Seeta and Geeta

Twin sisters are separated after birth. Seeta grows up in a wealthy house but lives worse than a servant under an aunt who wants her inheritance. Geeta grows up on the street, makes a living as a performer and takes nothing from anyone. One day the two accidentally swap places; Geeta walks into that house and settles with the aunt while Seeta learns to stand on her own feet outside. Hema Malini plays both parts and the film made her career; Geeta's scrappy self-assurance in particular was unusual for a female lead in Indian cinema of the period. Ramesh Sippy would direct Sholay three years later. Across two and a half hours the comedy, songs, fights and melodrama arrive in turn. The separated-twins device was used a great deal in Indian cinema, and this is one of its most remembered uses.