Chhadmabeshi

Chhadmabeshi (Bengali pronunciation: [tʃʰɔd̪mabɛʃi] transl. Disguised) is a 1971 Bengali-language comedy film directed by Agradoot. Produced by Bibhuti Laha and Shib Narayan Dutta under the banner of Chalacchitra Bharati in their second production, the film stars Uttam Kumar and Madhabi Mukherjee, alongside an ensemble cast of Subhendu Chatterjee, Bikash Roy, Tarun Kumar, Anubha Gupta, Jyotsna Biswas, Shamita Biswas and Jahor Roy in another pivotal roles.

Based on a story of the same name by Upendranath Ganguly, the film revolves around a newly married professor, who plays a practical joke upon his brother-in-law by posing as his family driver. Chhadmabeshi marks the seventeenth collaboration between Agradoot and Kumar, also indicating the third collaboration between Kumar and Mukherjee as the lead pair. The film was predominantly shot in Allahbad, while portions were shot in Kolkata and Mumbai. Music of the film is composed by Sudhin Dasgupta, who also penned its lyrics along with Bhaskar Roy and Patita Paban Banerjee. Laha himself handled its cinematography, and Baidyanath Chatterjee edited the film.

Chhadmabeshi was theatrically released on 26 November 1971, opening to general positive response both critically and commercially. Running for over 47 weeks in theatres, it eventually gained a cult status among the Bengali audiences, with The Times of India ranking Chhadmabeshi amongst their list of Bengali cinema's greatest comedy films.

The film was remade in Hindi in 1975 as Chupke Chupke and in Kannada in 2004 as Joke Falls.