Mahanadi (Great River)/1993: Kamal Hassan, V M ‘Cochin’ Haniffa, Poornam Vishwanathan, Shobhana, Sukanya. Directed by Santhana Bharati

Kamal plays a naïve villager, a widower trying to mind his own business and bring up his two children. Haniffa puts the get-rich-quick temptation in his path, Kamal succumbs. Events spiral out of control as he goes bankrupt, he is separated from his children, and he discovers that his daughter is a child prostitute in the brothels of Kolkata.

Dark, dismal, almost-noir throughout, the film is a classic of narration and pacing; excellent performances and great work by the crew make this film, depressing though it is, is a classic.