The Householder (1963)

The Householder (Hindi title: Gharbar) is a 1963 film by Merchant Ivory Productions, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory, and direction of James Ivory. It is based upon the 1960 novel of the same name by Jhabvala.

This was the first collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, a documentary filmmaker till then. They went on to make nearly forty films together, many of which were written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who also adapted many adaptations of literary classics for them, like Henry James‘ The Europeans (1979) and The Bostonians (1984), E.M. Forster‘s A Room with a View (1986) and Howards End (1992), and Peter Cameron‘s The City of Your Final Destination (2009).

Synopsis

Prem Sagar (Shashi Kapoor), a teacher at a private college in Delhi, is married to Indu (Leela Naidu) in an arranged marriage recently and is still learning ropes of relationships, when the arrival of Prem's mother (Durga Khote) spells doom to their budding relationship. Indu, unable to handle her interference in the marriage, leaves Prem to return to her family. Prem searches for answers from a variety of people, including a Swami (Pahari Sanyal), who reveals the secret of a successful marriage, as a result, he finally gains the maturity to love his wife.

Actors