<P> Rajnigandha (Hindi: रजनीगन्धा, Translation: Tuberose) is a 1974 Hindi movie directed by Basu Chatterjee . It is based on the short story "Yahi Sach Hai" by noted Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari . The movie starred Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha and Dinesh Thakur in the lead . </P> <P> Rajnigandha went on to win the Best Picture, the Popular Award and the Critics Award at the Filmfare Awards in 1975 . It was considered to have a realistic outlook of urban middle class on cinema in 1974, an era when potboilers were ruling Bollywood, a genre which was later called the Middle Cinema . The film was the first screen role of Vidya Sinha and first Hindi film of Amol Palekar, both of whom went on to work with Basu Chatterjee in many films . Rajnigandha was remade into Bengali in 2012 as Hothat Shedin . </P> <P> Deepa (Vidya Sinha) is a graduate student in Delhi who is in a long - term relationship with Sanjay (Amol Palekar), whom she plans to marry . Sanjay is a loquacious, humorous, and a good individual who is also rather lackadaisical and forgetful with no sense of punctuality . </P> <P> A job interview call from a college in Mumbai re-acquaints her with Navin (Dinesh Thakur) whom she had split up with under acrimonious circumstances . Navin is in every way the antithesis of Sanjay: He is very punctual and looks after her during her stay in Mumbai . Navin shows her the city and helps her with the job interview . This rekindles Deepa's feelings for him, and she finds herself torn between the two men and between her past and her present . Upon her return to Delhi, she feels that her first love (Navin) is her true love . She receives a letter stating that she has got the job in Mumbai . At the same time Sanjay comes to her house and tells her that he has got a promotion . Deepa then feels that she should forget the past and get married to Sanjay . </P>

The female lead in basu chatterjee rajnigandha was played by