**A Queer Reading of Madhumati**

An interesting way to read Madhumati is as a Gothic story of displaced male desire, where Ugranarayan's emotional fixation is directed less toward Madhumati and more toward Anand. Madhumati becomes the medium through which this attachment, jealousy, and obsession are expressed.

Ugranarayan's fascination with Anand is established even before Madhumati enters the picture. Their first meeting is especially revealing. Ugranarayan, riding arrogantly on horseback, nearly tramples a child. Anand angrily calls him a "beast." Ugranarayan…

Parakh (1960) occupies a unique and perhaps transitional place in Bimal Roy's filmography, nestled between the psychological intensity of Sujata and Bandini. Unlike those two masterpieces, it is not driven by characters of rich psychological interiority. Yet, it more than compensates for it in charm and tonal freshness.

He works here in a hybrid register, weaving together three distinct strands: the warmth of old school village Bollywood with its moneylenders, zamindars, school teachers, postmasters and young couples stealing romantic moments…

The love triangle in Bimal Roy's Bandini is formed by Nutan's Kalyani, Dharmendra's Devendra, and Ashok Kumar's Bikash. On the surface, it presents itself as a straightforward emotional dilemma - a woman imprisoned for murder, offered a future by a kind and decent man, yet unable to let go of her past. But a deeper reading is available at the level of character.

When Devendra, the jail doctor, first comes across Kalyani, she is a reticent murder convict who spends…

Namkeen is the story of four women: a mother and her three daughters. The eldest acts as a mother not only to her younger sisters but also to her aging mother, who is losing her sanity. The youngest is carefree and risks a shot at a better life in a hostile world. The middle sister, Mithu, played by Shabana Azmi, turns mute after a childhood incident when her father, a nautanki performer, kidnapped her to exploit his daughters for money.…