Swami

(1977)

Shortly after Saudamani's birth, her dad passes away, leaving her in the care of her widowed mom (Sudha Shivpuri), who re-locates to live with her elder brother (Utpal Dutt) in a small town. It is here that Saudamini 'Mini' (Shabana Azmi) grows up, goes to school, and attends arts college. She is in love with her neighbor, Narendra (Vikram), and hopes to marry him soon. But her mom and uncle have chosen Ghanshyam (Girish Karnad), a matriculate, who lives in another town. Her uncle passes away, and shortly thereafter Saudamini gets married & re-locates to Ghanshyam's house, who lives with his step-mother (Shashikala); step-brother, Nikhil (Dheeraj Kumar), and his wife, Shobha (Ritu Kamal); and an unmarried step-sister, Charusheela (Preeti Ganguli). Saudamani detests Ghanshyam at first, but feels sorry for him after she witnesses that while he does all the work, he is ignored by the rest of the family and the servants. She changes all that and slowly starts to admire, respect, and fall in love with him, and Ghanshyam also reciprocates. Everything changes when Narendra comes to visit with a hope of reviving his romance with Saudamani. Watch what happens when Ghanshyam's mom sees Narendra and Saudamani holding hands in broad daylight in everyone's presence.