Shaheed (1948)

Nationalist melodrama set in the context of the Quit India movement and the ensuing wave of terrorist actions in the mid-40s. Ram (D. Kumar), the nationalist son of the colonial police chief Raibahadur Dwarkadas (Chandramohan), leaves home to join a terrorist group. His childhood sweetheart Sheela (Kaushal), who repeatedly protects him from being caught, is forced to marry the evil policeman Vinod, who in return lets her brother Gopal free and then promises to save Ram’s life. In the end, accused of terrorist crimes, Ram is defended in court by his now- repentant father, but eventually hanged. Sheela, presented as the true martyr in this tragic drama, dies as well and is united with her lover in death.