Neera

aka Beautiful Snake o(Araualli 1926 St 9217 ft b&w co-dts R.S. Choudhury co-d R.G. Torney pc Lakshmi Film c Pandurang Naik lp Raja Sandow, Putli, Baba Vyas. Ghory, Dabir, K.I3. Athavale, Takle

Choudhury's influential directorial debut breaks new generic ground, depicting tribals and presenting mysticism and sexuality as primal powers. Neera (Putli), a temple priest's daughter. lives amongst tribals. A Kapalik (Sandow), i.e. a devotee of Kali said to possess mystical powers, uses them to acquire tribal !anus. The conflict is between his powers and the shield of innocence around Neera, leading to the villain's destruction. Conflict over land rights was later used extensively by Choudhury's apprentice, Mehboob (e.g. Roti, 1942)

Film