''Bahu Begum'' is a

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

directed by M. Sadiq, and starring

Pradeep Kumar Pradeep Kumar (born Sital Batabyal; 4 January 1925 – 3 November 2001) was an Indian actor who is recognized for his work in Hindi, Bengali and English-language films. Career When Kumar was 17 years old, he decided to take up acting. He sta ...

Meena Kumari Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano; 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as ''The Tragedy Queen'', she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of ...

and

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

. The film has music by Roshan and lyrics by

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described ...

. This film is known for songs, "Hum Intezaar Karenge Tera Qayamat Tak", sung by

Mohammad Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

and

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

and "Duniya Kare Sawaal" by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her cont ...

. The film is a Muslim period drama set in the erstwhile Era of Lucknow woven around a mythical story of Bahut Begum's manor.

Plot

The film is set in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, where widower, Nawab Mirza Sultan lives with his daughter Zeenat Jahan in an old mansion, as he no longer has much wealth. They pretend to be wealthy, rent out part of the mansion, and the daughter desires luxuries that the father cannot afford. She visits a local jewellery shop to try on jewels (in pretence that she will buy) that she cannot afford. There a rich man, Nawab Sikandar Mirza, sees her and falls in love with her. Zeenat, on the other hand, is in love with Nawab Yusuf, and they meet each other at a nearby Sufi shrine every Thursday. In a twist of fate, Yusuf's uncle connivingly fixes her marriage with Nawab Sikandar Mirza, though she assumes it is with Yusuf. When she finds the truth, it is the day of marriage. Dressed as a bride she goes to the local shrine hoping to meet Yusuf there, as it's Thursday. But because Yousuf is out of town, he never shows up and Zeenat faints. On the other side, the marriage ceremony has commenced without her, as everyone believes that Bride (as per the custom of that time) is in her carriage behind the curtains, and her silence is equivalent to saying "I Do". At Nawab Sikander Mirza's Haveli, the 'doli' comes empty. Unknown to him as to what happened, he and his sister Suraiya hide the fact that Bahu Begum isn't in it, but instead proclaim that she is ill, and thus no one is able to meet her. Zeenat wakes up at the shrine past midnight and returns home but her disgraced and enraged father asks her to leave. She then goes to Yusuf's house to seek shelter, not knowing that he is out of town, and is told by his maternal Uncle, Mir Qurbani Ali, that Yusuf does not love her and has relocated to Allahabad for a few months. She then goes to her in-laws but is unable to speak freely with her 'husband' as he is angry and distracted. Devastated she runs away from there to go back to the nearby

dargah A dargah ( fa, درگاه ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargah'' दरगाह درگاہ, bn, দরগাহ ''dorgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often ...

(Sufi shrine), but trips and falls in front of a horse carriage being ridden by a courtesan, returning from her late night function. Zeenat wakes up at the home of the courtesan, Nazeeran Bai, who had rescued her from the road. Her misfortune has taken her to a Kotha. Her father and supposed husband, meanwhile, are hiding the truth and pretending all is well in order to keep their honour. But thereafter destiny brings her to that place only which is supposed to be her in-laws' house, i.e., the residence of Sikandar Mirza. She is sent there to sit in as "temporary wife" to facilitate the marriage of her sister-in-law Suraiya. When Zeenat arrives, Sikandar Mirza who along with his sister Suraiya is pleasantly surprised to see that the real bride or the Bahu Begum has finally come to her destination. Her arrival is a great sigh of relief for them and now they pleasantly show the Bahu Begum to the outsiders (females only due to the tradition of Muslim ladies' remaining behind the veil in the presence of the males not belonging to them). But Zeenat tells Sikandar Mirza that when the marriage ceremony (Nikah) was being performed by the Qaazi (Muslim priest), she was not present at the place behind the curtain and she had not given her consent for the marriage as per the custom of the Nikaah and therefore, she is not his wife as per the law and the religion. However, she adds that she will never leave him, because his honour as well as the honour of his family is too important for her to take any such step, and she will remain the Bahu Begum of the household for the rest of her life. Sikandar, being a thorough gentleman and a nice person, is happy with this small consolation too, and does not impose himself upon her as a husband. Suraiya is married off under the stewardship of her Bhaabhi, i.e., Zeenat, the highly respected Bahu Begum of the house. But the story gets another twist when Yusuf returns from outstation and learns that he has become a victim of his maternal uncle's conspiracy against him. Deeply hurt to know that his sweetheart has been married to another person but not able to accept the reality, he approaches Zeenat at the house of Sikandar Mirza. Zeenat tells him that though her marriage was not thoroughly executed and therefore she is unmarried in the eyes of the law and the religion, yet he should forget her as she will never compromise with the honour of Sikandar for the sake of her own pleasure. Their talks are overheard by Sikandar and then he makes a great sacrifice (by setting his mansion on fire and dying in it while making it look like that Zeenat died in it as well) to unite the lovers and ensure that they live happily together without the world knowing the truth.

Cast

as Nawab Sikandar Mirza *

as Yusuf *

as Zeenat Jahan Begum * Johnny Walker as Achchan * Naaz as Suraiya *

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema. She holds a Guinness world record of longest ac ...

as Naziran Bai *

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

as Kariban * Zeb Rehman as Bilqees *

D. K. Sapru Daya Kishan Sapru (16 March 1916 – 20 October 1979), was an Indian actor famed for a variety of character roles in Hindi cinema, particularly villains, judges and aristocrats in crime thrillers and dramas. His most notable performances were in ...

as Nawab Mirza Sultan * Indira Bansal as Shagufta Begum * Rajan Haksar as Nawab Pyare Miyan *

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

as Courtesan

Music

The film has music by Roshan with lyrics by

References

External links

* * {{BH movie, bahu-begum Indian drama films 1967 films 1960s Hindi-language films 1960s Indian films Indian multilingual films 1960s Urdu-language films Films set in Uttar Pradesh 1967 drama films Films scored by Roshan 1960s multilingual films Films about Islam Films directed by M. Sadiq