Where do middle-class, Tamil Brahmin girls go when they turn eighteen? Meet Janaki Venkatakrishnan, a musical prodigy sublimely gifted on the veena, and her younger sister, Mallika. Janaki escapes her father's plan for an arranged marriage, fleeing her village home for the bright lights of Bombay, scandalizing her father and the chatterbox, gossip-mongering women of the neighbourhood. She also leaves behind Mallika, who is forced to take care of their ...