"I think you have never seen yourself smile. Just go before a mirror and smile, and see how beautiful your smile is." These are the words Dharmendra says to Sharmila in the film's previous scene.

Frame 1 - Sharmila alone in her room lays back on her bed contemplating his words as they play back over the soundtrack in voice over. "I think you have never seen yourself smile. Just go before a mirror and smile, and see how beautiful your smile is." (The rest of the scene is silent.)

Frame 2 - Sharmila stands and walks to the mirror in her darkened room and bends over to turn on a lamp.

Frame 3 - In a transcendent cinematic moment that is pivotal to the whole film Sharmila gazes at herself in the mirror. The image is all at once, point of view and reaction shot, gazing at and gazing with. Much could be said about the use of the reflected image here, both literal and metaphoric. Sharmila is reflecting and taking a step towards self inquiry, moving out of her stagnant reactive body to the possibility of a different image of self.

Frame 4 - Sharmila smiles and also smiles at her reflection. In either case this is a monumental moment in the character's development. For the first time Sharmila is awakened to the fact that she can change. The smile is her act of conscious change.