In Calcutta (Kolkata) a group of labourers is demolishing the ruins of an old haveli(mansion) When the workers have a break for lunch, the overseer atulya chakrabortya also known as bhootnath is played by guru dutt walks around the ruined and almost demolished mansion he hears a voice of someone similar he sits in a room and a flashback to the late 19th century when the mansion was very grand and even had marriages for cats begins
It shows Bhoothnath a poor but educated man comes to the haveli and is received by his brother in law who once worked for the Chaudharys. As a teacher he has retired but the rich people still give him shelter and food he arranged a stay for bhootnath in the mansion and he also gets him a job at mohini sindoor (vermilion company)the owner of company suvinoy is a brahmo samaj believer (something religious)his daughter jaba played by waheeda rehman makes fun of bhoothnath for his nick name, suvinoy gets surprised by his real name and where bhoothnath says he came from and the secret is revealed later on bhoothnath and jaba soon become friends and eventually fall in love bhootnath also meets bansi who's a servant of the house he also hears a loney voice in the night the same one he heard in the present he asks a servant bansi who that is bansi tells him it's chotti Bahu (played by Meena Kumari) is neglected by her husband even after she tries to do everything to win his heart bansi also tells bhootnath that chottay sarkar (rehmaan Khan) goes to brothels every night leaving chotti Bahu lonely after a day bansi tells that chotti Bahu has called to meet him in secret he is scared but he goes there he meets Meena Kumari and they both become friendly with eachother (not romantically) and she tells him the reason she called him is because she wants the sindoor because she heard it helps relationships and he gets her sindoor the next day and then we see Meena Kumari getting dressed up for chottay sarkar hoping he will stay with her I won't tell you the story any further.
The acting in this was very good especially Meena kumaris the story is abit slow at the start but it was good it's also a adaption of Bengali novel by Bimal Mitra and meena Kumari doesn't appear until 45 minutes most of us probably think it's about bhootnath but it's not it's about chotti Bahu every actors acted were well and in my opinion its one of the best old Hindi movies in acting the costumes were delightfull to see to the songs were amazing one of the best songs in the movie include Piya aiso jiya mein na jao Saiyan and bhanwara bara nadan hai both Geeta Dutt and asha bhosle sang very well it hemant kumar was great as a music director the movie also won 4 or 5 flimfare awards and 3 or more nominations the wins were best actress for meena Kumari best cinematography best director for abrar alvi and best flim award it also won best actor Bengal journalist award and also won a berlin award for abrar alvi waheeda rehman got nominated for best supporting actress guru dutt got nominated for flimfare best actor and rehman got nominated for best supporting actor and meena kumari also got nominated for aarti and main chup rahungi for the year 1963 and she also won the 1963 flimfare awards best actress award by her role as chotti Bahu in 1963 overall I'd recommend you to watch it.
It shows Bhoothnath a poor but educated man comes to the haveli and is received by his brother in law who once worked for the Chaudharys. As a teacher he has retired but the rich people still give him shelter and food he arranged a stay for bhootnath in the mansion and he also gets him a job at mohini sindoor (vermilion company)the owner of company suvinoy is a brahmo samaj believer (something religious)his daughter jaba played by waheeda rehman makes fun of bhoothnath for his nick name, suvinoy gets surprised by his real name and where bhoothnath says he came from and the secret is revealed later on bhoothnath and jaba soon become friends and eventually fall in love bhootnath also meets bansi who's a servant of the house he also hears a loney voice in the night the same one he heard in the present he asks a servant bansi who that is bansi tells him it's chotti Bahu (played by Meena Kumari) is neglected by her husband even after she tries to do everything to win his heart bansi also tells bhootnath that chottay sarkar (rehmaan Khan) goes to brothels every night leaving chotti Bahu lonely after a day bansi tells that chotti Bahu has called to meet him in secret he is scared but he goes there he meets Meena Kumari and they both become friendly with eachother (not romantically) and she tells him the reason she called him is because she wants the sindoor because she heard it helps relationships and he gets her sindoor the next day and then we see Meena Kumari getting dressed up for chottay sarkar hoping he will stay with her I won't tell you the story any further.
The acting in this was very good especially Meena kumaris the story is abit slow at the start but it was good it's also a adaption of Bengali novel by Bimal Mitra and meena Kumari doesn't appear until 45 minutes most of us probably think it's about bhootnath but it's not it's about chotti Bahu every actors acted were well and in my opinion its one of the best old Hindi movies in acting the costumes were delightfull to see to the songs were amazing one of the best songs in the movie include Piya aiso jiya mein na jao Saiyan and bhanwara bara nadan hai both Geeta Dutt and asha bhosle sang very well it hemant kumar was great as a music director the movie also won 4 or 5 flimfare awards and 3 or more nominations the wins were best actress for meena Kumari best cinematography best director for abrar alvi and best flim award it also won best actor Bengal journalist award and also won a berlin award for abrar alvi waheeda rehman got nominated for best supporting actress guru dutt got nominated for flimfare best actor and rehman got nominated for best supporting actor and meena kumari also got nominated for aarti and main chup rahungi for the year 1963 and she also won the 1963 flimfare awards best actress award by her role as chotti Bahu in 1963 overall I'd recommend you to watch it.