A mark of a maturing commercial Hindi cinema, this is an adult drama of a husband's infidelities, a deserted wife's trauma, and her eventual rebirth. It is set in an India we don't often see here--the upper-middle-class milieu of Juhu Beach, where a business executive might well run off with a famous film star, as this husband does. It is India's An Unmarried Woman, perhaps (complete with new pop-star boyfriend for the wife), but without the cuteness, and with some fine, intense performances. Shabana Azmi in the role of the wife won the National Award for Best Actress, and Smita Patil (Ardh Satya, Tarang, Umbartha, etc.) plays the film actress who convinces the husband to leave his wife, and then is pushed by guilt into a rapid decline. Partly autobiographical in origin, this is the first serious work by writer-director Mahesh Bhatt, whose previous films have been commercial pot-boilers, and its success has secured his position outside of the mainstream, where he says he intends to remain.