Dir.: Shyam Benegal; Script: Khalid Mohamed, Shama Zaidi; Phot.: Sanjay Dharankar; Ed.: Aseem Sinha; Mus.: Vanraj Bhatia; Cast: Amrish Puri, Kiron Kher, Rajit Kapoor, Smriti Mishra, Salim Ghouse, Rajeshwari Sachdev; Prod. & Sales: Amit Khanna, Mahesh Bhatt, Plus Films, Hotel Ajanta Complex, 8, Juhu Tara Road, 400049 Bombay (Inde), tél.: 91-22-6178270, fax: 91-22-6100488.

In the old, walled city of Delhi, just off the Chandni Chowk, lives Sardari Begum, a once famous singer in the thumri style of Indian classical music. She has retired but wants the traditions of thumri to survive in her daughter Sakina. One evening, just as her daily practice session is beginning, a fight breaks out between the namazis in the neighbourhood mosque and a group of Janmashatmi (Hindu) processionists. Bottles fly and, as bad luck would have it, just as Sardari looks out the window, a rock hits her in the head and kills her. Elections are looming and Sardari's death has become a media event. A young reporter, Tehzeeb Abbasi, is sent by her paper to cover the funeral and she is surprised to discover that her own father, Jabbar Abbasi, is among the mourners: Sardari Begum was his sister. It seems that she had been disowned by the family for learning music from a courtesan. Sardari had a passion for music. She had run away from home and ended up the mistress of a local landowner and later led a tumultuous life as a singer. Intrigued by her aunt's life, Tehzeeb decides to uncover more of her past and sets out to interview several people who were close to Sardari over the years. She discovers in Sardari's checkered life startling parallels with her own.