Vasant Choudhury

After years of painstaking research at the cost of his domestic pleasure, Dr. Dipankar Roy discovers a vaccine for leprosy. The news is flashed over television and overnight, an insignificant junior doctor receives international recognition. Professional jealousy and abuse of power threaten Dr. Roy, even as the Secretary of Health reprimands him for breaking the news to the press. He is asked to report to the Director of Health. Professional colleagues Dr. Arijit Sen and Dr. Ramananda invite him to a lecture but it is merely a pretence to humiliate him. Dr. Roy suffers a mild heart attack but he refuses to go to the hospital. His wife and few others like Dr. Kundu stand by Dr. Roy, but the harassment continues; a letter from an American foundation is suppressed and Dr. Roy transferred to a remote village. The last straw is two American doctors receiving credit for discovering the same vaccine. Dr. Roy is shattered. —Rajesh Das The movie is one of the finest work of veteran Tapan Sinha. It revolves around the life of Dr. Dipankar Roy who has engrossed himself in researching a cure of a dreaded diseases. During the course, he has already ruined his relationship with his wife due his ignorance. After years of hard work, when he finds a breakthrough in his research, his work is publicized but it attains negative reviews and skepticism from noted doctors, bureaucrats and his peers. It leads to immense dissatisfaction and is driven to a point of insanity due to the exasperating outlook of people around him. Will the work done by the doctor ever attain any recognition or will he be flushed in the vortex of democracy? These questions are answered by the movie with some exemplary performances by Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Anil Chatterjee and budding Irrfan Khan. —Utkarsh Srivastava

A father encourages his daughter to marry a dying man in order to inherit his wealth. A father encourages his daughter to marry a dying man in order to inherit his wealth in this social drama set in 1830s India. She is expected to practice the ancient Hindu ritual known as sati in which the widow throws herself on the burning funeral pyre of her late husband. The British colonial government has outlawed the practice, and an untouchable tries to persuade the woman to abandon the idea that will lead to her death. The dying man often comes to life to display his jealousy as people prepare for his funeral on the banks of the Ganges River. —Swarup Basak