Rajendranath
Acclaimed director Bimal Roy’s debut feature about a struggling writer established him as an important Bollywood voice through its realistic portrayal of the simmering class conflicts in pre-independence India. Anup (Radhamohan Bhattacharya) loses his job writing speeches for a wealthy industrialist and decides to focus on finishing his novel. But when his former boss steals Anup’s unpublished book, he throws himself into socialist politics.
The poor but educated Mahim and his childhood friend, the rich but conservative Suresh, both fall in love with the same woman, the liberated Achala. Mahim marries her and they move to a village but she cannot forget Suresh. Her smouldering unhappiness takes the form of a resentment towards the orphaned Mrinal, raised by Mahim's father, and receives a dramatically visual embodiment when their house burns down. Mahim falls ill, is rescued by Suresh and nursed back to health by Achala. On a train (a metaphor for the irreversibly linear course of life) to a health-resort where Mahim is supposed to convalesce, Suresh on a rainswept night gives in to temptation and elopes with Achala. At the end of the film, there is a dubious reconciliation as Achala is shown following Mahim's 'good' traditionalism with Saratchandra's barely concealed hostility towards Achala's liberated Brhamo Samaj upbringing.
Narayan
Devdas, the son of a zamindar, and Parvati, his neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. However, class and caste differences prevent their marriage. Devdas is sent off to Calcutta, while Paro is married off to an aged rich widower. In Calcutta, as remorse drives him to alcohol, Devdas meets Chandramukhi, a prostitute.
Shyamlal
A remake of the Bengali film Bhagya Chakra, it was the first Hindi film to use playback singing. It was director Nitin Bose who came up with the idea of playback singing.
Ushinar
For the first time in Indian cinema, flashback was used for storytelling.
