Moti is a merchant who sells jaggery in the market, with the help of an older woman, Mahjubhi, who makes exemplary jaggery. He is in love with a village girl, but cannot afford to pay the dowry/marriage expenses to her father. So he decides to marry Mahjubhi, while secretly harbouring the dream of saving enough money for dowry and marrying the village girl. After marrying Majubhi, Moti extracts a lot of work from her to this end. He eventually does collect the amount and divorces her, accusing her of infidelity. Shortly after that he marries the village girl, and goes back to his business of selling jaggery, but faces the consequence of losing Mahjubhi's jaggery.
Acting
Nutan's silent suffering outshines Bachchan's theatrical guilt.
Direction
Sudhendu Roy frames rural commerce as moral battlefield.
Director
Sudhendu Roy
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Nutan reportedly refused to wear makeup for her aging sequences, letting her actual appearance carry the role's time passage.
The film critiques 'khula' (divorce initiated by husband) abuse decades before Muslim personal law debates entered mainstream cinema.
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