10 Rules of Indian film-making

1. Two brothers separated in childhood will always grow up on different sides of the law. The law-breaker, however, will suddenly turn over a new leaf before the end, bash up the villain (who is the *real* bad guy), and be pardoned for all his sins before the last-scene family reunion. (This is possible only if he has a heroine - see rule 2 below).
2. If the number of heroes is not equal to the number of heroines, the excess heroes/heroines will (a) die (b) join the Red Cross and take off to Switzerland before the end of the movie.
3. If there are 2 heroes in a movie, they will fight each other savagely for at least 5 minutes (10 if they are brothers).
4. Any court scene will have the dialogue "Objection milord". If it is said by the hero, or his lawyer, it will be overruled. Otherwise it will be sustained.
5. The hero's sister will usually marry the hero's best friend (i.e. the second hero). Else, she will be raped by the villain within the first twenty minutes, and commit suicide.
6. In a chase, the hero will always overtake the villain, even on a bullock-cart, or on foot.
7. When the hero fires at the villain(s), he will never miss or run out of bullets. When the villain fires at the hero, he will always miss (unless the hero is required to die, as in rule 2).
8. Any fight sequence shall take place in the vicinity of a stack of (a) pots (b) barrels (c) glass bottles, which will be smashed to pieces.
9. Any movie involving lost & found brothers will have a song sung by (a) the brothers (b) their blind mother (she has to be blind in order to regain her sight in the tearful climax), or (c) the family dog/cat.
10. Police inspectors (when not played by the hero) come in two categories: (a) Scrupulously honest, probably the hero's father - killed by the villain before the titles. (b) Honest, but always chasing the anti-hero (as in Rule 1), saying "Tum kanoon se bach nahin sakte", only to pat him on the back in reel 23. Usually, this inspector's daughter is in love with the anti-hero. (c) The corrupt inspector, (usually the real villain's sidekick) unceremoniously knocked about by the hero(s) in the climax.

I stole this from Dilip's Dimension but he himself stole it from Diganta's World.