Nishant, a 1975 Hindi drama film was screened at Bharat Bhavan here on Monday. The film was screened at film festival Ekagra organised in the memory of Girish Karnad 

The film was directed by Shyam Benegal, based on an original screenplay by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar, with dialogues by Satyadev Dubey. The film features an ensemble of parallel cinema actors including Girish Karnad, Amrish Puri, Shabana Azmi, Anant Nag and Sadhu Meher with Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah (In his film debut). This film focuses on the power of the rural elite and the sexual exploitation of women, during the time of feudalism in India. The film won the 1977 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The film was invited to the London Film Festival of 1976, the Melbourne International Film Festival of 1977, and the Chicago International Film Festival of 1977, where it was awarded the Golden Plaque.

Vishwam is the youngest brother of the powerful and influential village Zamindar. The Zamindar will not hesitate to do anything for the welfare and protection of his family, which also includes bending the law to his own advantage. The shy and quiet Vishwam is married to Rukmani and, unlike his brothers Anjaiya and Prasad does not indulge in alcohol or women, nor does he have any bad habits. Then the village gets a new schoolmaster  who has a wife, Sushila.

The distraught schoolteacher, who is denied justice by everyone from the local police officer to the district collector, is helped by the old priest and finally they succeed in mobilizing the villagers and they slaughter their oppressors. In the end the frenzied villagers also kill the innocent Rukmani as well as Sushila whom her husband tried to rescue with the help of the rebellious villagers.