Advocate Jai Saxena lives in a small flat with his mom. One day his mom hires a maidservant named Imarsi, but later they find out that she is an impostor, and fire her. A few days later she comes knocking on their door in the dead of night, claiming that she is the sole heiress of Rai Bahadur Tulsinath's estate, and that someone is out to kill her. Jai wants to believe her, but his mother disbelieves her and wants her out of their lives, as she feels that this is nothing but another trick on her part to fool them. When the police are notified, the Saxenas are told that this woman's real name is Ragini, a homicidal killer, wanted by the police. Will Jai be convinced that he was offering to shelter a fugitive from the law?
Acting
Leena Chandavarkar's slippery duality — victim or viper?
Direction
Atma Ram squeezes dread from domestic shadows.
Score
R.D. Burman's strings that scream 'don't trust her'.
Director
Atma Ram
Vinod Khanna
Advocate Jai Saxena
Leena Chandavarkar
Preet / Ragini
Jayshree Talpade
Julie
Mehmood
Bajrangi
Kamini Kaushal
Mrs. Saxena (Jai's mom)
Satyendra Kapoor
Inspector L.G. Kaushik
K.N. Singh
Dr. Trivedi
Sajjan Lal Purohit
Mr. Verma
Keshto Mukherjee
Kanhaiyalal
Mridula Rani
Sarita's Mother
Nazir Hussain
Rai Bahadur Tulsinath
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Vinod Khanna filmed this during his spiritual wanderings; Qaid's confined paranoia mirrors his real-life craving for escape.
The 'impostor heiress' trope here draws from 1940s Hollywood gothics like Gaslight, filtered through Bombay's class anxiety.
IN
