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Rihaee

1988 158’ col Hindi d/s Aruna Raje pc Gaahimedia dial Suraj Sanim lyr Babu Rangpura, Suraj c S.R.K. Moorthy m Sharang Dev lp Hema Malini, Naseeruddin Shah, Vinod Khanna, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun

First solo feature by Aruna Raje whose previous films were co-directed with Vikas Desai and signed jointly as Aruna-Vikas. It is set in a Rajasthan village where the men migrate to Bombay to seek work (and visit prostitutes) while their wives at home become victims of rapacious outsiders like Mansukh (Shah). Mansukh seduces the virtuous Taku (Malini) who becomes pregnant. When her husband (Khanna) returns, she informs him of her decision to defy the village elders’ diktat and to have her child. The husband supports her against a group of villagers determined forcibly to terminate her pregnancy. Addressing the still unexplored theme of female sexuality, the film allows itself to be derailed into a conventional morality tale.

Film