47 Natkal (1981)

Actress Saritha comes to a small town to talk to Vaishali (Jayapradha), because she is about to play her in a film based on her life. Vaishali suffers from hysteria and angrily shuts out Saritha. The story is now told in flashback, when Vaishali's brother tells Saritha about her marriage to Kumar (Chiranjeevi), lasting only 47 days (hence the film's title). Kumar takes Vaishali to a country manor in France (Férolles). She does not know French or English. Kumar already has a French first wife Lucy (Anne Patricia) living there on the top floor. He deceives both wives: He tells Vaishali that Lucy is a friend, while he tells Lucy that Vaishali is his sister. Eventually, Vaishali figures out his bigamy and does not want to stay with him as his second wife. She does not know of anyone who knows her language and who can help her escape. Kumar tortures and threatens her to make her act as his mentally deranged sister. He treats her in a very sadistic manner. A Desi pickpocket (Ramaprabha) sees Kumar abusing Vaishali and tells her about an Indian doctor named Shanker (Sarath Babu) who can help her. In the meantime, Vaishali becomes pregnant, and Kumar is afraid that Lucy will discover his deception. He tries to force Vaishali to have an unsafe abortion. Dr. Shanker rescues her and tells Lucy everything about Kumar's bigamy. Lucy ends their marriage. Dr. Shanker brings Vaishali back to India; she moves back in with her brother and mother. No mention is made as to what happened to her pregnancy and no baby is seen or heard. It is presumed that she may have later had an abortion, since she did not want to be connected to her ex-husband Kumar. When Saritha asks why she didn't remarry (perhaps to her rescuer Dr. Shanker), Vaishali angrily replies that a woman does not always have to be married. However, she placates Saritha by saying that she wouldn't mind if her character is shown as remarried in the film