Pestonjee

Pestonjee is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Vijaya Mehta, starring Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, based on a story by film journalist B. K. Karanjia.

[1] The film is an intimate look into the life and manners of the Parsi community, especially those living in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1950s and 60s.

Phiroj is unable to make up his mind about marrying a girl, Jeroo (Shabana Azmi), selected for him by a matchmaker.

Soona (Kiron Kher), Pesi's mistress whom Phiroj had thought of as a loose woman, ends up paying for the funeral which Phiroj repays to her as he cannot abide the thought that in even his death, Pesi's mistress has a hold on him.

Critically, the film was generally well appreciated, both for its meticulous depiction of Parsi life and for the performances by all the lead actors.

She sees it as an interesting attempt by a woman director to study the male psyche.

On Azmi's portrayal of Jeroo, she writes: "The portrait of Jeroo, as she develops from a naive, romantic but not very intelligent girl into a cantankerous, hysterical wife (and, later, widow) is a brilliant study of a woman destroyed by the compulsions of an unsuitable marriage.