Namkeen

Namkeen (Devanāgarī: नमकीन, English: Salty), 1982 Hindi film, directed by Gulzar, with Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi and Waheeda Rehman as leads. It was yet another movie by Gulzar made on some very sensitive but untouched aspects of Indian society especially in rural areas. The story Akal Basant was by Samaresh Basu on whose story, Gulzar had previously made Kitaab (1977).

The film won the National Film Awards in 1983 for Best Audiography for Essabhai M. Suratwala, while Samresh Basu won the Filmfare Award for Best Story. Waheeda Rehman and Kiran Vairale received Filmfare Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, which they lost to Supriya Pathak in Bazaar.

Plot

Three unmarried sisters live in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh with their old mother, Jugni (Waheeda Rehman), a former nautanki (folk theatre) dancer, who sells spices and takes in boarders to make a living. The three daughters are named like flavors in food. The 'salty' eldest daughter Nimki (Sharmila Tagore), is a reserved spinster, quietly but firmly holding the household together. The 'sweet' middle sister is Mitthu (Shabana Azmi) who cannot speak, but is revealed to be an intelligent and romantic girl. The 'tangy' youngest one is Chinki (Kiran Vairale), a bold and vibrant teenager, who turns out to be more perceptive than one would credit her to be. Their quiet little haven is occasionally threatened by the alcoholic father Kishanlal (Rammohan), a sarangi player who was on the travelling troupe with Jugni, and keeps attempting to reclaim his daughters. She left him years ago to protect her daughters from the life of a nautanki dancer which she always struggled to escape.