Sujata is a 1959 Hindi language Bimal Roy film. It stars Nutan and Sunil Dutt in lead roles, supported by Shashikala, Lalita Pawar, Sulochana Latkar and Tarun Bose. Based on a Bengali short story of the same name by writer Subodh Ghosh, the film explored the situation of caste in India. The music is by S. D. Burman and the lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. The film was highly praised by critics. It was entered into the 1960 Cannes Film Festival. The story, screenplay, music, and all the performances especially that of Nutan received high critical acclaim and even today, her performance in Sujata is considered to be one of the best by any female actress ever in the history of Hindi cinema. Plot Sujata is a romance between a Brahmin young man, Adheer (Sunil Dutt) and an untouchable woman, Sujata (Nutan). It's also a story of intense emotional conflict of a mother in fully accepting an adopted daughter. The film has Mahatma Gandhi's fight against untouchability and the myth of Chandalika in Hinduism as its subtexts on the basis of which it tries to criticize the practice of untouchability in India. Brahmin couple, Upen and Charu bring up an orphaned child and name her Sujata. Although Upen is fond of the adopted child, his wife Charu and Aunt (Adheer's mother) can never fully embrace Sujata because she was born in an untouchable's family. They keep hinting to Sujata at times that she doesn't belong amongst Brahmins. Adheer falls in love with Sujata but Charu & Aunt want Adheer to marry Charu's real daughter Rama. Sujata also admires Adheer but finding her reality of being an untouchable by birth feels at discomfort. One day, Upen's wife falls down the stairs and is rushed to the hospital. The doctors tell the family that in order to save Charu, they need the rare group blood. Only Sujata's blood matches and she willingly donates blood. When Charu become aware that her life was saved by Sujata, she realizes her mistake and accepts her as her daughter. Sujata and Adheer are then married happily by everyone's consent. Cast Nutan as Sujata Sunil Dutt as Adhir Shashikala as Rama Chowdhury Lalita Pawar as Giribala Tarun Bose as Upendranath Chowdhury Sulochana Latkar as Charumati Chowdhury Asit Sen as Pandit Bhavani Shankar Sharma Cuckoo Moray as Rama's friend singing the song "Tum Jeeoo Hazaaron Saal" Awards Golden Palm