Dr. Anaadi Mukherjee (Ashok Kumar) is the civil surgeon in a small tribal-dominated market town in Birbhum. He is a god-like figure, loved and respected by both the poor tribal folks of the area like the beautiful young widow Chhipli (Vyjayanthimala), Jagadamba the vegetable seller and old women like Komlididi and Nani (Chhaya Devi) and the bigwigs of the area like the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police Mr. Pandey. Dr. Mukherjee is a workaholic and lives with his young wife Manu, who has a chronic heart ailment. He comes into conflict with Lacchmanlal (Ajitesh Bannerjee), the son of the local feudal lord Chhabilal, a veritable rogue who lusts after Chhipli, who is protected by the good doctor. After the death of his wife Manu, Dr. Mukherjee leaves his official job and utilizes his savings to start a mobile dispensary for the poor. Lacchmanlal gets irritated by his actions and spreads canards about Dr Mukherjee's relationship with Chhipli, who had been appointed as trainee nurse in the medical team. On the night of a tribal festival, Lacchmanlal tricks Chhipli into a tryst and attempts to rape her. Dr. Mukherjee gets the news and in a fight with Lacchmanlal strangles the villain to death while getting mortally injured. The next morning he dies, but the work of the clinic is carried on by Chhipli and others of the team under the guidance of a young doctor who had earlier been reprimanded by Dr. Mukherjee.
This film's story was based on a novel written by Banaphool with the same name.[2] The novel won several awards including Rabindra Puraskar Award in 1962.
Box office
The film was one of the most successful Bengali films of the 1960s.[2]
