Bandhan

The story of Bandhan springs from the soil, from green fields and pastures from the womb of mother earth herself. From a troubled childhood in which he sees his father, Jeevanlal, as a renegade and thief, waster and wife-beater, young Dharma grows into manhood, with the shadow of the evil parent always dogging his footsteps, always seeking to wreck his hopes and ambitions. For all that Jeevanlal needs is money, money and more money for his shady pleasures. From where it comes, how it is earned, is none of his concern. He even robs his own daughter's jewelery on the eve of her marriage! But undaunted by the family misfortunes, young Dharma goes about tilling his lands, ekeing out a meager existence, for Jeevanlal takes a heavy toll of the family properties, which one by one find their way to the local money-lender, Malik Ram, who in the end, has the poor family firmly in his hold. All the joy of Dharma's life is the love of a comely young village belle, Gauri, the only child of Malik Ram the money-lender. But when Dharma's mother goes with a marriage proposal for the hand of Gauri, Malik Ram goes crazy! What! Give his only daughter, the apple of his ageing eyes, to a beggarly lad, now completely indebted to him! He forbids Gauri from every seeing Dharma again, but when she continues to meet him, Malik Ram anger is swift. Broken hearted Dharma leaves the village and goes to Bombay to seek his fortune, leaving behind a sad Gauri. He secures a lucrative job as an overseer at a building site, but he years to go back to his village...