Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
Encyclopedia
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam is a 1962 Indian Hindi film produced by Guru Dutt
Guru Dutt
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

 and directed by Abrar Alvi
Abrar Alvi
Abrar Alvi was an Indian film writer, director and actor. Most of his notable works are from the 1950s, 1960s done with Guru Dutt. He wrote some of the most respected works of Indian cinema, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Kaagaz Ke Phool, and Pyaasa which have an avid following world over...

. It is based on a Bengali novel, Shaheb Bibi Golam by Bimal Mitra
Bimal Mitra
Bimal Mitra was a prominent Bengali writer who wrote several novels.Bimal Mitra was equally adept in writing in Bengali as well as in Hindi, and has more than one hundred novels and short stories to his credit...

, and is a look into the tragic fall of the haveli
Haveli
Haveli is the term used for a private mansion in India and Pakistan. The word haveli is derived from the Persian word hawli, meaning "an enclosed place"...

-dom and feudalism
Indian feudalism
Feudalism was a social system of medieval European origin, according to which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a...

 in Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

. The title of the movie and the story is a reference to the plot simultaneously exploring a platonic friendship between a beautiful, lonely wife (Bibi) of an aristocrat (Sahib) and a career-driven low-income part-time servant (Ghulam). The film's music is by Hemant Kumar
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay also known as Hemanta Mukherjee was an Bengali singer, composer and producer. He sang in Hindi films under the name Hemant Kumar.-Early life:...

 and lyrics were by Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni was an accomplished Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter.-Early life and background:Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh...

. Cinematography was by V. K. Murthy
V. K. Murthy
V. K. Murthy is an Indian cinematographer. Murthy, a one-time violinist and jailed freedom fighter, was Guru Dutt's regular cameraman on his movies. He provided some of Indian cinema's most breathtaking images in starkly contrasted black and white. He also shot India's first cinemascope movie,...

. The film stars Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

, Rehman
Rehman
Rehman was an Indian film actor whose career spanned from late 1940s through to late 1970s. He was an integral part of the Guru Dutt team, and most known for his roles in films, like Pyaasa , Chaudhvin Ka Chand , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Waqt...

, Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

 and Nasir Hussain.

The film was a major critical and commercial success, with critics attributing it to Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

's performance as Chhoti Bahu, which is regarded as one of the best performances of Hindi cinema. It won four Filmfare Awards
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...

, including Best Movie award, was nominated for the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....

 at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival
13th Berlin International Film Festival
The 13th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1963.-Jury:* Wendy Toye * Harry R. Sokal* Fernando Ayala* Jean-Pierre Melville* B. R...

, and was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars. Indiatimes Movies ranks it amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.

Plot

Bhoothnath (Guru Dutt
Guru Dutt
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

), a middle-age architect, wanders through the ruins of an old haveli.

There is a flashback to the end of the 19th century. The lower-class and educated Bhoothnath arrives in colonial Calcutta looking for work. He lives in the grand haveli of the Choudhurys, a family of zamindars while working beyond its compound at the Mohini Sindoor factory run by Subinay Babu, a dedicated member of the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...

. Subinay Babu's daughter Jaba (Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

) is amused by Bhoothnath whom she considers an unsophisticated rustic. Bhoothnath becomes fascinated with the goings-on in the haveli and every night observes the decadent lifestyle of the Choudhury bothers.

One night the servant, Bansi, takes Bhoothnath to meet the younger zamindar's (Rehman
Rehman
Rehman was an Indian film actor whose career spanned from late 1940s through to late 1970s. He was an integral part of the Guru Dutt team, and most known for his roles in films, like Pyaasa , Chaudhvin Ka Chand , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Waqt...

) wife Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

) who implores him to bring her Mohini Sindoor believing it will keep her unfaithful husband home. Bhoothnath is struck by her beauty and sadness and inadvertently becomes Chhoti Bahu's secret confidante. A bomb explodes in the marketplace and Bhoothnath is injured in the ensuing crossfire between freedom fighters and British soldiers. Jaba looks after him. Bhoothnath becomes a trainee architect and goes away to work on a training project.

Chhoti Bahu's repeated attempts to appease her husband have failed until she becomes his drinking companion to keep him by her side. Bhoothnath returns some years later to Calcutta to find that Subinay Babu has died and that he and Jaba were betrothed as children. He returns to the haveli and is shocked to find it in partial ruins. Chhoti Bahu is now a desperate alcoholic and her husband, paralyzed. She asks Bhoothnath to accompany her to a nearby shrine to pray for her ailing husband. Their conversation is heard by the elder zamindar, Majhle Babu. He orders his henchmen to punish her for consorting with a man outside the Choudhury household. As Bhoothnath and Chhoti Bahu travel in the carriage, it is stopped. Bhoothnath is knocked unconscious and Chhoti Bahu is abducted. When he wakes up in hospital, Bhoothnath is told Chhoti Bahu has disappeared and the younger zamindar is dead. The flashback ends.

Bhoothnath's workers inform him a skeleton is found buried in the ruins of the haveli. From the jewellery on the corpse, Bhoothnath realizes it is the remains of Chhoti Bahu.

The last scene shows a nostalgic Bhoothnath riding away on a carriage with Jaba, who is now is his wife. In this, the filmed version departs significantly from the novel, where Jaba and Bhoothnath do not get a happy ending.

Cast

  • Meena Kumari
    Meena Kumari
    Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

     as Chhoti Bahu
  • Guru Dutt
    Guru Dutt
    Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

     as Atulya Chakraborty 'Bhootnath'
  • Rehman
    Rehman
    Rehman was an Indian film actor whose career spanned from late 1940s through to late 1970s. He was an integral part of the Guru Dutt team, and most known for his roles in films, like Pyaasa , Chaudhvin Ka Chand , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Waqt...

     as Chhote Sarkar
  • Waheeda Rehman
    Waheeda Rehman
    Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

     as Jaba
  • Nasir Hussain as Suvinoy Babu (Jaba's father)
  • Dhumal as Bansi
  • D.K. Sapru as Chaudhary (Majhle Sarkar)
  • Harindranath Chattopadhyay
    Harindranath Chattopadhyay
    Harindranath Chattopadhyay was an Indian English poet, an actor, and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu.-Life:...

     as Ghari Babu

Music

The music of the film was composed by Hemant Kumar
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay also known as Hemanta Mukherjee was an Bengali singer, composer and producer. He sang in Hindi films under the name Hemant Kumar.-Early life:...

. Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni
Shakeel Badayuni was an accomplished Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter.-Early life and background:Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh...

 wrote the lyrics.
Title Singer Picturised on
"Saakhiya Aaj Mujhe Neend Nahin Aayegi" Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded Hindi playback singers in India, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies...

 
Minoo Mumtaz
"Meri Jaan O Meri Jaan" Asha Bhosle
"Piya Aiso Jiya Mein Samaaye Gayo Re" Geeta Dutt
Geeta Dutt
Geetā Dutt was a prominent singer in India. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema...

 
Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari
Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

"Na Jao Saiyan Chhudaake Baiyan" Geeta Dutt Meena Kumari, Rehman
Rehman
Rehman was an Indian film actor whose career spanned from late 1940s through to late 1970s. He was an integral part of the Guru Dutt team, and most known for his roles in films, like Pyaasa , Chaudhvin Ka Chand , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Waqt...

"Koi Door Se Aawaaz De Chale Aao" Geeta Dutt Meena Kumari
"Bhanwara Bada Naadaan" Asha Bhosle Guru Dutt
Guru Dutt
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

, Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

"Meri Baat Rahi Mere Man Mein" Asha Bhosle Waheeda Rehman

Reception

Besides being a commercial success, the film was a huge critical success. To quote the review featured in The Times of India
The Times of India
The Times of India is an Indian English-language daily newspaper. TOI has the largest circulation among all English-language newspaper in the world, across all formats . It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd...

dated 24 June 1962:
Upperstall.com
Upperstall.com
Upperstall.com is a web site on Indian cinema that focuses on classic and independent Indian cinema and its luminaries. It is owned and run by Karan Bali, Saumil Gandhi and Karan Anshuman and launched on 7 July 2000, heralding the 104th anniversary of the first ever motion picture screenings in India...

 commented, "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam is a romantic and somewhat nostalgic tale of a bygone era. The film is a magnificent and sombre work with heightened atmosphere, rich dialogues, haunting cinematography, extraordinary song picturizations and brilliant performances." It also praised Meena Kumari's performance: "While each of the performances are spot on, if there is one person who is the heart and soul of the film, it is Meena Kumari. Her portrayal of Chhoti Bahu is perhaps the greatest performance ever seen on the Indian Screen. The sequence where Chhoti Bahu dresses for her husband singing Piya Aiso Jiya Main is a poignant exploration of a woman's expectations and sexual desire. And later on when she has become a desperate alcoholic, you cannot help but cry with her in the sequence where she pleads with her husband to stay with her and then angrily turns on him to tell him how she has prostituted her basic values and morals to please him. However the common factors between the actress's life and Chhoti Bahu are too dramatic to be merely coincidental - The estranged marital relationship, the taking of alcohol, turning towards younger male company, the craving to be understood and loved - all elements evident in Meena Kumari's own life."

Indiatimes Movies
Indiatimes
Indiatimes is the Internet subsidiary of The Times of India Group, under which, some of the largest websites in India - The Times of India, The Economic Times, Navbharat Times and Maharashtra Times operate....

, while listing it as one of the "25 Must See Bollywood Movies," wrote, "The film remains with you forever simply because of the splendid performance of Meena Kumari."

Awards and nominations

  • 1963: Berlin Film Festival
    13th Berlin International Film Festival
    The 13th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1963.-Jury:* Wendy Toye * Harry R. Sokal* Fernando Ayala* Jean-Pierre Melville* B. R...

    : Golden Bear
    Golden Bear
    According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....

     (Best Motion Picture): nominated
  • 1962: Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
  • Filmfare Award for Best Movie - Guru Dutt
    Guru Dutt
    Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

  • Filmfare Award for Best Director - Abrar Alvi
    Abrar Alvi
    Abrar Alvi was an Indian film writer, director and actor. Most of his notable works are from the 1950s, 1960s done with Guru Dutt. He wrote some of the most respected works of Indian cinema, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Kaagaz Ke Phool, and Pyaasa which have an avid following world over...

  • Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer - V. K. Murthy
  • Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Meena Kumari
    Meena Kumari
    Meena Kumari , born Mahjabeen Bano, was an Indian movie actress and poetess. She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses to have appeared on the screens of Hindi Cinema...

  • Filmfare
    Filmfare
    Filmfare is an English-language tabloid-sized magazine about Indian cinema. Published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate, in Mumbai , it highlights the doings of the Bollywood film scene...

     Nomination for Best Actor - Guru Dutt
    Guru Dutt
    Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone , popularly known as Guru Dutt, was an Indian film director, producer and actor. He is often credited with ushering in the golden era of Hindi cinema...

  • Filmfare
    Filmfare
    Filmfare is an English-language tabloid-sized magazine about Indian cinema. Published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate, in Mumbai , it highlights the doings of the Bollywood film scene...

     Nomination for Best Supporting Actor - Rehman
    Rehman
    Rehman was an Indian film actor whose career spanned from late 1940s through to late 1970s. He was an integral part of the Guru Dutt team, and most known for his roles in films, like Pyaasa , Chaudhvin Ka Chand , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Waqt...

  • Filmfare
    Filmfare
    Filmfare is an English-language tabloid-sized magazine about Indian cinema. Published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate, in Mumbai , it highlights the doings of the Bollywood film scene...

     Nomination for Best Supporting Actress - Waheeda Rehman
    Waheeda Rehman
    Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

  • Filmfare
    Filmfare
    Filmfare is an English-language tabloid-sized magazine about Indian cinema. Published by The Times Group, India's largest media services conglomerate, in Mumbai , it highlights the doings of the Bollywood film scene...

     Nomination for Best Story -Bimal Mitra
    Bimal Mitra
    Bimal Mitra was a prominent Bengali writer who wrote several novels.Bimal Mitra was equally adept in writing in Bengali as well as in Hindi, and has more than one hundred novels and short stories to his credit...

  • National Film Awards
    National Film Awards
    The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

    , President's Silver Medal.
  • Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards
    Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards
    The Bengal Film Journalists' Association is the oldest Association of Film critics in India, founded in 1937, by the inspiration and determination of the handful of pioneers amongst the then thin section of scribes that were drawn to film journalism with a lofty mission to serve the developing...

      - Film of The Year.

Directorial controversy

The controversy about who directed Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam has increased over the years. Since the film is characteristic of Guru Dutt's feel and style, it is difficult to think that he did not direct the film. However, Dutt never denied Abrar Alvi
Abrar Alvi
Abrar Alvi was an Indian film writer, director and actor. Most of his notable works are from the 1950s, 1960s done with Guru Dutt. He wrote some of the most respected works of Indian cinema, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Kaagaz Ke Phool, and Pyaasa which have an avid following world over...

's role in the film nor did he make any counter claims when Alvi won the Filmfare Award for Best Director for the film. Alvi has stated that Dutt did direct the songs but not the film in its entirety. The editor, Y.G. Chawan, says that it was Alvi who sat with him. "Abrar worked so hard on that film but he never got any credit. People say it was produced by Guru Dutt so it had to be Guru Dutt's film." Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...

, one of the film's stars, also confirmed that it was Alvi, not Dutt, who directed it.
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