Dastaan (1950)

Melodrama told in flasback about the sexually repressed Rani (Veena) whose life is caught between two historical moments and ends up causing grief to all who knew her. The orphaned Indira (Suraiya) is adopted by the wealthy colonial (Sapru) and becomes a companion to his sons Raj (Kapoor) and Kundan (Nasir) but she is hated by Rani, the household’s eldest daughter. Both Raj and Kundan fall in love with Indira, but Rani gets her married to the foreign-returned Ramesh (Suresh) and later causes a rift between the two brothers, resulting in Raj suffering a major accident and indirectly leading to Indira’s death. The film starts with Rani’s own death, after 25 years of isolation. Her character is placed historically between colonial domination (represented by the father) and independent capitalism’s rule with its continuation of traditional patriarchy. She is represented as surrounded by infantile men and logically negative about marriage. Suraiya sang all the nine songs in the film, including the very popular duet Tara ri yara ri (with Mohammed Rafi).