Saudamini is a pampered girl until she is forced to marry the widower Ghanshyam and move into his large household. Saudamini cannot cope with her husband's overbearing and greedy stepmother and pines after the man she really loved and had to abandon, Narendra.
Acting
Shabana Azmi's silent suffering could shatter stone.
Direction
Basu Chatterjee's restraint makes every cruelty hit harder.
Costume
Saudamini's wardrobe charts her imprisonment in pastels and gloom.
Director
Basu Chatterjee
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, this 1977 adaptation arrived when Hindi cinema was pivoting from escapism to social realism.
Shashikala's stepmother became a template for Bollywood's 'saas' archetype—pure evil in a sari.
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