''Paying Guest'' is a 1957

Bollywood 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" ...

Romance

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by Subodh Mukherjee. The film stars

Dev Anand Dharamdev Pishorimal Anand (26 September 1923 – 3 December 2011), better known as Dev Anand, was an Indian actor, writer, director and producer known for his work in Hindi cinema, through a career that spanned over six decades. He was ...

and

Nutan Nutan Samarth Bahl (4 June 1936 – 21 February 1991), known mononymously as Nutan, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 films, mostly as a protagonist, in both b ...

along with Shubha Khote. The soundtrack, composed by

Sachin Dev Burman Sachin may refer to: * Sachin (given name), an Indian given name, including a list of people with the name ** Sachin (actor) (born 1957), Indian actor and filmmaker ** Sachin Tendulkar (born 1973), Indian cricketer Films * ''Sachein ''Sachein' ...

, received a degree of popularity and made a lasting impression. The lyrics were written by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in India's Hindi language film industry. He wrote Hindustani lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was ...

. ''Paying Guest'' was the second hit film of the team of Mukherjee, Hussain, Dev Anand and S. D. Burman, who had combined two years earlier to make the successful '' Munimji''.

Plot

An incompetent lawyer Ramesh (

) keeps on getting evicted as a tenant due to failure to pay rent, then dons the guise of an old man to gain entry in a house as a tenant, falls for the landlord's daughter Shanti (

), whose best friend Chanchal ( Shubha Khote) marries a famous barrister Dayal (

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film direct ...

) for money and who is of her father's age. After marriage Chanchal becomes Shanti's neighbour. Dissatisfied with her marital life, Chanchal becomes jealous of Shanti and Ramesh's love. Shanti's elder sister's rake and ruffian husband Prakash threatens Shanti's father to send him money or else he would come to his house. Ramesh is unable to pay the house rent and Shanti gives him the money her father had given her for monthly expenditure. When Ramesh gives Shanti's father the money that Shanti had given him, he is ready to send it to his son-in-law as money order so as to prevent him from coming to his home. Shanti dissuades him from doing so saying that she will do the needful. However, since there is no spare money, she fails to send the money to her brother-in-law. In the meantime, Prakash with his wife reaches Shanti's father's house and in an altercation, Prakash pushes Shanti's father and since he was frail, he subsequently dies. Shanti's elder sister also falls ill and Shanti gives her brother-in-law her gold bangles to get medicine but Prakash squanders the money on liquor. Ramesh has no income and Chanchal suggests to Shanti that she pick up a job. Shanti gets employed in a theatre. Meanwhile, Chanchal tries to entice Ramesh and gets him a job under her husband. Prakash, for want of money, allies with Chanchal and conspires to pull Ramesh and Shanti apart. Ramesh is made to drink by Chanchal during a party, and after the party, Dayal sees a drunken Ramesh and Chanchal in his own house together and changes his Will disowning Chanchal. Prakash, who surreptitiously enters their house, sees the rewriting of the Will and steals the Will. Dayal accuses Chanchal of misdemeanour but Chanchal somehow convinces him to take a break to a lakeside resort. Chanchal connives with Prakash to have Dayal removed and drowns Dayal in the lake. Prakash keeps blackmailing Chanchal over the Will and Dayal's murder and on one such occasion, Shanti sees shadows of someone strangling Chanchal. She reaches Chanchal's place only to find Prakash roughing up Chanchal. On seeing Shanti Prakash starts shooting her. Shanti runs to the outhouse of Chanchal's bungalow and disarms Prakash and threatens to shoot him. A shot is fired and Prakash is killed. Shanti confesses to the crime and is produced in front of the court on a charge of murdering Prakash. All top lawyers of the town refuse to take up her case. Finally, Ramesh becomes her lawyer. Will he be able to save his beloved from the gallows?

Cast

as Advocate Ramesh Kumar *

as Shanti * Shubha Khote as Chanchal *

as Barrister Dayal * Sajjan as Jagat * Dulari as Uma *

Yakub Yakub or Yaqub ( ar, يعقوب‎, Yaʿqūb or Ya'kūb , links=no, also transliterated in other ways) is a male given name. It is the Arabic version of Jacob and James. The Arabic form ''Ya'qūb/Ya'kūb'' may be direct from the Hebrew or indire ...

as Prakash

Music

The music of the film is composed by

S. D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one ...

and lyrics by

External links

References

{{reflist 1957 films 1950s Hindi-language films Films scored by S. D. Burman Indian romantic drama films 1957 romantic drama films