Nauka Dubi (1946)

The hero Ramesh (Kumar/Bhattacharya) agrees to marry a woman he’s never met, unknown to his real lover Hemnalini (Ranjana/Sarkar). The wedding party is hit by a storm when travelling across a river; the hero’s father and the bride are drowned while the hero survives. He later meets Kamala (Meera Mishra), whose husband (like Ramesh’s wife) had died shortly after their marriage. Their respective bereavements bring the two closer until Kamala’s husband is discovered to be still alive. Eventually Ramesh marries Hemnalini. The famous Tagore novel was Nitin Bose’s debut at Bombay Talkies, and his most ambitious Hindi film to date. Reviews attacked it for its slow pace, but generally commended its extensive night shooting.