This film is about the dreams and aspirations of the educated youth getting shattered as they struggle in the city for employment, in the ensuing years after India attained independence.
Naukri and Baap Beti (1954) are cited as "sensitive" and "memorable" films from Roy.
[citation needed] In Naukri, Bimal Roy tackles yet another social problem, this time involving unemployment.
Since his comic persona had not yet fully developed, Naukri sees a sincere, sensitive and restrained performance from him.
He dreams about the day when he has a job, a house and can find a good groom for his sister, and look after his mother.
Meanwhile, in Calcutta, Ratan also finds love with Seema (Sheila Ramani) who stays in the house in the next compound - much to her father's chagrin, who wants a son-in-law with a good job.
One day, even as he gets the news that his sister has been accepted at the sanatorium, he gets a telegram informing of her death.
He writes a good newsletter to Seema and encloses his appointment letter an envelope.
The old man, thinking that an unemployed Ratan is wooing his daughter, burns the letter.
When Ratan returns to his apartment, he finds that his man-servant has thrown it away into the garbage can!
As he walks along the various streets of Bombay, there are a bewildering number of company buildings, all looking alike.
He spends the whole night without sleep, and when the police inspector arrives in the morning, he eagerly tells him.
The officer sympathizes but then tells him that the job has been given to another person since he did not turn up the previous day.
[4] One of the notable songs from the film was "Ek Chhoti Si Naukri Ka Talabgaar Hoon Main",[5] sung by Kishore Kumar, Shyam Mitra and Shankar Dasgupta, which reflected the young men's search for jobs.
The lyricist was Shailendra, and the other singers were Shaila Belle, Shankar Dasgupta, Shyam Mitra, Geeta Dutt, and Lata Mangeshkar.
[7] In this movie, a live-in relationship has been shown, albeit in different circumstances between Rattan and Seema.