''Biraj Bahu'' is a

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

film produced by Hiten Choudhury and directed by

Bimal Roy Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as '' Do Bigha Zamin'', '' Parineeta'', '' Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas'', ''Madhumati'', '' Sujata'', '' ...

, and based on a Bengali novel by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. The film stars

Kamini Kaushal Kamini Kaushal (born as Uma Kashyap, 24 February 1927) is an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films and television. She is noted for her roles in films such as ''Neecha Nagar'' (1946), which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes F ...

Abhi Bhattacharya Abhi Bhattacharya (20 November 1921 – 11 August 1993) was an Indian actor of Hindi and Bengali cinema, who is most remembered for his roles in films of the 1950s and the 1960s, such as '' Yatrik'' (1952), '' Jagriti'' (1954), '' Anuradha'' ...

and Pran and has music by

Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This ...

. The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film.

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress and producer who worked in Hindi-language films. She ranked as one of the highest-paid entertainers in India in the post-independence era ...

, the highest-paid actress of that time, was eager to play the lead role in the film. She had visited Bimal Roy's office several times for this purpose. However, thinking that she would ask for high fee for doing the film, he cast Kamini Kaushal instead of her. Learning that her fee lost her the role, she had said that she would have acted for even one rupee in ''Biraj Bahu.''

Plot

Biraj (Kamini Kaushal) was married off to Nilambar Chakraborty (Abhi Bhattacharya) when she was a little girl. The couple is childless. Nilambar is pious, generous and loving, but unemployed. His devious younger brother takes advantage of Nilambar's naiveté to force a partition of the home and buy off their joint land under an assumed name from the lender it was mortgaged to. Nilambar and Biraj are reduced to a wretched existence. To make matters worse, Deodhar, a wealthy young contractor who arrives in the village, is captivated by Biraj's beauty and tries to bribe her erstwhile maid Sundari, to lure her to his boat. After several dramatic twists and turns, Biraj is kidnapped, but she jumps off the boat before he can do anything. She runs away from the hospital in the middle of the night to see her husband one last time. He had promised that he would bless her at the time of her death and that she would die at his feet.

Cast

as Biraj Chakravorty *

as Nilambher Chakravorty * Shakuntala as Punnu Chakravorty * Pran as Deodhar * Randhir as Pitambar Chakravorty * Manorama as Sundari (Maidservant) * Kammo * Vikram Kapoor (as Bikram Kapoor) * Nazima (as Baby Chand) *

Iftekhar Sayedna Iftekhar Ahmed Sharif (22 February 1924 – 4 March 1995), often mononymously credited as Iftekhar, was an Indian actor who mainly worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for his role as a police officer. Career Iftekhar was born in ...

Kishorilal, Deodhar's assistant * Moni Chatterjee as Bholanath * Sarita Devi * Shivji Bhai as Sheojibhai * Maya Dass as Maya Das * Dasarathlal as Dashrothlal * Sailen Bose

Music

# "Meraa Mann Bhula Bhula Kahe Dole" -

Hemant Kumar Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...

# "Jhum Jhum Manmohan Re Murali" -

# "Suno Seeta Ki Kahani Ke Wo Mahlo Ki Rani" -

Mohammed 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 ...

# "Na Jane Re Na Jane Re, Saiya Man Ki Battiya" -

Shamshad Begum Shamshad Begum (Hindi: शमशाद बेगम, IAST: ''Śamśād Bēgam''; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. Notable for her distinctive voice and r ...

# "Tera Ghar Aabad Rahe Ja Ri Dulhaniya Ja Jaha Rahe" - Shyamal Mitra,

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 con ...

Awards

: National Film Awards for All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film * 1955:

Filmfare Best Director Award The Filmfare Best Director Award is one of the main awards presented given by the annual Filmfare Awards to recognise directors working in Hindi cinema. It was first presented in 1954 in the inaugural year. Superlatives Bimal Roy has the re ...

for Bimal Roy * 1955:

Filmfare Best Actress Award The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise the female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1954 ...

for Kamini Kaushal * 1955:

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

: Nominated.Biraj Bahu awards
''

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

References

External links

Biraj Bahu
Upperstall * * {{Bimal Roy 1950s Hindi-language films Films directed by Bimal Roy Films scored by Salil Chowdhury Indian black-and-white films Films based on works by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Filmfare Awards winners Indian drama films 1954 drama films