Manoj Kumar's, "Purab Aur Pachhim" is a major kitsch classic of Bollywood cinema.

The film is an important example of the Bollywood, West verses East morality film. In the semiotics of 1960s and 70s Bollywood, the West meant seduction, corruption, and a lapse of integrity. The heroine/anti-heroine in these morality films was a Western raised (usually in London or Canada) woman who had forsaken Indian traditionalism for a Western lifestyle. They were pictured as lost souls in miniskirts who drank, smoked, and most of all, disobeyed their parents. During the course of these West verses East morality films, the heroine/anti-heroine was reawakened to the soul, and spirit rejuvenating power of the homeland and in the process discovered meaning and integrity anew. By the end of the film the heroine/anti-heroine would be offered two plot recourses, she could die in a sacrifice of atonement or be reborn by converting to traditionalism.

The West verses East morality film's, with "Purab Aur Pachhim" being the most sensational (and very successful) of the genre, are loaded with contradiction and dichotomy. The most obvious contradiction is the representation of woman. Traditionalism and purity are the foundations for the semiotics of the Bollywood heroine. The keeping and protection of these concepts become major plot points in many films of Indian Popular cinema. Yet the corrupted Indian woman in Bollywood films is often ("Purab Aur Pachhim" is no exception) exploited by the camera for titillation and erotic gazing. These morality films proclaim the sanctity of woman and then features peep show voyeurism of Western corrupted, drunken, mini-skirted or bikini clad actresses in racy item dance numbers and scenes. Quite often a morality films 'bottom line' selling point are the guarantee of liberal doses of revealing shots of Western corrupted Indian woman, and in hindsight they are often the most entertaing elements of the films. It is an interesting formula that is due for discussion and reassessment.

Photo gallery of Saira Banu from "Purab Aur Pachhim"