Sadguni Sushila (1924)

Attributed to Rathod. this is a love story claiming to uphold the tradition of domesticated female virtue and a classic example of a reform novel-derived plot being transmuted into a thriller melodrama using elaborate references to the freedom struggle. Story tells of virtuous Sushi!a and her debauched husband Pratap, who leads a peaceful life until her former suitor Jaswant arrives on a social call. His appearance prompts Pratap to suspect his wife's marital fidelity and he drives the visitor away. Returning to retrieve his belongings,jaswant surprises a gang of burglars who shoot him dead. The leader of the gang, the police chief Vinayak, frames Pratap for the murder. Pratap runs away and what appears to be his corpse is found in a well. Vinayak now makes amorous advances to Sushila who is resigned to widowhood (performing symbolically laden acts like weaving on the charkha). After some years, Pratap reappears having discovered the truth about Vinayak's criminal deals (but apparently unrepentant about his own nasty behaviour towards his wife).