Pratap, the son of a Brahmin grocer, and Kasturi, the daughter of a Dalit railway level-crossing keeper, have been close since childhood. As they grow up their affection turns to love, but caste lines in the village are absolute: both families face pressure and the community turns on them, and each is pushed into another marriage. Achhut Kanya was a landmark of Bombay Talkies, directed by German filmmaker Franz Osten, and one of the first Hindi films to take on untouchability directly. It made a star pair of Devika Rani and the young Ashok Kumar, and their duet "Main Ban Ki Chidiya Banke", sung by the two leads themselves to Saraswati Devi's music, remains one of the most famous songs of the early sound era.
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