A friendly street kid in India, during the last years of the nineteenth century, looks and considers himself Indian, but is in fact a Brit. The Brits discover his true origin, and train him as a spy.
"These Indian films. They're done to a formula - songs, dance, routines and a lot of sentimental heavy breathing." When her 17-year-old son Roy falls in love with a Muslim girl, and a Bangladeshi butcher seeks help from her husband Raji, Leela realises that the tears and romance of Indian cinema...
The reputation of the Academy for the Daughters of Respectable Monarchs has, of course, always been of the highest order... then suddenly Signor Doloro de Lara— a Professor of Magic— puts in an unwelcome appearance, and the enchanting little world is turned upside down.