Bandini (1963)

A Bimal roy directed film, it explores the human conflicts of love and hate intertwined in the mind of kalyani, brilliantly played by Nutan. The movie binds an awesome narrative in a story of all suffering, selfless, sacrificing, strong yet ironically weak women, where she has to make the choice between two men in her life apart from answering all the awkward questions society puts forward to her. Her scenes were Bikash (played by Ashok Kumar) and Deven (a young vibrant Dharmendra) are brilliantly filmed, and the films ends at a jaw dropping climax — where the character of Kalyani gets lifted from a prisoner of destiny to the one who defines her own freedom in a oppressive Indian society. It was peppered with brilliant numbers such as “ Oh Jaanewale ho sake to laut ke aana” (by Mukesh), “ Mora Gora Aang Laga lai “(By Lata Mangeshkar) and “ Mere Saajan hain us paar” (sung by the music director, S.D. Burman himself). The brilliantly photographed movie,with its rich tonal quality and evocative framing won almost all the major awards in that year.