev gets away with not wearing a helmet and going the wrong way by telling the cop that he is the relative of the Police Commissioner. Since Varun refuses to meet any prospective girls, Darshan asks Varun to accompany Sanjeev as he goes around meeting marriage prospects. Enter Ashwini (Rajashree), the self-made foreign-hating doctor whom he meets at Sanjeev's arranged marriage meeting with Seema (Elahe Hiptoola). While Varun steadfastly refuses his father for arranging any meetings with prospective brides, he does ask Sanjeev to ask Seema to introduce him to Ashwini.
Sanjeev and Seema get married, and Sanjeev commands a dowry of Rs 2 Lakhs cash, a Maruti car and a honeymoon, just because he is an Engineer. At the wedding Ashwini rescues Varun from Lata, whom his father introduced to him as a casual acquaintance, but with a hidden motive to get Varun hitched. Seema turns out to be a dominating wife.
Varun is attracted to Ashwini because in her he sees the India he once understood and left behind. Varun works for the Coca Cola plant in the US. While Ashwini studied medicine on the women quota. Soon, its Holi and they enjoy the colors together with their friends. Ashwini calls Varun a Pseudo-American who desperately wants to become one of them and thinks of India as a 3rd world country. Varun is persistent and convinces Ashwini to watch a movie together. But Varun's parents find out and discourage him as the girl is not from the same caste. They are still pushing Sandhya on him.
Varun visits Ashwini at her Government hospital, where she berates a patient for being careless and burning his hand. Ashwini explains to Varun that if the doctors are not harsh and tough, people think that they are worthless. Ashwini's father has just passed away and Varun witnesses the million ceremonies that she has to be a part of. Varun falls in love with Ashwini adding another parameter to his confusion. They start dating regularly and Varun even extends his vacation to be with Ashwini.
Varun holds Ashwini's hands at a religious function at his home. This gives her a definite signal that he wants to marry her. Varun meets Ashwini late night and tries to kiss her, but she slaps him away. Sanjeev and Harish tell Varun that this is shameless behavior.
The clear differences between his adopted culture and the one she believes in are a constant irritant, which ultimately leads to their separation. Ashwini refuses to go to the US with Varun as she doesn't want to throw away her medical degree and practice. Varun realizes that no matter what he does, he will always be an evil westerner to Ashwini and that she will never try to see his point of view.
Each of them agrees to marry someone else. Ashwini's mother fixes her match and publishes her wedding cards, one of which reaches Varun. Varun agrees to marry Sandhya. Varun insists that his wedding will be on the same day as Ashwini and at a wedding venue next to Ashwini's.
However, at their respective alters they both decide to go after what their hearts truly desire.
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