''Mouchak'' is a Bengali

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by

Arabinda Mukhopadhyay Arabinda Mukhopadhyay (18 June 1919 – 10 February 2016) was an Indian filmmaker, film director and editor, who directed all-time classics like Nishi Padma (1970), Dhanyee Meye (1971) and Mouchak (1974). He also wrote stories and screenplays ...

. The film stars

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), widely known as Mahanayak (), was an Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema ...

Sabitri Chatterjee Sabitri Chatterjee (born 21 February 1937) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in Bengali theatre and cinema. Her career spans more than seventy years. She twice won the BFJA Awards. In 1999, she was conferred with Sangeet Natak Ak ...

Ranjit Mullick Ranjit Mallick (born 28 September 1944) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. Though he has starred in parallel films like ''Interview'', ''Calcutta 71'', ''Shakha Proshakha'' and romantic comedy like '' Mouchak''; he is part ...

, Mithu Mukherjee, Sulata Choudhury, Ratna Ghoshal, and

Nripati Chattopadhyay Nripati Nath Chttopadhyay (; born 1907 – 27 May 1975) was a Bengali actor, known for his role in '' Teen Kanya'' (1961), '' Bhanu Pelo Lottery'' (1958) and ''Dui Bari'' (1963). He died on 27 May 1975 in India. Early life Nripati Chattopadhyay ...

in lead roles.

Nachiketa Ghosh Nachiketa Ghosh (28 January 1925 – 12 October 1976) was a Bengali music director in India. He mainly composed for Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia ...

scored the music in the film. The film was released on 10 January 1974.

Plot

Eligible bachelor Sitesh Roy lives with his elder brother Nitish and sister-in-law in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. He gets a job in a

jute mill A jute mill is a factory for processing jute. There is evidence of jute fibre extraction dating back to the Han dynasty, with a fragment of jute paper being discovered in Dunhuang, in the Gansu Province. The first known mechanical jute mills are b ...

, which is seventy miles away from his house based in the suburbs of the city and so he decides to live near his office in a rented house. But after few days, he becomes frantic with the marriage proposals from local residents. Everyone including his office boss coaxes him to marry their aged daughters (a satirical take on the

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

's administrative campaign on

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

set in the aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War during which time many young men had been enlisted into the army, thereby causing a hypothetical increase in numbers of unmarried girls, who were seen a burden by their conservative families) population and numerous funny incidents start rolling. However, Sitesh falls for Neepa, a headstrong, smart girl who lives opposite to Sitesh's apartment, who also falls in love with him. In the meantime, to save his brother from the hands of crazy fathers, Sitesh starts a smear campaign against his brother. As a result, Neepa's headmaster father does not approve of the love affair and the couple start making plans to flee & marry. Later, Nitish and his wife come to Sitesh's flat over a false alarm and come know about his love affair with Neepa. After a huge drama and laugh riot, Neepa confess her love, Sitesh is proven innocent and everything is solved with a happy ending.

Cast

as Nitish Roy *

as Nitish's Wife *

Ranjit Mallick Ranjit Mallick (born 28 September 1944) is an Indian actor who works mainly in Bengali cinema. Though he has starred in parallel films like ''Interview'', '' Calcutta 71'', '' Shakha Proshakha'' and romantic comedy like '' Mouchak''; he is pa ...

as Sitesh Roy * Ajoy Bandyopadhyay * Mithu Mukherjee as Neepa *

Shekhar Chattopadhyay Shekhar Chatterjee (1924–1990) was an Indian actor and film director. Career Chatterjee was born in Kolkata in 1924. He began his career in the Bengali theatre in the 1950s. He was associated with a number of leftist theatre groups, including ...

as Mr. Chowdhury *

Gita Dey Gita Dey (, 5 August 1931 – 17 January 2011) was an Indian actress in Bengali cinema, theatre and Bengali folk theater. She became a stage artist at the age of 6 years. She came to the film industry in 1943. Her first film release was '' Ah ...

as Chowdhury's wife *

Robi Ghosh Robi Ghosh (; 24 November 1931 – 4 February 1997) was an Indian actor known for his work in Bengali cinema. He is known for his comic appeal, though his versatile acting talent brought him success in various kinds of roles. He is probab ...

as Panchu * Ratna Ghoshal as Champa *

* Anup Kumar as Talukder *

Chinmoy Ray Chinmoy Roy (1940–2019) was an Indian Bengali actor. He was famous for his comic roles in Bengali movies, though his versatility allowed him to play a variety of roles. Though he was known for portraying various character roles, Roy was eq ...

as Radhika * Gurudas Bandyopadhyay as Neepa's Father * Tapati Ghosh as Neepa's Mother *

Sulata Chowdhury Sulata Chowdhury (1945 – 16 September 1997) was a Bengalis, Bengali actress and theatre personality. Chowdhury made her film debut with ''Debarshi Narader Sansar'' (1960). As a leading actress her first film was Sudhir Mukherjee's ''Shesh Pa ...

as Leena, Chowdhury's Daughter *

Tarun Kumar Tarun Kumar (born 8 January 1983) is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema, with appearances in a few Tamil and Malayalam films. Tarun began his career as a child actor and received the National Film Award for Bes ...

as D R Ghoshal * Moni Shrimani * Durgadas Bandyopadhyay (Jr.) as Sukhamay Banerjee *

Kamu Mukherjee Kamu Mukherjee (14 June 1931 – 6 December 2003) was a Bengali actor, best known for his role as Mandar Bose in '' Sonar Kella'' and Harun-al-Rashid in Sandip Ray's first film '' Phatik Chand''. Career Mukherjee's first film appearance was in t ...

as kallu * Haridhan Mukhopadhyay * Amarnath Mukhopadhyay as Dr Gupta * Samar Kumar

Soundtrack

All the songs are composed by

. The lyrics are written by Gauriprasanna Majumder and Shyamal Gupta.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt1587224 1974 films Indian black-and-white films Bengali-language Indian films 1974 romantic comedy films Indian romantic comedy films 1970s Bengali-language films Films based on works by Samaresh Basu