A calculative man schemes to deceit a poor but young widow for his personal monetary gains.
Moti sells gurd in the market. He collects the raw material and takes them to an older woman, Mahjubhi, who makes exemplary gurd. Moti loves a village girl but is unable to afford to pay for the maher (dowry/marriage expenses) to her father. So he decides to marry Mahjubhi, proposes to her, which she accepts, they marry, and she moves in with him. Moti extracts a lot of work from Mahjubhi so that he can save enough money to pay for his marriage expenses. Shortly after he saves enough money, he decides to give Mahjubhi talaq (divorce), accusing her of infidelity. Shortly after that he marries the village girl, and he goes back to his business of selling gurd. With the skills of Mahjubhi taken away, will Moti survive on his own, and will his new wife be able to offer him the support and skills in order to enable him to survive in his trade.—rAjOo ([email protected])
Mutalib/Moti (Amitabh Bachchan) (Mutalib) is a "Gur" (unrefined concentrated cane sugar) trader who trades in the seasonal Gur made of "Khajur" (date-nectar). Moti lives in a small village of Sultanganj.Moti is very eager to get married to a young and a good-looking girl but cannot afford to pay the Mehar for prospective brides (that range from Rs 200 to Rs 350). Moti works with matchmaker Gafoor (V. Gopal) to find him a bride that fits in his budget.
Maher is a contract some Muslims enter into upon marriage. It refers not to the contract of marriage itself, but to a contractual dowry to be paid by the husband to his wife in the event of divorce or death
Majubee (Nutan), a widow who is Moti's business associate prepares the Gur for him to sell. Her Gur (and consequently Moti's) is very famous and people always prefer to buy from Moti. This is Majubee's only source of income and that too for 4 months in a year. She wants Moti to pay her 40 Paise per kilo, instead of the usual 30, as she knows the quality of her Gur.Moti sells the Gur for 0.65 per kilo in the market.
Making Gur is a tedious process. To make Gur from date nectar, Moti collects sap from a date palm tree in Earthen pots. He delivers the nectar to Majubee who filters it and boils it in an open pan until it reaches a certain concentration. For the open pan fire, Majubee has to get firewood from the forest, which is also back breaking work.The residue is then poured into a wooden mold to get the desired shape.Majubee laments that her husband died leaving her a dilapidated shack and a small piece of land.
During the off-season, he meets a girl, Phoolbanu (Padma Khanna), and falls in love with her. Moti sees Phoolbanu trying to suck date nectar from a tree and is enamored by her youthfulness and her zest for life. Moti follows Phoolbanu home one day to find where she lives.
Moti approaches Phoolbanu's father Sheikh (Murad), who asks for Rs 500 Mehar (Bride price), which he does not have. Her father had married his elder daughter for Rs 52 Mehar, but that led to divorce and now the elder daughter does not have enough to sustain herself. Thus, the father chose a high Mehar for Phoolbanu. Moti was about to leave dejected when Phoolbanu meets him.
Phoolbanu loves Moti and is willing to wait for him, till he is able to save enough money to pay her Mehar. Moti tries to borrow money, but nobody would lend him any. The money lenders say that Moti does not have enough income, and it would take him 3 years to pay off just the principal amount.A money lender Banerjee (C.S. Dubey) suggests that Moti marry a Gur maker so that he can increase his margins.
Moti decides to marry Majubee so that he does not have to pay her, and hence can save more and sooner. Moti presents his proposal to Majubee and says that while there are many young girls in the village, they are all empty inside, while Majubee is mature and intoxicating. Majubee, unaware of Moti's ulterior motive, is first surprised by the proposal, but later accepts it. At the end of the season, Moti saves enough for the Mehar and divorces Majubee. Moti accuses Majubee of having an affair with another man in the village. Majubee is disgusted that Moti used her for his purposes and now won't care for her. Moti Triple Talaqs Majubee on the spot.
This incident shocks Majubee and people of the community. Moti meets Phoolbanu's father and asks again for his daughter's hand. Satisfied with the Mehar, he marries off his daughter (Phoolbanu) to Moti. All is fine till the next Gur season arrives. The newlyweds are in love and spend money lavishly. In the process, Moti takes on new debt that he hopes to pay with earnings from the next Gur season.
Phoolbanu is terrible at making Gur, and Moti's customers stop buying from his shop. Meanwhile, a fish trader (Majhi) Mr Nadeer (who is 50 years old) asks Majubee to marry him. He is honest with her to say that he has 3 small children and wants Majubee to look after them. He always treats her with courtesy.
It is almost the end of the Gur season, and Moti does not make a good profit that year. Phoolbanu wants Moti to change his profession, but Moti says he doesn't know any other skills and wants to stick to Gur business.One day Phoolbanu was making the Gur in the open pan. But she left the process in between to take a bath. When Moti arrives and he sees that the Gur has been burned. He Badly Beats Phoolbanu with a stick.
Now he is finally left with no other option than to request Majubee to make a few vats of Gur for him to sell. He takes two cans of date-nectar and approaches Majubee at her husband's house to request her to make him some Gur to sell. He is followed by Phoolbanu.
At first, Majubee is very angry on seeing Moti but understands that he is in a pitiful condition and is indirectly begging her forgiveness. She also sees Phoolbanu listening to everything from behind a fence. As the eyes of the two ladies meet, they start weeping and hug each other affectionately.Majuni agrees suggesting that Majubee has forgiven Moti.
