Bhabhi (1957 film)

Bhabhi
Poster
Directed by	Krishnan-Panju
Produced by	A. V. Meiyappan
Written by	Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi
Starring	Balraj Sahni Nanda Pandari Bai Om Prakash Durga Khote
Music by	Chitragupta Rajendra Krishan (Lyrics)
Production company	AVM Productions
Release date	1957
Running time	2 hr 48 min
Country	India
Language	Hindi/Urdu
Box office	Rs. 1,15,00,000

Bhabhi is a 1957 Hindi film directed by Krishnan-Panju for AVM Productions. The namesake of an earlier film directed by Franz Osten in 1938, the film stars Balraj Sahni, South Indian actress Pandari Bai, Nanda in pivotal roles.

The film went on to become the eighth highest grossing Bollywood film of the year The film was a remake of Tamil film Kuladeivam which itself was a remake of Bengali film Banga Kora which in turn was based on the novel of same name by Prabhavathi Devi Saraswathi.

Although a graduate in Arts, Shanta agrees to get married to a much lesser educated widowed businessman, Ratanlal, who has a son, Mithu, from his first marriage, and re-locates to live with him, his brothers; Ramesh, Rajan, & Baldev, and an aunt. Ratanlal permits her to let her child-widowed sister, Lata, to also live with them. Shanta soon earns the respect and love of everyone in the family. Ramesh gets married to Advocate Motilal's daughter, Tara, while Rajan gets married to Mangala, who is Munshiram's daughter. After these marriages, misunderstandings crop up, generally generated by Mangala, so much so that Tara joins forces with her, forcing the brothers to separate from each other, with Ratanlal dividing the property and business equally amongst them, and re-locating in a small village house, while Ramesh now lives with Tara and her brother, Jeevan and his wife. Rajan does not get along with Mangala, takes to alcohol in a big way, stops his medical studies and joins the army, and Baldev re-locates to Bombay. The question remains will this troubled family ever be re-united again during their respective lifetimes?