1974 film by Shyam Benegal
Ankur (English: The Seedling) is a 1974 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shyam Benegal in his directorial debut. The film features Anant Nag and Shabana Azmi, both in their acting debuts. Though Shabana Azmi had acted in other films as well, Ankur was her first release.
Like later Benegal's films, Ankur belongs to the genre of Indian art films, or more precisely, Indian parallel cinema. The plot is based on a true story that occurred in Hyderabad, apparently in the 1950s. The film was shot in Hyderabad. and filmed almost entirely on location.
Ankur won three National Film Awards and 43 other prizes, both in India and abroad. It was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.
This film includes one whipping scene and more profanity than is usually found in Indian films.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.