From the "Stranger than Fiction" file...

Have you ever learned something and thought, "Am I the only one who didn't know this?". Well it just happened to me. Literally. Just now. No kidding.

I've occasionally wondered what the love affair was about that Bollywood had with the number 420. It turns up not just in Bollywood titles, but also Telugu titles and others from the subcontinent. A quick search of my favorite online DVD stores turned up this partial list:
Chachi 420
Khiladi 420
Miss 420
Shree 420
Ustad 420
Pakka 420 (Telugu)
Room No 420 (Telugu)
Manikyam 420 (Telugu)

Of the ones on this list, I've only seen Khiladi 420 (a 007-esque campy secret agent man thriller -- strictly an insomniacs-only rated offering), but apparently Shree 420 (In English: "Mr. 420", also spelled Sri 420 or Shri 420) was a wildly successful box office hit in India back in the mid 50's.

But this seemed like such a random number to be used so often that I suspected there was a connection I didn't know about. So I set about investigating just what the fondness for these three digits was all about.

The reference, it seems, is to Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code used across the subcontinent. A few pages into a Google search on the keywords "bollywood" and "420" I found a reference that led me to Wikipedia (why didn't I think of THAT before?) which had this to say:

Section 420
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indian Penal Code (used in India and Pakistan) has become a slang reference for a confidence trickster. Such criminals are sometimes called 420 in popular culture in those countries.

A 420 is a person acting fraudulently to cheat somebody out of their belongings; a confidence trickster. From Section 420 of the Penal Codes of both India and Pakistan covering such activity. The Penal Codes of both countries are inherited from the Indian Penal Code of 1860 instituted by the Anglo-Indian government of the Indian subcontinent, which then included the present-day countries of India and Pakistan. A popular 1955 Hindi film from India, Shri 420 (in English: Mr. 420) has a central character who, though innocent, is regarded by many as a con man, hence "Mr. 420".

It is to be noted that the code was also in use in other neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, where even today the term 420 means a con-artist.

Go figure. But wait! There's more! The last line of this article says:

"This should not be confused with the association of '420' with marijuana in the USA."

So what's that all about? One link later I found this:

420 (cannabis culture)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4:20 or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is a term used in North America as a discreet way to refer to the consumption of cannabis and, by extension, a way to identify oneself with cannabis culture. Phrases such as "420 friendly" sometimes appear in roommate advertisements, indicating that the current occupants are tolerant of cannabis users.[2]

Origins and observances
Although many diverse theories exist to explain the origin of the term, it is widely accepted that in 1971, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California used to meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke cannabis at the Louis Pasteur statue.[3][4] The term became part of their group's salute, "420 Louis!",[5] and became popularized in the late 1980s by fans of The Grateful Dead.[6] Many cannabis users continue to observe 4:20 as a time to smoke communally. By extension April 20 ("4/20" in U.S. dating shorthand) has evolved into a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis.[7][8][9] In some locations this celebration coincides with Earth Week.[10][11][12]

And of course where you find weed, you gotta have California, right? Turns out even the California state legislature has a sense of irony. In September of 2003 both houses passed California Senate Bill 420 (HS 11362.7)
Medical Marijuana Implementation
Bill Status: SB 420
Passed 9/20/03, signed by Governor 10/13/2003, effective January 1, 2004
Now I'm sure the Governator will deny it (especially since he wasn't sitting in the governor's chair at the time) but you know they did this on purpose.

So now I'm wondering... if you con somebody out of his stash does that make you an "840"? Watch this space for more news as events unfold...Stumble This!