Anahat is a 2003 Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 film directed by Amol Palekar

Amol Palekar

Amol Palekar is an Indian actor of the 1970s and a director of Hindi and Marathi cinema.-Theater career:Palekar began in Marathi experimental theatre with Satyadev Dubey, and later started his own group, Aniket, in 1972 [citation needed]...

 and starring Sonali Bendre

Sonali Bendre

Sonali Bendre is an Indian actress and model. She has mostly starred in Bollywood films but has acted in many Telugu films as well as a number of Marathi, Tamil and Kannada films. She was also one of the four judges in the fourth season of Indian Idol and India's Got Talent...

, Anant Nag

Anant Nag

Anant Nagarkatte popularly known as Anant Nag is an actor and politician from Karnataka, India. He is considered to be one of the all time greatest actors in the Kannada film industry with a vast number of commercially successful movies. As a result, he is popularly known as an actor with...

 and Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress. She has acted in over 75 Hindi films, and most often worked in arthouse and independent films, known as parallel cinema in India.-Early life:Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India...

. Anahat focuses on a woman (Bendre) asserting her right to sexual fulfillment.
Anahat, (the eighth feature film of the actor-turned-director), is the second offering by Palekar which examines gender-related issues, the first being Daayra. The film was inspired by Surendra Verma

Surendra Verma

Surendra Verma is a leading Hindi litterateur and playwright. He started out as a playwright, when his play Surya Ki Antim Kiran Se Surya Ki Pahli Kiran Tak , became quite well known, has been translated into six Indian languages. Has had a long association with the National School of Drama...

’s Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 play Surya ki Antim Kiran Se Surya Ki Pehli Kiran Tak. Anahat was screened as the opening film of the 2003 Indian Panorama, an International film festival.

Plot

Anahat is set in the 10th century, in Shravasti

Shravasti

Shravasti can refer to:* Sravasti , an ancient city of India. Its ruins are located in Shravasti District* Shravasti District, Uttar Pradesh, India...

, the capital of the Kingdom of Malla

Malla (India)

Malla was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of ancient India mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya. It was named after the ruling clan of the same name. The Mahabharata mentions the territory as the Mallarashtra . The Malla mahajanapada was situated north of Magadha. It was a small mahajanapada...

. Anahat revolves around two individuals — the king of Malla (Nag) who is unable to provide an heir and the Queen, Sheelavati (Bendre), who forced to choose a potent mate for one night. But while the queen is ordered to merely produce an inheritor through the prevalent custom of Niyoga

Niyoga

Niyoga is an ancient Hindu tradition, in which a woman would request and appoint a person for helping her bear a child. According to this Hindu tradition the man who was appointed must be or would most likely be a revered person...

, she ends up enjoying the sexual act. Her overt demand for a repeat act thickens the plot.