Saudagar (1973 film)
Encyclopedia
Saudagar is a 1973 Bollywood
film, directed by Sudhendu Roy, and based on Bengali story, Ras by Narendranath Mitra
. It stars Nutan Behl as Mijuben and Amitabh Bachchan
as Moti, in the leading roles. It also featured Trilok Kapoor, Padma Khanna
as Phoolbanu. Murad, Leela Mishra
as (Badi Bhi), Dev Kishan, Jugnu; V. Gopal are also featured in the movie.
" (unrefined concentrated cane sugar) trader who used to trade the seasonal Gur made of Khajur" (date-nectar). During off season, he met a girl Phoolbanu, and fell in love with her. Moti approached PhoolBanu's father, who asked for mehar(Dowry) which he did not have. Moti starts saving money for mehar.
Mejuben (Nutan) was a widow who was Moti's business associate who used to prepare the Gur for him to sell. Her Gur (and consequently Moti's) was very famous and people always preferred to buy from Moti. Moti gets an idea to save even more for the Meher. He decides to get married to Mejuben so that he does not have to pay her, and hence can save more and sooner. Mejuben, unaware of Moti's ulterior motive, is first surprised by the proposal but latter accepts it. They started living together working very hard to make Gur. At the end of the season, Moti saves enough for the Meher, and divorces Mejuben.
This incident shocks Mejuben and people of the community and Mejuben once again becomes alone. Moti meets Phoolbanu's father and ask for the daughter. As per condition her father got the Mehar and he married off her daugheter(Phoolbanu) with Moti.
Moti and Phulbanu were happy to start with till the Gur season arrived. The only trade Moti knew was to collect nectar from Date-palms sell Gur made out of them. That was his livelihood, but Phulbanu didn't know to make Gur to save herself! She would make very bad Gur, and his customers would hate the Gur, and his business started plummeting till people stopped buying from his shop.
In the mean time, a fish trader(Majhi) asked Mejuben to marry him. He was honest with her to say that he had small children and wanted Mejuben look after them. He always treated her with curtsy. It was almost the end of the Gur season, and Moti had not made good profit that year as Phulbanu was not able to prepare tasty gur. He finally was left with no other option than to request Mejuben to make a few vats of Gur for him to sell. He took two cans of date-nectar and approached Mejuben at her husband's house to request her to make him some Gur to sell. He was followed by Phulbanu who had seen him going somewhere while she was on way to her father's house. At first Mejuben was very angry seeing Moti but on hearing him she understood that he was in a pitiful condition. She also saw Phulbanu who was listening everything from behind a fence. As the eyes of the two ladies met they started weeping and hugged each other. The movie ends with this scene leaving unclear whether Mejuben prepared gur for Moti or not and whether she actually taught Phulbanu how to prepare tasty gur. The second proposition seems plausible as in the end of the film Phulbanu had called Mejuben as 'Apa" which translates to 'sister' which was accepted by Mejuben and it is very possible that the whole issue got resolved and relations between Moti and Mejuben became better though the character changed.
. He composed several memorable songs for the movie, notably Sajana hai Mujhe Sajna Ke liye& Kyon Laayo Sainya Paan by Asha Bhosle, Har hansi cheej ka by Kishore Kumar, Door hai kinara by Manna Dey and Tera Mera Saath Rahe by Lata Mangeshakar.
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film, directed by Sudhendu Roy, and based on Bengali story, Ras by Narendranath Mitra
Narendranath Mitra
-Biography:He was born in Faridpur in modern day Bangladesh. He was based in Kolkata, now in India at the time of partition in 1947, and chose to remain in India when his birthplace fell to the share of Pakistan....
. It stars Nutan Behl as Mijuben and Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
as Moti, in the leading roles. It also featured Trilok Kapoor, Padma Khanna
Padma Khanna
Padma Khanna is an Indian actress, dancer and director. She appeared mainly in Hindi and Bhojpuri films in the 1970 and 80s....
as Phoolbanu. Murad, Leela Mishra
Leela Mishra
Leela Mishra was an Indian film actor, who worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, eventually playing stock characters like aunts, Chachi or Mausi...
as (Badi Bhi), Dev Kishan, Jugnu; V. Gopal are also featured in the movie.
Plot
Moti (Amitabh Bachchan) was a "gurJaggery
Jaggery is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal whole cane sugar consumed in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in color...
" (unrefined concentrated cane sugar) trader who used to trade the seasonal Gur made of Khajur" (date-nectar). During off season, he met a girl Phoolbanu, and fell in love with her. Moti approached PhoolBanu's father, who asked for mehar(Dowry) which he did not have. Moti starts saving money for mehar.
Mejuben (Nutan) was a widow who was Moti's business associate who used to prepare the Gur for him to sell. Her Gur (and consequently Moti's) was very famous and people always preferred to buy from Moti. Moti gets an idea to save even more for the Meher. He decides to get married to Mejuben so that he does not have to pay her, and hence can save more and sooner. Mejuben, unaware of Moti's ulterior motive, is first surprised by the proposal but latter accepts it. They started living together working very hard to make Gur. At the end of the season, Moti saves enough for the Meher, and divorces Mejuben.
This incident shocks Mejuben and people of the community and Mejuben once again becomes alone. Moti meets Phoolbanu's father and ask for the daughter. As per condition her father got the Mehar and he married off her daugheter(Phoolbanu) with Moti.
Moti and Phulbanu were happy to start with till the Gur season arrived. The only trade Moti knew was to collect nectar from Date-palms sell Gur made out of them. That was his livelihood, but Phulbanu didn't know to make Gur to save herself! She would make very bad Gur, and his customers would hate the Gur, and his business started plummeting till people stopped buying from his shop.
In the mean time, a fish trader(Majhi) asked Mejuben to marry him. He was honest with her to say that he had small children and wanted Mejuben look after them. He always treated her with curtsy. It was almost the end of the Gur season, and Moti had not made good profit that year as Phulbanu was not able to prepare tasty gur. He finally was left with no other option than to request Mejuben to make a few vats of Gur for him to sell. He took two cans of date-nectar and approached Mejuben at her husband's house to request her to make him some Gur to sell. He was followed by Phulbanu who had seen him going somewhere while she was on way to her father's house. At first Mejuben was very angry seeing Moti but on hearing him she understood that he was in a pitiful condition. She also saw Phulbanu who was listening everything from behind a fence. As the eyes of the two ladies met they started weeping and hugged each other. The movie ends with this scene leaving unclear whether Mejuben prepared gur for Moti or not and whether she actually taught Phulbanu how to prepare tasty gur. The second proposition seems plausible as in the end of the film Phulbanu had called Mejuben as 'Apa" which translates to 'sister' which was accepted by Mejuben and it is very possible that the whole issue got resolved and relations between Moti and Mejuben became better though the character changed.
Music
The music for the film was composed by the versatile composer Ravindra JainRavindra Jain
Ravindra Jain is an Indian music composer and lyricist. He won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1985.-Early life:...
. He composed several memorable songs for the movie, notably Sajana hai Mujhe Sajna Ke liye& Kyon Laayo Sainya Paan by Asha Bhosle, Har hansi cheej ka by Kishore Kumar, Door hai kinara by Manna Dey and Tera Mera Saath Rahe by Lata Mangeshakar.
Cast
- NutanNutanNutan Behl , better known as Nutan , was an Indian actress. She appeared in more than 70 Hindi films in a career spanning over four decades...
... Mahjubhi - Amitabh BachchanAmitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
... Moti - Trilok Kapoor
- Padma KhannaPadma KhannaPadma Khanna is an Indian actress, dancer and director. She appeared mainly in Hindi and Bhojpuri films in the 1970 and 80s....
... Phoolbanu - MuradMurad (actor)Murad was an Indian character actor who appeared more than 100 Bollywood films from the early 1940s through to the end of the 1980s playing character roles ranging from a father, uncle, police officer, courtroom judge or an emperor. His son Raza Murad is also an actor in the Bollywood industry who...
- Leela MishraLeela MishraLeela Mishra was an Indian film actor, who worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, eventually playing stock characters like aunts, Chachi or Mausi...
... Badi Bhi - Dev Kishan
- JugnuJugnuJugnu is a 1973 Indian Hindi movie produced and directed by Pramod Chakravorty. The story is about an extremely Intelligent crook with a "Golden" Heart who has the remarkable ability to steal from the most protected setups. The movie also stars Hema Malini , Lalita Pawar, Mehmood, Prem Chopra,...
- V. Gopal
- C.S. Dubey