Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam () is a 1962 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Abrar Alvi, produced & co–directed by Guru Dutt, who also co-stars in it alongside Meena Kumari, Rehman, and Waheeda Rehman. It is a remake of the 1956 Bengali film Saheb Bibi Golam, which itself is based on Bimal Mitra's 1953 novel of the same name. It is set in the 19th century during the British Raj and focuses on Bhoothnath (Dutt), who meets Chhoti Bahu (Kumari), the lonely wife of a zamindar (Rehman). The film follows Chhoti Bahu's effort to keep her husband—who likes drinking and watching tawaifs perform—at their home by drinking with him. She becomes addicted to alcohol, leading both of them into bankruptcy.
The book's rights were bought after his production venture Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) became commercially successful and covered his company's loss following the failure of Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), his previous directorial project. Mitra and Alvi took a year to write the screenplay, facing difficulties in translating the novel from Bengali to Hindi. Principal photography took place in Andheri and Dhanyakuria with cinematographer V. K. Murthy; the film was edited by Y. G. Chawhan. Hemant Kumar composed the soundtrack and Shakeel Badayuni wrote the lyrics.
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was released on 29 July 1962. Although it commercially failed with a gross of , it garnered positive responses from critics; most appreciation was given to the cast's performances, particularly that of Kumari, and Murthy's cinematography. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam won four Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Alvi, and Best Actress for Kumari. It also received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Sixth Best Indian Film, and Alvi was awarded the Best Director trophy at the latter function. The film was chosen as the Indian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film but it was not nominated.
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam became a milestone of Bollywood and is considered among the most important films in Dutt's career. In 2012, its screenplay was published as a book titled Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam: The Original Screenplay, which also contains interviews with the film's cast and crew. On the centenary of Indian cinema in 2013, IBN Live included Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam in their listing of "100 Greatest Indian Films of All Time".
Plot In Calcutta, a group of labourers is demolishing the ruins of an old haveli. When the workers break for lunch, the overseer walks around the site. As he sits, a flashback to the late 19th century begins.
The lower-class yet educated Atulya "Bhoothnath" Chakraborty arrives in the colonial Calcutta looking for work. Along with his brother-in-law, he lives in the haveli of the Choudhury zamindar family. Bhoothnath meets Subinay, a dedicated member of the religious sect Brahmo Samaj, and the owner of the factory Mohini Sindoor. Subinay's daughter Jabba hears their conversation and is amused by the behaviour of Bhoothnath, whom she considers an unsophisticated rural dweller. Over time, the two develop an attraction to each other. Bhoothnath becomes fascinated with the goings-on in the haveli and every night he observes the Choudhury brothers' decadent lifestyle.
One night, Bansi, another servant at the haveli, introduces Bhoothnath to the younger zamindar’s wife, Chhoti Bahu. She pleads with him to bring her some Mohini sindoor, believing it will help mend her strained marriage to Chhote Babu, who spends most of his time with a dancing girl. Moved by her sorrow, Bhoothnath unintentionally becomes her secret confidant. When her efforts to win back her husband’s affection fail, she begins drinking with him in a bid to keep him close.
In the meanwhile, Subinay falls ill and closes the factory as he is unable to manage it due to his ill health. He also fixes Jabba's marriage to Supavitra, who is also a Brahmo Samaj member. Learning about this, a heartbroken Bhoothnath leaves from there. He becomes a trainee architect and is assigned to work on a project in a different town.
A few months later, he comes back to enquire on his mentor Subinay's health, and learns that he has succumbed to his illness. After the death of Subinay, Jabba breaks her engagement to Supavitra. Bhoothnath also discovers that long ago he and Jabba were betrothed as children.
When Bhootnath visits the haveli, he sees it has been partially ruined and the Choudhurys have fallen on bad times. Chhoti Bahu is now a desperate alcoholic and her husband is paralysed. He chastises her on her drinking and they have an argument. Their conversation is overheard by the elder zamindar Majhle Babu, who suspects Chhoti Bahu is having an affair with Bhoothnath.
One night, when Chhoti Bahu asks Bhoothnath to accompany her to a nearby shrine to pray for her husband; Majhle Babu orders his henchmen to chase them. Bhoothnath and Chhoti Bahu travel in a carriage, but Majhle Babu's henchmen stop it. Bhoothnath is knocked unconscious and Chhoti Bahu is abducted. When he wakes up in the hospital, Bansi tells Bhoothnath that Chhoti Bahu has disappeared and her husband is dead.
The flashback ends. Bhoothnath's workers inform him a skeleton has been found in the ruins of the haveli. From the jewellery on the corpse, Bhoothnath realises it is the remains of Chhoti Bahu. In the last scene, a nostalgic Bhoothnath rides away in a carriage with Jabba, who is now his wife.
Cast The cast is listed below:
Meena Kumari as Chhoti Bahu Guru Dutt as Atulya "Bhoothnath" Chakraborty Rehman as Chhote Babu Waheeda Rehman as Jaba D. K. Sapru as Majhle Babu Harindranath Chattopadhyay as Ghari Babu Pratima Devi as Badi Bahu S. N. Banerjee as a tanga driver Nazir Hussain as Subinay Babu Dhumal as Bansi Minoo Mumtaz as dancer in the song "Saakiya Aaj Mujhe" Chanda Kalrani as Chinta, Chhoti Bahu's maid
Production Development
Guru Dutt wanted to adapt Bimal Mitra's novel Saheb Bibi Golam (1953) into a film after reading it and watching its staged version at Rang Mahal Theatre, Calcutta, with his wife Geeta, Mitra, and Abrar Alvi. This marked the novel's second cinematic adaptation after the 1956 version. The novel was written in and never translated from Bengali. Dutt asked Alvi to write a screenplay; according to Alvi, he was surprised Dutt gave him the offer because Dutt had previously discharged him from his company Guru Dutt Movies Pvt. Ltd. after Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), in which Alvi served as the screenwriter, became a flop and he could not pay his workers. Since then, Dutt decided not to direct any films he worked on. After his next release Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) commercially succeeded, he was able to save the studio from bankruptcy and later acquired the rights of Saheb Bibi Golam. Dutt and Alvi started translating the novel to Hindi but Alvi was not fluent in Bengali. They tried translating it word-for-word but realised the process would be really slow and stopped after a few days.
Dutt invited Mitra, who lived in Calcutta, to visit him at a bungalow Dutt rented in Khandala. Alvi said Dutt was thorough on any aspects of his projects and that the bungalow was used to ensure both Mitra and Alvi concentrated on writing the screenplay. After arriving in Khandala, Mitra and Alvi invited a "Mr. Mukherjee", who was fluent in Bengali and Hindi, to be a "bridge between us". The translator, however, gave up after fifteen days, asking them to do the rest by themselves. Alvi said the screenplay was written "slowly but surely"; he and Mitra made many changes to the story so the film would be fit with Hindi audience's interest. For instance, they removed several characters who appear in the novel version, including Swami Vivekananda, and made Bhoothnath more naïve and less educated. Dutt's biographer Nasreen Munni Kabir estimated the translating took two months and said Dutt, who was impressed by the screenplay, suggested Alvi to direct the film. Yasser Usman reported it was the first time the screenplay of a film Dutt produced was finished before filming began. In preparation, Alvi was sent to Calcutta to learn about the Bengali milieu and the zamindars background.
Casting
Dutt and Alvi completed the casting; their first choice to play Bhoothnath was Shashi Kapoor, who was invited for a meeting with Dutt but he arrived two-and-a-half hours late, which irritated Dutt, who then declined to cast him. Biswajit Chatterjee, who portrayed Bhoothnath in the play, became Dutt's next choice; he and Chatterjee had dinner at the Grand Hotel to discuss it. The film was to be Chatterjee's Bollywood debut but his friends and fans informed him his popularity among Bengali people was increasing, so he reluctantly rejected the offer, a decision he later regretted. The role was eventually played by Dutt, who had to shave his moustache to make him look younger.
Chhaya Arya, the wife of the photographer Jitendra Arya, was suggested to portray Chhoti Bahu. Living in London, the film's production team asked her to move to Bombay (now Mumbai). In October 1960, she arrived there for a photograph session. When seeing the results, Dutt felt she was not too wanton- or motherly-looking for the role. He searched for a more suitable female actor and chose Meena Kumari for the role. In 1953, Kumari lost the opportunity to be cast for a role in Devdas (1955), which was eventually given to Suchitra Sen, Kumari's husband Kamal Amrohi refused his offers, feeling Chhoti Bahu had a negative reputation; he asked for but Dutt could pay only. Kumari persuaded Dutt she was the only actor who was capable of playing the role and, by 1962, she finally got the role. Alvi said Kumari was entranced by the film's themes and saw the role had the potential to boost her career.
The film marked the sixth collaboration between Waheeda Rehman and Dutt. In Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Waheeda Rehman stars as the "couldn't-care-less carefree" Jabba. After reading the novel, she wanted to play Chhoti Bahu but Dutt felt she was too young for that role, saying she looked more like a girl than a woman. Still insisting, she asked Dutt and the film's cinematographer V. K. Murthy for a photograph session in which she would dress up as Chhoti Bahu, wearing a Bengali sari and a tilaka. After looking at the photographs, Murthy agreed with Dutt and likened her to a child. When Alvi was appointed to direct the film, he called in Waheeda Rehman was and offered her the part of Jabba. Dutt disapproved of this casting because she was an established actress and he did not want her cast as the second female lead after Kumari. According to Dutt, the film's title represents its three leads; Sahib for Rehman, Bibi for Kumari, and Ghulam for Dutt, but these excluded Waheeda Rehman. She, however, told Dutt she was fine by it.
Filming Principal photography for Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam took place in Andheri and a forty-to-fifty-room haveli in Dhanyakuria. It started on 1 January 1961 with a muhurat ceremony that was attended by the film's production team. The cinematographer was Murthy and the sets were designed by Biren Nag. Bhanu Athaiya, who knew little about Bengali people and their looks, designed the costumes; Dutt sent her to Calcutta to prepare for filming. According to Usman, Athaiya was also involved in the film's directing, especially that of the song sequences, though only Alvi's name appears in the credits.