Sadma

Balu Mahendra's 1983 Indian film follows a young woman left brain-damaged by an accident. Nehalata regresses mentally to childhood, does not remember who she is, and a schoolteacher takes her into his care. The tension comes from Somu's position. He is trying to return her to her family while becoming attached to her; the narrative does not define what that attachment is and holds the viewer in an uncomfortable place. Kamal Haasan and Sridevi lead. The director had made the same film a year earlier in another language, and this version was made with the same team. The closing scene is counted among the most cited endings in Indian cinema. Who it's for: those who like classic Indian drama and the cinema of Balu Mahendra. Who it's not for: viewers for whom scenes of sexual threat towards a defenceless person would sit heavily; the film takes it as a subject.