Paheli

Paheli (2005) is an Indian romantic fantasy you can watch online on iFILM. Young Lachchi is married off to the trader's son Kishanlal, and the very next morning he rides away on business — for five long years.

Then he walks back into the house. Or so everyone believes. In truth it is a spirit who glimpsed Lachchi, fell for her, and took her husband's shape to stay near. The spirit gives her the tenderness the real man withheld, and she chooses to love him knowing exactly what he is. Years later the genuine Kishanlal comes home from the road, and the village is left to decide which of the two men she belongs to. Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji play the leads.

Director Amol Palekar trades the usual Bollywood spectacle for a Rajasthani folk tale told at a warm, unhurried pace, complete with puppet interludes and a question the genre rarely asks: does law outweigh feeling? India submitted the film as its entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It suits viewers who love folklore steeped in moral ambiguity. Stream Paheli (2005) online on iFILM.