Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi (who had made the television series Chanakya almost a decade ago) makes his directorial debut with Pinjar, an adaptation of Amrita Pritam's novel by the same name.

Set against the backdrop of pre-partition Punjab, Pinjar tells the story of a woman pitted against a world being torn apart by religious strife. The protagonist Puro (Urmila Matondkar), a carefree village belle lives with her parents (Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Lillette Dubey), brother Trilok (Priyanshu Chatterjee) and sister Rajjo (Isha Koppikar). Puro is to be married to Ramchand (Sanjay Suri) who she's caught a fleeting glimpse of while he's not even seen her. Ramchand's sister Lajo (Sandali Sinha) has been promised in marriage with Trilok.

One evening, Puro is abducted by a Muslim Rashid (Manoj Bajpai) in order to avenge an age-old feud between the two families. Puro's parents are shattered but circumstances dictate and they decide to marry Rajjo off to Ramchand. The idealistic Ramchand declines and in the process Rajjo is married to Ramchand's cousin while Trilok marries Lajo as decided. In the interim, Puro escapes Rashid and manages to reach her parents' house one night. However, they refuse to accept her. A couple of reels past this painful realisation, Puro finds herself married to Rashid, re-christened 'Hamida' and harbouring only resentment for her tormentor.

Days roll by and the Hindu-Muslim unrest grows. Trilok, in his tireless search for his sister sets Rashid's fields on fire. Meanwhile partition riots break out and Ramchand's family is forced to flee towards India. Unfortunately, a Muslim man kidnaps Lajo who was down with her parents. When Puro gets to know this through an accidental meeting with Ramchand, she rescues Lajo and hands her over safely to her brother, meeting her own brother Trilok in the process. Puro recognises that all this could not have been achieved without Rashid's help and in the end when Trilok offers her a chance to marry Ramchand, as was once ordained, she refuses and goes back to Rashid for good.

Urmila Matondkar delivers a superlative performance as Puro, oozing a sort of rustic charm throughout the film. Priyanshu Chatterjee does well as the concerned brother searching for his sister while Sanjay Suri comes across quite convincingly as the idealistic Ramchand. Good performances by Lillette Dubey, Sandali Sinha and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. However it is Manoj Bajpai who walks away with the honours for his brilliant portrayal of Rashid.

Captivating cinematography by Santosh Thundiyil coupled with excellently researched costumes and set designs by Muneesh Sappel create the perfect ambiance for a pre-independence/pre-partition setting. The music by Uttam Singh reflects the mood of the film.

--Madhavi Gokhlay