Intrigue

A strict matriarch's regimented household is upended by the arrival of a spunky relative who challenges the rules.

Nirmala Gupta runs her household and family in a very strict, authoritarian manner. While most of her family resent this, they do obey her and carry out her instructions, to stay on her good side. Things change after her second son marries Anju. Manju, Anju's sister, comes to stay with the Guptas for a few days and is accepted by everyone except Nirmala. Nirmala's third son intends to marry Manju, but Manju dislikes the way Nirmala bosses everyone around; she feels that changes are needed in the Gupta household.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Middle aged Nirmala Gupta (Dina Pathak), wife of Dwaraka Prasad Gupta (Ashok Kumar) and mother of four (Jagan (Ranjit Chowdhry) (youngest), Chander (Vijay Sharma) (2nd), Inder (Rakesh Roshan) and Sunder (The eldest one)), is a disciplinarian and runs her household by rules. Everyone, including her husband follow her rules though they don't always approve of her ways. She even selects wives for her sons herself (Sunder is married to Bari Bhabhi (Shashikala), and has a daughter Munni (Rupini)), and now selects Anju (Aradhana) for her second son Chander (The introduction between the 2 families was made by a common friend Uma Shankar (S.N.Banerjee)).

Anju and Manju (Rekha) are the daughters of rich widower Ram Dayal (David). Manju is angry about the tradition of "coming to see the would be bride" and dresses up Anju in her mom's traditional clothes. But the trick backfires as Dwaraka takes this as a sign that Anju is a homely and traditional values girl.. He (along with Bari Bhabhi, Inder & Jagan) accepts the match (Nirmala Couldnt come and didn't send Chander as in their family no boy selects his own bride). Manju tries to scupper the deal by trying to make stale jokes and by trying to insult Inder (whom she thinks is the groom). But Bari Bhabhi is also impressed with Anju and the wedding is on..

6 months after the wedding, Manju comes to stay with her sister for some time. Being a playful and naughty girl, she immediately gets the disapproval of Nirmala. She barges in at the time of breakfast, is loud, and wont even wash hands before stuffing food into her mouth. Nirmala admonishes Chander for smoking, in front of everybody in the house. Manju continues to make snide comments at Inder. Inder gets back at her at the monthly health check-up by saying that she has high BP and needs an injection (with a long needle) to get better.. Manju screams and runs away.. Manju gets Inder scolded for yelling inside the house (she whispers in front of Inder, prompting him to shout). In response, Inder takes Manju's shoes and puts mud prints all over the dining floor. Manju is caught and is asked to clean the floor as per the rules. But then Inder steps up and admits to his prank and Nirmala makes him clean the floor.

Inder (Rakesh Roshan), a young doctor, slowly grows close to Manju. Together they hatch a plan to bring the family together for some fun. Manju reaches out to Jagan and pretends to share his love in music and learns about the interests of others.. Dwarka likes fertilizers, Sunder and Chander play cards (at the office), Bari Bhabhi likes dancing and so on.. She then reaches out to everyone and engages them in their favorite activities when Nirmala is away from home for her social work.. Slowly the house members learn about each other hobbies and interests and get closer themselves. For example Dwarka turns out to be a tabla master.. Inder wants to marry Manju and formally proposes to her. Manju tries to get closer to Nirmala but she rebuffs her every attempt..

Manju also attracts the attention of Dwaraka Prasad, who was a fun loving fellow himself. He feels relieved with the presence of the playful Manju after living for a long time under the controlling behavior of his wife. Manju gradually gains the trust of everyone in the house except Nirmala. Dwarka talks to Nirmala about Manju for Inder, but Nirmala refuses saying that Manju is too selfish and can only take care of herself and not others..

One day, Manju performs a small play highlighting the tyranny of Nirmala over other family members. Nirmala was not believed to be at the house, but she accidentally sees it. She gets hurt as everyone thinks of her as a dictator, though she does everything for the well being of the family. Moreover, the fact that everyone felt free with Manju, an outsider, but not with her, hurts her more. Manju tries to apologize, but Nirmala wouldn't talk to her. All family members except Dwarka (coz he is not allowed to travel), Nirmala and Manju go to attend a wedding.

Dwaraka Prasad, seeing her adamant, gets emotionally upset and rants at her, which leads to him having a heart attack. Nirmala gets tensed as everyone except Manju left home for some wedding. Manju acts timely and saves Dwaraka Prasad (she yells at the heart specialist Dr Gokhale and remind him his oath, when he tries to act pricey and busy and refuses to attend to Swarka). Manju organizes all medicines and a nurse and even informs the family members who return from the wedding. Manju works day and night to take care of Dwarka. At last, Nirmala understands Manju's character and she too approves of her. As soon as the family members return, Manju leaves for the station without saying goodbye. Nirmala takes Inder and stops Manju at the station and accepts her as part of the family. In the end, Manju and Inder get married.