What an amazingly well-directed and photographed film. It must be one of the best uses of black and white I have seen in a long time. The story is also quite good up until the final moments where it's just infuriating to watch these characters slouch towards their doom out of pride and dogma. Still: the direction is so potent (wellesian lighting! pure cinema!!) that it's quite touching even when the drama feels manufactured. Really caught me by surprise-- I wasn't expecting it to be that great. Extremely recommended.

The melodrama is a masochist torture. From the frustration of watching the worst on the screen will emerge the best in our imagination.

Read more in French on La Saveur des goûts amers.

Classic Bollywood melodrama with remarkable b/w cinematography and some gorgeous lighting. There are only few songs to scare off us regular Western viewers, but things sure get heavy in the last act.

Tragic trivia: The film became a box office flop and the last to be directed by Guru Dutt (who also stars in the semi-autobiographical main role). 1964, at age 39, he died, of presumed suicide.