It is set in the 19th century during the British Raj and focuses on Bhoothnath (Dutt), who meets Chhoti Bahu (Kumari), the lonely wife of a zamindar (Rehman).

[3] The book's rights were bought after his production venture Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) became commercially successful and covered his company's loss following the failure of Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), his previous directorial project.

Although it commercially failed with a gross of ₹8.4 million (US$97,000),it garnered positive responses from critics; most appreciation was given to the cast's performances, particularly that of Kumari, and Murthy's cinematography.

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam won four Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Alvi, and Best Actress for Kumari.

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam became a milestone of Bollywood[citation needed] and is considered among the most important films in Dutt's career.

Bhoothnath meets Subinay, a dedicated member of the religious sect Brahmo Samaj, and is employed at the factory Mohini Sindoor.

One night, Bansi, another servant of the haveli, takes Bhoothnath to meet the younger zamindar's wife Chhoti Bahu, who implores him to bring her sindoor.

Chhoti has a poor relationship with her unfaithful husband, who spends most of his time watching a dancing girl performing, and believes it will keep him home.

[9] After his next release Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) commercially succeeded, he was able to save the studio from bankruptcy and later acquired the rights of Saheb Bibi Golam.

Alvi said the screenplay was written "slowly but surely"; he and Mitra made many changes to the story so the film would be fit with Hindi audience's interest.

[7] The film was to be Chatterjee's Bollywood debut but his friends and fans informed him his popularity among Bengali people was increasing, so he reluctantly rejected the offer, a decision he later regretted.

Still insisting, she asked Dutt and the film's cinematographer V. K. Murthy for a photograph session in which she would dress up as Chhoti Bahu, wearing a Bengali sari and a tilaka.

[42] After the film's release, Dutt cut the song "Sahil Ki Taraf" from the climax, in which Chhoti Bahu rests her head on Bhoothnath's lap because the audience criticised it.

The next day, while they were discussing the unexpected changes, Dutt decided to maintain it, and instead removed the Chhoti Bahu scene and "Sahil Ki Taraf", saying he did not mind if the film became a box-office disappointment.

Firoze Rangoonwala, in the 1973 book Guru Dutt, 1925–1965: A Monograph, reported it performed poorly but better than Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959),[49] while in 2005 Stardust called Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam an "average grosser".

[2] Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was the official submission from India to the 13th Berlin International Film Festival, for which a shorter version was made.

[51] On 26 June 1963, Dutt, Kumari, Waheeda Rehman with sister Sayeeda, and Alvi arrived in East Berlin and the screening occurred the next evening.

[52] All twenty-five people attending the screening gave a poor response to the film's melodramatic plot, unrelatable themes, and slow screenplay.

[54] Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam received positive feedback from both contemporaneous and modern critics,[55] who praised the cast's performances—particularly that of Kumari—the cinematography, the costumes and the art direction.

[49] In a review dated 24 June 1962, a writer for The Times of India said the film is excellent because of its well-written screenplay that makes an effective balance between the characters and emotional sequences, and "provides a neat dramatic pattern".

[61] Dinesh Raheja, writing for Rediff.com in 2003, called the film "a fascinating mood movie made by people gifted with acute sensitivity".

Raheja, however, was critical of Rehman and said her scenes could be partly removed because her character, which he deemed perky, is less important to the film's main plot.

[9] Anna M. M. Vetticad, in an article published by Firstpost in 2020, said Kumari played her role brilliantly and commended the film's production, including the art direction.

[63] In 2021, Sampada Sharma of The Indian Express wrote of Kumari; "Her perpetually melancholic eyes and her pristine beauty make her a tragic figure who is slowly drowning in a sea of despair".

[67] Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, however, failed to be nominated and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wrote to Dutt telling him according to American culture, it was inappropriate for a woman to be an alcoholic.

[63][73] Along with Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), critics have regarded Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam among Dutt's best work.

[79] Kumari played similar roles in several more films, including the dramas Dil Ek Mandir (1963), Chitralekha (1964), Gazal (1964), Kaajal (1965), Phool Aur Patthar (1966) and Pakeezah (1972).

[89] In a 1994 interview with Sight & Sound, the scholar Ashish Rajadhyaksha considered the film a much more accurate depiction of India's corrupt 19th-century feudalism than Satyajit Ray's drama Jalsaghar (1958).

[90] In 2010, a retrospective of Dutt's films, including Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, was screened in Israel and was positively received by the audience.

[91] Jai Arjun Singh wrote the following year it is "one of Hindi cinema's most vivid treatments of a transitional period in India's social history".