Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, 1962
Director: Abrar Alvi
Music Director: Hemanta Mukherjee
Lyrics: Shakeel Badayuni
Choreography: Sohanlal
Cinematography: V.K. Murthy
Playback: Asha Bhosle, Hemant Kumar, Geeta Dutt
Cast:
Meena Kumari as Chhoti Bahu
Guru Dutt as Atulya "Bhoothnath" Chakraborty
Rehman as Chhote Babu
Waheeda Rehman as Jabba
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 as Chinta, Chhoti Bahu's maid.
English subtitles included.
The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema says this about the film:
After the failure at the box office of Kaagaz
Ke Phool (1959), Guru Dutt had let M. Sadiq
direct his Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960)
before making this elegiac movie which he
credited to his long-term collaborator and
scenarist, Alvi. Taken from a classic Bengali
novel, the story is set in the 19th C. zamindari
milieu of the Choudhury household. It is seen
through the eyes of the lower-class but
educated Bhoothnath (Dutt) who arrives in
colonial Calcutta looking for work (while
British troops loot the shops). Through his city
relative Bhoothnath finds accomodation in the
Choudhury haveli (ancestral mansion) while
working at the Mohini Sindoor factory, which
allows the narrative to move from the
aristocratically indolent world of the zamindars
to the more prosaic one of the Brahmo Samaj.
The plot has the hero being fascinated by the
lady of the house Chhoti Bahu (M. Kumari),
whose husband (Rehman) prefers the company
of dancing-girls and all-night drinking bouts.
The film gradually gives way to a darker mood
as the family loses its fortune and descends to
ruin while Chhoti Bahu becomes an alcoholic.
At times compared to Satyajit Ray’s
Jalsaghar (1958) as a commentary on
Bengal’s decaying feudalism, Dutt’s film is a
romantic and somewhat nostalgic tale about a
bygone era, presenting the past and the future
through the contradictory attitudes of two
female figures. Meena Kumari’s skilful
performance, redolent with sensuality (e.g. the
scene where she entices her husband to stay by
her side through the song Na jao saiyan, sung
by Geeta Dutt), is counterpointed by Waheeda
Rehman’s robust and girlish presence (esp. in
the Bhanwra bada nadaan number sung by
Asha Bhosle). The film itself is told entirely in
flashback and the long shadows of history
invade the images in sequences such as the
Saakiya aaj mujhe neend number (sung by
Asha Bhosle) where all the dancers are seen in
shadow while the singing courtesan (Minoo
Mumtaz) is bathed in light.
It won Filmfare awards for Best Film, Director, Actress, Cinematography, and Hindi Feature Film.
Here's a playlist of the seven songs:
• Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam ...
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
The Indian copyright law:
copyright.gov.i...
INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957 CHAPTER I Preliminary (f)
"cinematograph film" means any work of visual recording on any medium produced through a process from which a moving image may be produced by any means and includes a sound recording accompanying such visual recording and cinematograph shall be construed as including any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography including video films.”
"CHAPTER V Term of Copyright 26.Term of copyright in cinematograph films.
In the case of a cinematograph film, copyright shall subsist until sixty years from the beginning of the calendar year next following the year in which the film is published."
My words:
Indian film copyright (including video, dialog, music, lyrics, songs) lasts for sixty years and any film and its songs released more than sixty years ago is in the public domain. No extensions, no renewals, no exceptions. This film is no longer protected by copyright.

[@Bikashchandra227]

गुरुदत्तजी का फिल्म मैं ज्यादा तो देखा नहीं है। लेकिन यह फिल्म देखने के बाद मेरे पसंद का एक्टर के लिस्ट में शामिल कर लिया। इस फिल्म की परिचालक और सभी कलाकारों को धन्यवाद के साथ नमस्कार। इस विशाल 700 पन्नों की उपन्यास को ढाई घंटे की फिल्म रूप में, जो भी घटना को दिखाया गया ,इस से बहुत ही संतुष्ट की बात है। उपन्यास की बहुत सारे घटना,बहुत सारे किरदार ना दिखाते हुए भी फिल्म बहुत ही लाजवाब तैयार किया है। धन्यवाद 👌👌🙏🙏

[@varshap4136]

Bimal Mitra's "Bicchde sabhi bhari bhari" is a very good book on Guru Dutt ji🙏 Mitra ji is the writer of this novel.

[@kaushalyachauhan4060]

Ll​ 38:31 @@varshap4136

[@RaghuvirVarma]

What a great way to start the week! Thank you for this, Tom. Your Guru Dutt collection is now complete. Allow us fans to devour the collection and rejoice!

[@tommydan55]

Thanks. I wish I had decent copies of Jaal and Baaz on which to work, though.

[@RaghuvirVarma]

@@tommydan55I am trying to be optimistic, as Ultra, for once, managed to conjure up something out of Aar-Paar whose print was basically a ramshackle all these years. Their work on the film is the most credible among the other Guru Dutt films that they’ve worked on. Film restoration in India is seeing a tiny bit of a paradigm shift, with some news appearing on international restorations for these films, including the Criterion supporting with restorations of Devdas and Madhumati, as per a Times Of India article. By the way, I got the privilege to watch Roy’s Devdas in a theatre last month, which was part of a Dilip Kumar film festival. It was a breathtaking experience, no thanks to the worn-out print that was used for screening (claimed to be digitized by NFAI). The magic of the film had me riveted, the technical issues of the print notwithstanding. I can only imagine how beautiful the film would look when restored properly.

[@tommydan55]

@@RaghuvirVarma Yes, I've also seen the decent restored version of Aar Paar. It's much better than mine here because what I started with was just so awful. And as you mentioned, the 'restored' versions of both Pyaasa and Kaaghaz Ke Phool are almost laughable. Thanks for the news of Criterion being involved in some Hindi film restorations.

[@abdullahal-mamun1053]

@@tommydan55are there any english subtitles? i dont know hindi

[@tommydan55]

@@abdullahal-mamun1053 I don't know Hindi either. This film includes English subtitles. To see them hit the "CC" button under the film.

[@ingitgangwar7859]

What a great print Sir Tommy Dan !! I'm very grateful to you. All movies of Guruduttji you've uploaded are in excellent print and perfect aspect ratio. They are a treasure for fans of Guruduttji like me. THANKYOU very much SIR ! A Gurudut fan.

[@tommydan55]

You're welcome. And thank you for the kind words. While this film and Pyaasa and Kaaghaz Ke Phool look good, I wish I had a better source for Aar Paar as it's not so good. And my sources for Jaal and Baaz are so bad I've decided not to work on them until I can find something better. Aspect ratio, yes, they will always be in the correct aspect ratio, unlike other idiotic channels.

[@renukapaul6688]

What great acting. Meena Kumari ji's best film. Her acting as a devoted wife craving for husband's affection to an alcoholic woman committed to please her husband is just beyond words. Wonderful direction of Guru Dutt ji. Beautiful film, great story, evergreen songs and excellent actors. One of the best of Hindi Cinema.

[@debarghyaroy9948]

Goodness gracious! I was thinking of collecting the songs on an old record but I am bewitched by the sound here. Perfect aspect ratio, no dumb watermark and what amazing sound! My subwoofers are working well for the songs! If only we had 720p! I need to get the audio of the songs in HD from this print. I am giving up on the first issue of the record for now. Thank❤you!

[@tommydan55]

You're welcome. I guess you spotted the playlist for the songs in the video information provided for the film? Although most similar channels blow up standard-def sources to HD, they can't create HD detail. As most Indian sourced DVDs and online sources come from VHS tapes originally, in my opinion there's not much point in blowing it up to HD. You can compare this with other (HD) versions on KZbin to decide for yourself if they have more detail and look better than this version.

[@debarghyaroy9948]

@@tommydan55 Oh no, they look crap compared to this! Did I mention my jaw just dropped thanks to the audio quality?

[@rahulbuddhadev8976]

Marvellous, a masterpiece.....

[@snowcherryleopard]

Thank you for posting one of the best hindi movies of all time

[@hsanghvi312]

I am a new subscriber to your channel. As a fan of old hindustani classics, can not thank you enough for your restoration work and giving a new life to them.

[@tommydan55]

Thanks. I appreciate that. And you chose my favorite film of all on which to leave your comment. I hope you'll find many more to watch.

[@rikali6998]

My meena!

[@AshishMittar77]

Old Vintage movies & Actors always Evergreen...Beautiful Scenes,Dialogue,Story,Songs,Background locations & Music.

[@harshtheman]

oh, i'm so grateful to you!!!!

[@अलीरज़ा-त8ढ]

I love this movie. I keep thinking about it. Thank you Tommy. It takes a lot of patience to do the work to improve the image and sound quality, but when you love movies that are badly preserved and wish also for others to see them in a proper way, I suppose it's easier to feel motivated. Another channel uploaded it without any improvement in the quality (which already made me happy), and obviously those who shall not be named have uploaded their "enhanced" version (I suppose made in five minutes with a free app from the play store), so I can see how big the differences are. Only your version looks and sounds this good. One can appreciate better so much about it, even the music, also because it's not sped up. Me and many others are very grateful for your work.

[@tommydan55]

Thank you for the kind words. I just went to check on other versions here on KZbin. The Ultra one is a disaster - very bad contrast levels. The Sadabahar (Shemaroo) one is awful. One is stolen from me and ruined. Cinecurry's and SEPL's are their usual junk - blasted white levels, crushed black levels, very bad aspect ratio. It looks like the Cinema Scope one was stolen from Ultra. So I can't find which you see as "enhanced". Doesn't matter. Thanks again.

[@अलीरज़ा-त8ढ]

@@tommydan55 You're welcome. I'm sorry I caused you to check again those awful versions. 😅 I write in english but still think in my own language, so maybe I didn't translate the sarcasm well. There's no upload of the movie worth checking other than yours, so there's nothing to find.

[@tommydan55]

@@अलीरज़ा-त8ढ Oh, okay. I thought maybe I missed one. By the way, all the Guru Dutt films, like this one, from Indian media companies (Ultra for Guru Dutt films) are just horrible. But this version of the film was sourced from a French DVD of the film and they didn't restore it at all, but they didn't ruin it either, as the Indian media companies always do.

[@अलीरज़ा-त8ढ]

@@tommydan55 It seems only a dream to have proper blu-ray or at least dvd releases, considering not only how bad the supposed to be restored versions usually look, but, like you pointed out, the absolute lack of care in preserving the movies. It amused me that when those who shall not be named released the "restored" Mughal-e-Azam, they kept talking about what a great effort it was, what a great work they did. Criterion quietly released Satyajit Ray's The goddess and theirs is an actual restored version. It's noteworthy that the original camera negative was lost by the Indians, so they had to work with what other countries had preserved. Foreigners care more about Indian cinema than Indians themselves.

[@tommydan55]

@@अलीरज़ा-त8ढ I actually bought the "restored" Mughal-e-Azam. I knew it had been colorized but thought they'd at least include the restored black and white version. No such luck. And they butchered it by turning it into "widescreen" as well. Completely useless to me. Oh well. Yes, all the Satyajit Ray films have been restored. I have the Apu Trilogy and Jalsaghar and they are wonderful.

[@ashfakahmad5810]

Tnx a lot 4 uploading the movie.

[@JyotiPhule-ls6eb]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@goldeneramovies1950]

It is in nice resolution,great work

[@manuelabielefeld6809]

Breathtaking quality...I was just thinking the other day that SBaG is in the public domain now, and will Thomas upload it soon...And here it is!

[@tommydan55]

Yep, here it is. I've been looking forward to finally being able to make the film available, not least because several years ago when this channel featured both public domain and copyrighted films, after I uploaded it Ultra sent me a copyright takedown notice (a strike). And if you go and have a look at their versions of the film here on KZbin, they are absolutely atrocious, so bad that Ultra should be embarrassed even to have them on KZbin. Thanks for appreciating the quality, Ms. Bielefeld.

[@bani4249]

Tommy, thank you so much for the film. The print is excellent ❤ and special thanks for the availability of English subtitles

[@tommydan55]

Thanks for appreciating the video quality of the upload. I need subtitles also and try to include them whenever possible.

[@an-ic6gs]

A humble request from UK please please please please kindly upload movie on orphen shelter home "main chup rahungi" Hope you will consider our request as soon as possible. thanks ,our children will look forward to see .

[@reenagupta779]

Beautiful ❤️ movie 🎥

[@juneg1964]

Great movie. Thanks for sharing.

[@shyamvlogs2664]

Best channel and best movie

[@maheshthakker9332]

Superb God Bless you

[@varshap4136]

Guru dutt ji ❤️

[@kameshwarprasad6129]

Excellent film

[@ravindrawarkari3099]

एकदम सुदंर फोटोग्राफी

[@goldeneramovies1950]

Do you have half ticket (1962) -full version of 168 minutes which is not shown in KZbin?

[@alyanjamali-zd3sn]

😮❤🤗🤗

[@theclock2874]

Goat movie 🎥🎥

[@BiswajitBiswas-cq8yl]

Please upload bengali version

[@paulinefriend9455]

Beautiful movie...

[@tommydan55]

Oh good, you enjoyed and appreciated it. One hesitates to make film recommendations because there's no reason one person's film choices should be the same as another person's. Thanks for reporting back.

[@paulinefriend9455]

@@tommydan55 You have respect for others because you are worth to respect.