One of the finest films of Indian cinema, this courtesan drama thrills with glorious saturated colors and legendary tragedienne Meena Kumari. In a fitting swan song, Kumari plays double roles: the courtesan, Nargis, who dreams of escaping her life only to die in childbirth; and her daughter, Sahibjaan, who grows up to be another famous courtesan. Both mother and daughter find their lives tormented by forbidden love, and Kumari’s intensely inward performance gives the character an impervious air even as she performs—nowhere more strikingly realized than when dancing at her lost beloved’s arranged wedding on shards of glass.