Sitara Devi

The naive Saroop (Nandrekar) romantically renounces earthly pleasures under the influence of a sadhu (Ashraf Khan). Arrested at a fairground and jailed, fellow convicts change his view of the world. Working in the prison’s garden, he meets the superintendent Sohanlal’s (Nazir) daughter Durga (Kumari), who was married as a child to a boy now believed dead. Ranjit (Singh) covets her and on her wedding day to the nasty Ranjit, it is discovered that Saroop was her child-husband.

A devoted woman, Badi Maa dedicates her life to raising her deceased friend's child, her love and sacrifices influencing all around her, leading to emotional conflicts as the child matures.

A. R. Kardar’s Pooja tells a disturbing story of two estranged sisters whose lives are fractured by a violent act of revenge and years of buried truths.

Set in the Ottoman Empire, it deals with the Caesar's (Pande) army and its skirmishes with the local Muslim rulers. The Sultan's (Asooji) son Ziyad (Kumar) is arrested by the Roman army. The Roman princess Rahil falls in love with him. A Muslim maid Leela (Sitara Devi) and the princess help him escape. Long chase scenes and fights follow, which ultimately lead to success for Ziyad and his people.

Kardar’s ultra-conservative ode to patriarchy tells of Binod (Jairaj) and Indira (Sitara Devi) who were married as children and never meet as adults. Indira grows into a ‘modern’ young woman while Binod, disinherited when his stepfather has a son, works in a distant village. Indira haughtily refuses a relationship with a pauper but she eventually realises her duties to her husband and goes to meet him disguised as Shanta, a beggar woman. Binod then falls in love with her, not realising she is in fact his wife.

Nightingale (Kokila) is a 1937 Hindi social family drama film directed by Sarvottam Badami

Ostensibly a Central Asian war fantasy about a conflict between the Cossacks and the Tartars, Mehboob’s film proposes a tale advocating national independence. The Cossacks are oppressed by the despotic Russian king (Siddiqui) and his minister Jabir (Kayamali), who has Tartar blood in him. General Murad (Kumar) covertly sides with the opposition, gets arrested for treason and escapes. He meets the wild Gulnar (Sitara Devi) and gets her to spy as a maid of Princess Nigar (Bibbo). Nigar falls for Murad and Gulnar withdraws from the scene for the sake of her nation. Eventually Nigar, at the head of an army of women, helps defeat the villains.

An early Indian film that explored social issues or class differences within its narrative, it highlight a commentary on contemporary societal norms, inequalities, or interactions.