Parineeta

Parineeta (2005) is an Indian romantic drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1914 Bengali novel, the film relocates the story to 1962 Calcutta — a city rendered with warm period detail that feels a world away from the glossier end of Bollywood.

Saif Ali Khan plays Shekhar, a gifted musician and the son of a powerful businessman. Vidya Balan, in her Bollywood debut, is Lalita, the girl next door he has known his whole life without ever quite naming what that means. When a wealthy outsider named Girish arrives — Sanjay Dutt, far more interesting here than a standard rival — the question of what Lalita actually wants can no longer stay unasked. Shekhar's jealousy and his scheming father do the rest.

Balan announced herself as something the industry hadn't quite seen before, and the film holds up as evidence. Stream Parineeta online on iFILM.