If there can be a poem on celluloid this is the one. Basu Bhattacharya’s debut directorial film tells the story of Heeraman (Raj Kapoor) a bullock cart driver and his passenger Heerabai (Waheeda Rehman) a nautanki dancer whom he has to drive some 40 miles distance to a village fair. As they travel together Heeraman sings to pass the time. He tells her in a song of the legend of Mahua a beautiful motherless girl sold off to a trader by her stepmother. As the journey progresses Heerabai is taken in by the rustic simplicity of Heeraman and his simple aesthetics and he in turn somewhat to Heerabai's distress sees her as a virtuous woman. What Heeraman sees at the fair disturbs him no end. Heerabai tries to make him understand the harsh reality of her life but often when we perceive what we have not seen hurt sets in. And thus it was with Heeraman and Heerabai