Njan Gandharvan 1991

Bhama, Suparna Anand, a final-year degree student, joins a study tour and discovers a wooden sculpture on the beach. Captivated by its beauty, she decides to keep it. That same night, after her friends have left for dinner, she places the sculpture on her bed. The sculpture suddenly comes alive and passionately kisses her, but the enigmatic figure vanishes just as abruptly as he appeared.

During a later study leave, while Bhama is preparing for exams, she senses a lingering presence. She follows a pull toward a tree and is astonished to find a brilliant blue butterfly. A voice carries through the air, introducing itself as a gandharva who has taken a liking to her. When she asks for proof, the gandharva appears in human form, and the moment she meets him, she falls in love with him. The creature asks to be called Devan, and Bhama is drawn into a deep, evolving bond with him.

Bhama seeks guidance from her grandmother about gandharvas. In Hindu mythology, gandharvas are celestial musicians and providers of Soma in Devaloka. They are born from the breath or sweat of Lord Brahma, possess no death, and can shape-shift or appear at will. When they commit crimes, they are cursed to wander the earth for countless kalpas, seducing mortal women and taking their virginity before abandoning them. Bhama learns that Devan is bound by such rules, yet he insists he will not desert her and explains he is a slave of Lord Indra, unable to remember his past once he leaves the earth. He swears he will stay, never returning to Devaloka. To keep their connection alive, he gives Bhama a diamond called Rudhiraksham, which is holy and divine; whenever she wishes to see him, she can kiss it.

Meanwhile, Bhama’s fiancé, Pradeep, is determined to win her hand, and the pressure to marry grows. Pradeep, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, discovers Bhama with Devan at restaurants and parks and informs Bhama’s mother. One day, Devan makes a surprise visit to Bhama’s home. His magical musical talent wins over her mother and grandmother, and they become receptive to the idea of Bhama marrying him.

Trouble emerges when Devan loses his voice. A voice from the fallen branch of a Paala tree warns him that he has broken Devaloka’s laws and will be punished by Chitraradhan, the king of the gandharvas. Bhama and Devan attempt to flee the peril, but their escape is futile. As Devan faces capture, he signals Bhama not to summon him again with the Rudhiraksham. A heavy weight settles on Bhama as she grapples with the possibility of losing him.

Over the following days, Bhama’s family grows worried and begins to fear that happiness for her might lie with Devan. They even contemplate arranging the marriage to him, hoping it would bring her joy. But when her father asks Bhama to invite Devan’s parents to formalize the match, she finds herself in a moral and emotional bind. Left with little choice, she breaches Devan’s warning and summons him with the Rudhiraksham. Devan does not appear; instead, Bhama witnesses a brutal punishment being inflicted upon the gandharva.

Days turn into a week, and then one night, Bhama is overjoyed to see Devan return. He reveals that he endured seven nights and seven days of torture within Chitraradhan’s celestial halls, a punishment for appearing in public and singing for others—an act that violated the rules of daylight meetings with mortals.

Lord Brahma, the divine creator, intervenes as a fiery celestial handcuff fastens on Devan’s forearm. Brahma recounts that Devan’s desire for mortal life has exposed his crimes, and warns of harsher punishments in Naraka, including torments involving molten figures representing moments with Bhama, snakes, and blood-soaked floors. Brahma also decrees that Devan is barred from all sunlit days and moonlit nights, and that the Rudhiraksham given to Bhama will turn to powerless white dust. The only way to lessen the penalty is for Devan to take Bhama’s virginity before the Seventeenth Wind of the Night—erasing their memories forever. If he refuses, he faces becoming a hideous beast roaming the earth for an unimaginable time.

Devan chooses to reject that route, and Bhama offers to sacrifice her own virginity to save him. The couple shares a night of closeness that Bhama regards as the most precious gift she could give. When the Seventeenth Wind of the Night arrives, Devan vanishes, and Bhama is left weeping, gazing into the distance at what might have been.