Azad (1940)

For his directorial debut, scripted by Osten's regular collaborator Casshyap, Acharya orchestrates an allegory of contemporary political attitudes presented in terms of differing approaches to the institutionalisation of sexuality: marriage. There are three college friends: the liberal Vijay, the conservative Loknath and Jagdish, a careerist. Vijay rescues a damsel in distress and marries her. Later, his son Anand repeats his father's history by rescuing Jagdish's daughter from a bandit and marrying her, resolving the differences between the three friends. The film was overshadowed by the spectacular success of Acharya's Bandhan that same year, but its commentative approach to contemporary politics was further elaborated in his Naya Sansar (1941)