Old customs and belief are still deeply rooted. According to a survey conducted by India's national census in 2001, there were more than 34 million widows in the country.

The 1856 Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act gave women the legal right to remarry and the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 gave women the same inheritance rights as men. However, those rights are rarely put into practice. Widows are still seen as a curse.

Apart from BR Films, south based AVM Films known for making thought- provoking films with a social message, also touched the issue in their film "Kuladeivam" produced in 1956. In "Subha Ka Tara", V. Shantaram took up the cause of widow remarriage and tried to change the perception of the people.

In the recent times, Canada-based India filmmaker Deepa Mehta's bold film "Water", which is also Canada's official entry for Oscar this year, examines the dilemma of widows living in Varanasi in pre-independence era.

The film, starring Lisa Ray and John Abraham, faced opposition from the Hindu fundamentalists who felt that it is anti-Hindu and destroyed the sets of the film in 2000 and burnt Mehta's effigy. But Mehta was determined to complete the film and finally shot it in Sri Lanka.

Dharan Mandrayar, a California-based Indian director, was deeply affected by the ill-treatment of widows and made a movie "White Rainbow" on the continuing maltreatment of widows in present-day India. Set in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan, the film focuses on widows.

In Mandrayar's film each character represents a different kind of widow abuse that is still experienced: social ostracism, abandonment by children, rape by in-laws, and financial and sexual exploitation by priests.