Bazaar

Bazaar is a 1982 Indian drama film directed by Sagar Sarhadi and starring Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Smita Patil and Supriya Pathak. The film set in Hyderabad, India, highlights the issue of bride buying in India, through the tragedy of a young girl being sold by needy parents to affluent expatriate Indians in the Gulf. Plot The movie opens with Najma (Smita Patil) decking herself up in a flat in Mumbai. She soon entertains a guest, Akhtar Hussain, who turns out to be her love interest. He talks of an argument at his house with his father who had asked him to marry the daughter of an affluent cement factory owner. Akhtar claims that he refused the offer and had told his father that he will marry the woman of his choice. At being asked by Najma about when they would get married, Akhtar reveals that in order to marry against the wishes of the family it is necessary that he start earning his own living. He further assures the crestfallen Najma that one Shakir Khan, a middle-aged man working in the gulf area, who would soon be coming to their place, would help him with the money to set up some business. Najma is apprehensive of Shakir Khan's stay with her but Akhtar says that there is no other way as after all, the flat has been provided for by Shakir Khan himself. As the evening proceeds, it is revealed that Najma has received many letters from her home for the past six years however, she never reads them as she still hasn't forgiven her family for forcing her into selling herself in order to earn some money for the family. She had been willing to engage in some other work but her mother had insisted that the pride of the Nawaabs that they had once been would be tarnished if she becomes a working woman and so it would be better to sell the body instead as it is only for a night and can be accomplished secretly. As Akhtar spends the night at Najma's, she remembers how on one of his visits Akhtar had offered to take her with him with a hope of marrying her soon and she too had run away with him. The next day Najma is visited by Salim, a renowned poet, who has been in love with her for the past six years; however, she hasn't accepted his love. The two share a friendly relationship and are very comfortable with each other. Salim once again reiterates that he often thinks about her and that though he couldn't marry her 6 years ago, he is quite capable of doing so today.