Sadhi Manse (1965)

Pendharkar inflects his regional chauvinist approach, dominant in his historicals, to contrast an idyllic rural Maharashtra with urban corruption. The happy Shankar (Chandrakant) and his wife Parvati (Gadkar) find their lives disrupted when they accept the offer of a truck driver (Rajshekhar) to find them better prospects in the city. Shankar goes to jail when the driver involves him in a crime. Parvati is imprisoned when she kills the villain, just as Shankar is released. The film ends with a socialist-realist work song, Airanichya deva, the woman’s singing punctuated by sounds on a metal lathe, as they return to their profession and their independence. The other song hit was Malachya manyamandi (both sung by Lata Mangeshkar).