Legitimacy of patriarchal despotism

Based on Triveni's novel. An orthodox patriarch (Nagendra Rao) is upset when one of his five sons (Arun Kumar) wants to marry a theatre actress (Premalatha). The old man’s daughter Malathi (Kalpana) is widowed and her friend Prasad (Rajkumar), who had arranged Malathi’s marriage, also loses his wife. The patriarch refuses to let Malathi marry Prasad, leading to extensive debate and a revolt within the family before he relents. The original novel, working within a social reform tradition, strongly advocated widow remarriage