Trishna is a very well-made film. It is quiet and simple, and is beautifully shot. The film starts as a drama and later turns into a mini-psychological thriller which is very engaging and interesting. The film is about a neglected wife named Aarti (Raakhee) whose busy husband Dr. Sunil (Sanjeev Kumar) has almost no time for. She decides to take a break and visit their Khandala bungalow, which is also in the neighbourhood of her sister Vidya (Bindu). There she meets a past college fellow, Vinod (Shashi Kapoor), who is now an interior decorator and who was hired by Vidya to design Aarti's home. Aarti goes through great depression because of the crisis in her marriage, and her husband's total indifference towards her makes her life miserable. As she comes to Khandala, she spends most of the time with the light-hearted Vinod, who has actually been in love with her since college days, much to the displeasure of her sister, who does not see his intentions as pure. This very interaction leads to several conflicts. Telling you more details would spoil the fun.
Trishna is very alluring and quite authentic for the most part. The direction is very good, the suspense is very successful, and the viewer may certainly be fascinated by a story that is partly a family drama and partly a thriller. The writing is very good and is devoid of any unnecessary or exaggerated proceedings. The character of the main protagonist Aarti is particularly well-written. Quite clearly, this is Raakhee's film. She convincingly displays her character's despair, loneliness, confusion and fear, and is beautiful throughout the film. So is Bindu, who plays her loving sister Vidya. She is wonderful in a role that really makes me wonder why she was always cast in supporting roles, that too in most cases as a vamp or a seductress. Shashi Kapoor is good as Vinod and Sanjeev Kumar is excellent as always. The film does not have many songs, but the most memorable one is "Din Ba Din", beautifully sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Trishna is a very fine film about relationships and marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend you to watch it.
