Junoon (1978)
Junoon
Shyam Benegal's award-winning tale of obsessive love set against the 1857 Indian Mutiny, starring and produced by Shashi Kapoor, and adapted from Ruskin Bond's novella A Flight of Pigeons. After witnessing the death of her father at the hands of Sarfaraz Khan, young British woman Ruth is understandably traumatised. And Sarfaraz's brother-in-law, surly Pathan chieftain Javed, is in love with Ruth, even though he's never even talked to her. Now that the British are in danger from the rebellion, Javed seizes the opportunity to get Ruth and her mother, Miriam, and grandmother under his roof, with the intention of making the object of his obsession his wife. Forgetting the fact that Javed already has a wife, is this really a good basis for a marriage? And will the political forces that swirl around them allow his plan to come to fruition?