Parakh (1944)

A class division melodrama centred on Mehtab’s histrionics. Kiran (Mehtab) is the daughter of a courtesan. Her lowly origins first destroy her marriage and then threaten to jeopardise her son Prakash’s (Singh) ambitions. She is blackmailed for keeping her son’s parentage a secret from him, forcing her to return to her ancestral profession. The film was a commercial success.