Trying to locate a possible gothic story

[nandakishore]

Hello,

I am trying to find out the original story from which a movie has been made.

The movie is from India, in one of the local languages, and is from the sixties. But the storyline screams "Gothic!" at each turn. It runs like this: rich man, in a remote country house, marries a lame girl. The man has a secret: he works alone in his studio at night, he does not let his wife see the sculpture he is making, and he keeps a secret diary. The cook tells the wife's companion that he has seen his master earlier in jail, and that he has murdered his former wife. As the movie progresses, the atmosphere gets more and more oppressive, as the woman experiences a possible attempt on her life, as her husband apparently tries to push her off a cliff.

Finally she manages to read the diary, and things are resolved in the true fashion of gothic romances-the man has married her because she resembles his dead love. During his college days, his face was scarred badly by an accident when some acid fell on his face. He managed to hide his deformity from his lady love till he got out of the hospital-but when she saw it finally, she was so terrified that she ran away shrieking and fell off a cliff. The man was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The sculpture he is making is revealed to be that of his former love (or his present wife-the same actress does both the roles). But once the secret is out, the man does not want to stay any more. He leaves for the railway station, with the contrite wife chasing after him, and her foot gets magically cured while running after a train! But the husband apparently has not boarded, and they are united finally on the platform. And all ends well.

In those days, a lot of Indian movies were blatant copies of Hollywood romances. The set decoration for the movie cited above seems to have been lifted directly from a movie like Rebecca. And there are certain incidents - like the hero asking the heroine for a dance - which was unheard of in India in those days.

Does the story ring a bell with anybody? Can someone help?

[maisonvivante]

I'm assuming you don't remember the title of the Indian film?

The storyline doesn't sound familiar, but I'm intrigued!