AllMovie

Set in the walled North Indian city of Delhi, this lavish melodrama of a popular thumari singer's life and accidental death is based on a true story. Her tragic tale is framed by that of newspaper reporter Tehzeeb Abbasi, who has come near the singer's home to investigate a terrible riot between Hindus and Muslims during which singer Sardari Begum was fatally injured with a flying rock. Abassi is shocked to discover that Begum was her father's sister, and this compels her to change the focus of her story from the riot to that of the victim.