“Chaudhvin Ka Chand” captures the heartbreaking choice of love or friendship

When a man looks upon his new bride under the moonlight, he is tempted to admit that her beautiful face is “like the lotus that is blooming in the lake” or “like an ode that has been plucked on the instrument of life.” Guru Dutt and Mohammed Sadiq’s classic Hindi film about the then-Muslim city of Lucknow, “Chaudhvin Ka Chand,” is full of poetic depictions of that ultimate love in a man’s life, but more poignantly, it teaches us how to give up that great love when following one’s own convictions.