My Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi.

The film is set in London during the Thatcher years, and reflects the often fraught relationships between members of the Pakistani and English communities at that time.

The story focuses on Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a British man of Pakistani origin, and his reunion and eventual romance with his childhood friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), now a street punk.

His father, Hussein, once a famous left-wing journalist in Pakistan, lives in London but dislikes Britain's society and its international politics.

Running out of money, Omar and Johnny sell one of Salim's drug deliveries to make cash for the laundrette's substantial renovation.

Offering Salim a chance to invest in his businesses as a much needed 'clean outlet' for his money, Omar decides to take over two laundrettes owned by a friend of Nasser.

Originally shot in 16mm for Channel 4 on a low budget, it was met with such critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Film Festival that it was distributed to cinemas.

[6][7] The role of Johnny was originally offered to Gary Oldman, who turned it down after telling Frears he had issues with the script and the dialogue.

[9] The original soundtrack, credited to Ludus Tonalis (a name associated with a work by the composer Paul Hindemith), was produced by Stanley Myers and Hans Zimmer.

Non-original music included the waltz Les Patineurs by French composer Emile Waldteufel and excerpts from Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

My Beautiful Laundrette received positive reviews, and was "scandalizing not only for its depictions of a gay romance but for its subversion of the Thatcherite rapaciousness sweeping the nation.

The website's critics consensus reads, "My Beautiful Laundrette is fast and all over the place because it has so much to say, and show, including a highly watchable fresh-faced Daniel Day-Lewis.

"[11] On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

In January 2018, Variety reported that Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani would write and star in a US serialized television version of My Beautiful Laundrette, based loosely on the original film.