Kanoon (1960)

Kailash, a bright young advocate, argues passionately against the death penalty and is engaged to Meena, the daughter of the respected judge Badri Prasad. When a moneylender is found murdered and a petty criminal is caught at the scene, Kailash takes up his defence, but what he saw that night makes him suspect someone far closer to home. In the courtroom he must either save an innocent man or protect the family he is about to join. Kanoon (Law) was a bold experiment for Hindi cinema in 1960: a tight courtroom thriller with no songs at all. B. R. Chopra won the Filmfare Award for Best Director, and the film's sharp argument about circumstantial evidence and capital punishment still holds up.