'Paheli', 'Duvidha' & 'Sommersby'

“Paheli” directed by Amol Palekar was made in 2005 on a story (novel) by Vijayadan Detha, in which a ghost disguises as the husband of a newlywed woman and then starts living with her and the family in their village. As he starts behaving strangley, doubts are raised and the problem even gets worse when the original character also returns to the city. The same story was also adopted by Mani Kaul for his movie “Duvidha” which was made in 1973.

Interestingly this plot has a very acute similarity with the storyline of Richard Gere’s “Sommersby” made in 1993, which was in turn a remake of French movie “Retour de Martin Guerre, Le” - (The Return of Martin Guerre) (1982). Though there is no ghost in the story but here also the hero returns to his village after some years, as a completely changed personality. He knows everything about his family and village but people suspect whether he is the same person or not. And then as more complications are sighted, the matter gets presented in the court of law.