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A traditional extended
family in the small city of Agra, where the father is the
figure of final authority, and marriages in the family are
arranged by the elders on the basis of how much dowry the
girl will bring. Samar, the younger son, is still at the University,
when the family insists on finding him a bride. His sister-in-law
is pregnant, and Samar's wife will come useful in the household.
Apart from that, the girl they have chosen will bring a large
dowry. Samar's bride, Prabha, is a graduate, but sexually
inexperienced. So is Samar. In addition, he is pathologically
shy, and did not want to get married in the first place. Not
surprisingly, the wedding night is a disaster, and Samar stalks
out to sleep on the terrace.
Though Samar is chided by the
family, his resistance to his wife is soon accepted by everybody.
It is Prabha who bears the brunt of their disapproval for
being unable to please her husband. The elder brother's wife
resents and envies Prabha's youth, good looks and most of
all her education, and expresses her feelings through daily
acts of petty cruelty. Only Samar's sister, abandoned by an
unfaithful husband, can understand Prabha's predicament. Isolated
and ridiculed, Prabha suffers the discipline of the domestic
routine in silence. The elder brother's wife gets her baby,
and the entire load of the household falls on the inexperienced
Prabha. She makes one mistake after another, and finally,
when she unwittingly uses holy clay to wash the utensils,
Samar slaps her in front of the household. At the suggestion
of Samar's sister, Prabha goes away to her parents for a few
months.
Samar misses the wife he has never accepted, and fantasizes
about reconciliation with her. But when she actually does
come back, his feelings remain unexpressed. Prabha picks up
her household chores once more in silent defiance. Samar,
shy and remorseful, watches helplessly. This time it is Prabha
who decides to sleep elsewhere. As she lies weeping alone
on the terrace, Samar comes to her. Prabha's unprotesting
silence gives way to anger. Suddenly the barriers melt away,
and the two young people reach out to each other with passion.
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