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Tanglin
Tanglin is a daily drama that centres on the lives of multiracial and multigenerational families – mainly the Tongs, Bhaskars, Rahmans and Lims - residents of a middle-income neighbourhood, in the Holland Village, Tanglin, Commonwealth area; their lives reflect the joys, trials and tribulations of everyday Singaporeans.
The Rahmans are preoccupied with the constantly-changing wedding plans of younger daughter Norleena; the Tongs' youngest teenage son plays a trick on Shruti, the teenage celebrity blogger younger daughter of the newly-returned to Singapore Bhaskars; and the Lims' father and daughter pair, Kwong San and Xue Ling, cross swords in their power struggle for control of their family-run business.
The Rahmans are preoccupied with the constantly-changing wedding plans of younger daughter Norleena; the Tongs’ youngest teenage son plays a trick on Shruti, the younger daughter of Bhaskars; and the Lims’ father and daughter pair, Kwong San and Xue Ling, cross swords in their power struggle for control of their family-run business. Tongs’ matriarch Li Yan, who runs the Tanglin Coffee House, comes across a mysterious stranger Jay. She offers him a job at Tanglin Coffee but her suspicious daughter Diana is not agreeable to the idea. Shruti tries to befriend the gang of popular girls but steps on the toes of the Queen Bee Pam Poh . Xue Ling hatches a plan to trick her mother Bee Li into signing the lease to the new office. And Norleena is driving everyone at home nuts with her indecisiveness and high expectations in her quest for the perfect wedding.
Diana sends Madam Lee, a family friend, to hospital on an emergency case and runs into the most obnoxious and arrogant doctor (or so she thinks) she has ever met – Arjun Bhaskar. More clashes in the works as Xue Ling and Wafiq, acting as CEO on Kwong San’s absence, are at loggerheads over her proposed plans to rebrand KS Foods. And to ease the financial burden of the family, Salmah decides to looks for a job after much consideration, and applies for a Clinic Assistant job at Dr Bhaskar’s clinic.
Meera organizes a small dinner gathering with Arjun's boss Dr Krishna and family with a couple of agendas in mind – to get Arjun into Dr Krishna's good books and match-make him with Dr Krishna's daughter Anandhi (Ann), but Meera got more than what she bargained for when Bhaskar meets his old flame Li Yan, who is catering for the dinner party, after 30 years. Meantime, Shruti's quest to get close to Pam backfires when she outshines, unintentionally, Pam in a shoot for the Tanglin JC Recruitment video. The duo of Michael and Eddie are on a secret mission – to sell beers at the chalet outing. But first, they must find a place to stash the contraband without alerting any of the adult
At work, the clash between Xue Ling and Wafiq escalates when Xue Ling takes matters in her own hands and conducts a market survey with Wafiq's knowledge and approval. At home, Melissa (Valere Ng) stumbled upon the beers in Michael's room and informs Adam (Adam Chen) of her discovery. At school, Shruti gets the ultimate sabotage when Pam and gang steal her uniform/clothes from the locker room while she was showering after a PE lesson. Bhaskar, still reeling from his encounter with Li Yan, discovers that Li Yan was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and has been in remission for a year already.
Meera pressures Arjun to go on a date with Anandhi but Anandhi mistakes Diana to be Arjun's girlfriend after witnessing Diana and Arjun having a tiff at the hospital. Arjun thinks he has got everything under control after Anandhi backs off, but finds himself having to hatch a plan after Meera wants to meet this new girlfriend Diana. Xue Ling and Adam gets into a major argument over ways of disciplining Michael after the beer-stashing incident, with Bee Li adding oil to fire by suggesting that Adam is not doing a good job as a father. More wedding woes for Norleena as Salmah cannot agree with her ‘modern' idea of door gifts for guests, as well as her planned pre-wedding shoo
Salmah finally relents and allows Norleena to proceed with her pre-wedding shoot but on one condition – Salmah is to tag along, much to Norleena's horror. Arjun, under Meera's constant pressure and insistence that she wants to meet his new girlfriend, has to choice but pays Diana to pretend to be that mock-up girlfriend. Cool heads prevail as Xue Ling manages to convince Wafiq to change KS Foods' design and packaging. More feel-good moments for Xue Ling as Adam and her kiss and make up for the big fight the previous day.
Arjun sets conditions for Diana with regards to the 'date' meeting with Meera and Bhaskar; what to wear, what to do etc, resulting in Jay thinking that this deal between them in more than just an innocent 'girlfriend-for-hire' service, but the meeting proved to be a disaster as Meera finds out that Diana is a bogus girlfriend and Arjun tells Meera off for meddling in his life. Salmah, who thinks that she is qualified enough for the Clinic Assistant job, gets angry when she finds out that Dr Bhaskar did not call her for an interview. Shruti develops a huge crush on Ben, and her dream comes true when Ben offers to teach her to bake cupcakes, while Michael starts hanging out with a shady guy and comes home with bruises and cuts on his arms and body.
The saga between Shruti and Pam continues as Pam up the ante by putting a pack of cigarettes in Shruti's school bag and reporting her to the Discipline Mistress. Salmah goes for her interview with Dr Bhaskar, and in her bid to secure the job, gives Dr Bhaskar some white lies about her previous experience in the medical/nursing profession. Norleena and Sulaiman (Fauzie Laily) have an argument over the cost of the wedding venue while Michael continues sneaking out of the house for his secret rendezvous
It’s Salmah’s first day and work, and besides having to deal with an information overload from the long list of medication, the gossip in her has to contend with a much bigger challenge – patient confidentiality. More issues for the Rahmans as the wedding plans for Norleena takes a turn for the worst when Sulaiman calls of the wedding after an explosive exchange between Norleena and him over the dulang hantaram, the traditional gift exchange between husband and wife. Shruti, in contrast, is a picture of bliss, happiness and contentment of a girl in love when she thinks that Ben actually likes her while Meera is in distress – it’s been 2 days already and Arjun is still not speaking to her. Michael’s secret is blown when Eddie finds out about his secret rendezvous and hobby – breakdancing.
Li Yan discovers a lump in her breast at her old cancer site. Shocked and with no one to turn to, Li Yan finds emotional and practical support in Bhaskar. While Salmah struggles to keep up with the work in the clinic, Nadiah struggles to resolve the sister's wedding woes by seeking Sulaiman out to mediate the situation. Happiness abounds for Shruti and Meera with Shruti sharing her infatuation with Ben online and Meera succeeding in getting Arjun to move back home.
While Bhaskar spends the whole day with Li Yan at the hospital, Salmah struggles to manage the clinic. Distracted by Li Yan's medical condition and Norleena's wedding woes, Salmah gives the wrong medication to a patient unwittingly, resulting in a medical emergency. Back home, Norleena and Sulaiman receive counsel from Sulaiman's foster parents. Angered by Jay's assumption of her being an escort, Diana plays along in order to teach him a lesson.
Upon retracing her steps, Salmah discovers her mistake and confesses to Bhaskar. In a fit of rage, Bhaskar fires her when she lets slip that she had lied in her CV, but later retracts her termination after Li Yan mitigates on her behalf. Meanwhile after learning that Norleena and Sulaiman have no wedding venue, Li Yan offers TCH to them. Diana's prank on Jay backfires when her client cancels a huge contract after being reprimanded by Jay. Trouble brews for Michael when Eddie threatens to expose his breakdancing secret.
Bhaskar offers to deliver Li Yan's medical results to her after Li Yan shares her anxiety. While relaying Li Yan's medical results, Bhaskar makes a misjudged gesture that suggests his romantic feelings for her, resulting in Li Yan backing off. Meanwhile, Michael confronts Eddie for betraying his trust after a video of him breakdancing leaked online. Fun time for Jay and Diana after they clear up their misunderstanding and engage in game of saying sorry.
After his faux pas with Li Yan, a troubled Bhaskar tries to apologize and make amends but winning back Li Yan's trust will soon prove to be an uphill battle for him. His actions also give rise to Meera's suspicions about him - will Meera find out something that she is not prepared to know? Meantime, Shruti's crush on Ben continues to deepen and to have him all to herself, she invites him to her house under the guise of a food delivery. Adam is offered a job to be a martial arts instructor at a gym. However he questions if it is the right job for him.
Bee Li finds the job application forms that Adam disposed and questions him about it. When she gets no satisfying response, she rallies in Xue Ling's help to coax Adam into taking up the offer. On the other hand, the indecisive Suzanne (Gayle Nerva), unable to find a job she likes, tries out working in TCH but her carefree and sloppy attitude gets a rude awakening from Zul (Rahman Rahim). Also Shruti is tricked by Eddie into thinking that there will be an Ethnic Costume Contest at TCH which she takes very seriously, while Nadiah is once again pressured by Salmah to get married and settle down.
In an effort to mend the rocky relationship between Wafiq and him, Adam offers to look after Kalila (Aleeyah Nabilah) but things do not go as planned when Kalila gorges on sweet kueh and has a sugar high. Meanwhile, Shruti feels embarrassed after being tricked by Eddie but she has bigger fish to fry when she sees Suzanne being close with Ben and decides to teach her a lesson. Another comment from Salmah about marriage sends Nadiah over the edge, leading into a heated fight between the sisters where things quickly become ugly. Ben is thrown into a predicament when he finally learns about Shruti's feelings for him and struggles to find a way to let her down gently.
A tipsy, maturely-dressed Shruti tries to impress Ben but ends up embarrassing herself. Ben tells her they maybe they should not hang out anymore. Arjun returns home to find Shruti drunk, and demands to know what is going on. At Salmah's dinner party, Meera feels her age when she sees how stunning Rachelle is. Bhaskar and Li Yan have a heart to heart talk and Bhaskar makes a few confessions. Meanwhile, Salmah tries to get her daughters to make peace, without success. Diana and Arjun have another encounter, in which their opinions of each other's arrogance is reinforced.
To find out what’s troubling moody Shruti, Arjun and Diana probe into Shruti’s blog and find out that Shruti was out with a B. When Arjun sees a photo of Ben on Shruti’s phone, he confronts Ben. Shruti is humiliated in front of Pam and the gang. Meanwhile, Salmah reminds Norleena that she has yet to buy a langkah bendul gift for Nadiah, as a goodwill gesture out of respect for the elder. As Nadiah dismisses this tradition, Norleena misunderstands and the sisters get into a fight again. Bhasker is unusually attentive to Meera, which makes her suspicious, and leads to her feeling insecure about her looks and worries that her family doesn’t need her anymore
Diana runs into Arjun. Somehow, the awkward conversation leads to a date at Arjun's medical ball. Just as they are about to leave for the ball, Arjun is paged by the hospital. He needs to check in on a patient first. Unfortunately, the patient dies. Diana sees Arjun's vulnerable side and encourages him to talk, and they go on an official date. Meanwhile Norleena tries to mend ties and asks Nadiah to join her henna party. Nadiah agrees but returns only after the party has ended, resulting in Norleena lashing out at Nadiah. Shruti's humiliation worsens as Pam and her gang taunts her because of what happened with Ben yesterday.
