Duvidha

Mani Kaul's 1973 Indian film is adapted from a Rajasthani folk tale by Vijaydan Detha. A newly married merchant's son leaves on business; a ghost who has seen his bride falls in love with her, takes the husband's form and begins living in his place. Rather than telling the story Kaul disperses it: framings like still photographs, narration read in voice-over, repeated movements. That turns the film into the act of telling a folk tale. Which husband the woman prefers becomes the real question inside an order that never gave her a choice at all. Kaul won the national award for direction. The pace is slow and far from conventional flow. Who it's for: viewers interested in Indian parallel cinema and formal experiment. Who it's not for: anyone wanting narrative flow, or who will find a slow pace wearing.