Sadgati (1981)

Short film, derived from a Premchand short story, made as a companion piece to Pikoo (1980) for Doordarshan. The indolent Brahmin Ghashiram (Agashe) gets the low- caste bonded labourer Dukhi (Puri) to perform several onerous tasks while denying him food. While chopping a giant log with a blunt axe, as instructed, Dukhi dies of exhaustion, leaving a grieving widow (Patil) and child in the village. Ghashiram, in a muddy and rain-soaked landscape, is last seen dragging the corpse away. In casting actors associated with the Bombay-based New Indian Cinema (Puri, Agashe, Patil) for this rural drama, Ray made a belated contribution to the 70s rural- exploitation melodrama, a genre eventually adopted by Doordarshan.