Guru Dakshina (1987)

Major hit by the most successful Bengali director of the 80s. The poor Jayanta (Paul) loves Rupa, the rich daughter of the local zamindar, but is also indebted to his music teacher. When Jayanta upstages Rupa in a music contest, the zamindar uses his financial hold over the music teacher to extract a promise that Jayanta will never sing again. Eventually, when Jayanta shows he wants to keep his promise come what may, the zamindar relents and allows his daughter to marry Jayanta. The film borrows from a bawdy latter-day version of the folk jatra with its often lewd speech (an idiom associated particularly with this director), cueing the editing to the dialogue. Lahiri departed from his usual electronic rock score and composed several hits in a ‘classical’ style.