Mahal (1949 film)

Mahal

Film poster
Directed by Kamal Amrohi
Produced by Ashok Kumar
Savak Vacha
Written by Kamal Amrohi
Starring Ashok Kumar
Madhubala
Music by Khemchand Prakash
Cinematography Josef Wirsching
Edited by Bimal Roy
M. Shanker
R. M. Tipnis
Release dates
 13th October 1950
Running time
 165 min.
Country India
Language Hindi / Urdu
Box office 1 cr

Mahal (English: The Mansion) is a 1949 Indian Hindi film directed by Kamal Amrohi and starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. It was India's first reincarnation thriller film.[1]

Produced by Bombay Talkies studio, this Kamal Amrohi's directorial debut launched both playback singer Lata Mangeshkar and the leading lady Madhubala into super-stardom.[2][3] Its songs, particularly "Aayega Aane Waala" sung by Lata Mangeshkar, are perennial favourites. Rajkumari sang two other well-known songs from the film, "Mein woh dulhan hon" and "Yeh raat phir na aayge". Their lyrics were written by Nakshab. Rajkumari also sang these songs live on a Channel 4 (a UK TV station) programme called 'Mahfil' aired on 24 March 1991.

Mahal made Lata Mangeshkar famous and established playback singers as stars in their own right. Before Mahal, records listed character names and indeed the first batch of records credited "Aayega aane wala" to Kamini, the character played by Madhubala. When the song first played on All India Radio, its phone lines were flooded with callers inquiring the singer's name. All India Radio had to find this out from the record company before it could announce Lata Mangeshkar's name on the air.[4] The film was included in the British Film Institute's list, "10 great romantic horror films".[5]

Theme

The movie was a groundbreaking supernatural suspense thriller and one of the earliest known films dealing with reincarnation. Mahal became one of the biggest box office hits of 1949 in India [6] and paved way for Indian gothic fiction.[7]

Plot

Mahal is a story of reincarnation and a ghost story. In Allahabad, there is a beautiful abandoned palace. When a new owner, Hari Shankar (Ashok Kumar) comes to live in this palace, the old gardener narrates the story of incomplete love.

40 years previous, a man built it and his lover, Kamini (Madhubala) began to live in it. She would wait all day long for the man to come to her at midnight, but he always left before it was morning. One stormy night, the man's ship sank and he drowned. Before leaving Kamini, he tells her that their love will never fail. A few days later, Kamini also died.

When Shankar goes to bedroom, a photograph falls from the wall and Shankar is astonished to find the man in the photograph looks exactly like him. Then, a woman is heard singing and Shankar follows it. He finds her sitting in a room but she flees when she sees him. Shankar's friend Shrinath (Kanu Roy) arrives and Shankar expresses suspicion on his being the man of the incomplete love story in a previous life. Shrinath tries to calm him but then the woman reappears. They follow her to the terrace, where she jumps off to the water and the two men find nothing when they look down. The next day, Shankar heads back to Kanpur. At Naini, he gets off from train and goes to the palace. Kamini tells him that she is a reality, but Shrinath interferes and warns Shankar that she will draw him to death. The ghost appears again and tells Shrinath to stay away from them. Enraged, Shrinath tries to shoot her but fails. Kamini tells Shankar that if she got a body of a woman whom Shankar likes, she could return to life. She tells Shankar to see the gardener's daughter's face to check if she's beautiful and he can accept Kamini in that face. Meanwhile, Shankar's father arrives after hearing everything from Shrinath and takes him home. Shankar gets married to Ranjana (Vijayalaxmi). He decides to move far away with his wife in order to forget Kamini. After two years, a disturbed Ranjana wanting to know where Shankar goes every night, follows him when he goes to meet Kamini. Kamini tells him to kill the gardener's daughter so that she can use the body. Knowing everything, Ranjana drinks poison and go to police station to give a deathbed confession against Shankar of betrayal and poisoning her. Shanker is submitted to the court and the daughter of the gardener, Asha is also called upon there being accused of the cause of distance between Shankar and Ranjana. Later Asha is revealed to be Kamini. She then accepts that she has played the role of Kamini bacause she had fallen in love with the man in the photograph, who looks like Shankar. But Shankar is sentenced to death. Later, the police come to know about Ranjana's letter and free Shankar. Shankar rushes to Shrinath's place but dies. The credits role as a grieving Kamini and Shrinath walk away.

Cast

Many established actresses and new faces were screen-tested for the coveted female lead. The part was written with the then-reigning superstar, Suraiya in mind. However, after two screen tests, the fledgling Madhubala, only 16 at the time was selected. The film was key in defining her screen persona and establishing her as one of the most successful and illustrious actresses of the 1950s.

Soundtrack

For lyrics written by Nakshab, the music of the songs was composed by Khemchand Prakash. Tun Tun was initially offered to sing "Aayega Aanewala", but she refused the offer because of her contract with Kardar Productions.[8]

Influence

Bimal Roy, who was the editor for Mahal, would later go on to direct Madhumati,[7] which itself went on to become the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with the theme of reincarnation in Indian cinema, Indian television, and perhaps world cinema. It was the source of inspiration for the American film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) and the Hindi film Karz (1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures.[9] Karz in particular was remade several times: as the Kannada film Yuga Purusha (1989), the Tamil film Enakkul Oruvan (1984), and Om Shanti Om [10][11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Palace Of Delusion:Kamal Amrohi's Mahal is our first reincarnation thriller". Outlook (magazine). 4 June 2012. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Roshmila Bhattacharya (6 May 2013). "Testing times for Madhubala". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  3. ↑ Sidharth Bhatia (4 May 2013). "Kamal Amrohi Producer Kamal Amrohi was the master of old-world elegance and heartache". Mint. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Birth Centenaries" (PDF). pib.nic.in. Press Information Bureau. p. 3. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  5. ↑ Michael Blyth Updated: 22 May 2015 (22 May 2015). "10 great romantic horror films". BFI. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Mahal (1949) Classic Films at upperstall
  7. 1 2 Mishra, Vijay (2002), Bollywood cinema: temples of desire, Routledge, pp. 49–57, ISBN 0-415-93014-6
  8. ↑ Manish Gaekwad (24 March 2016). "Redemption song: 'Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon' by Tun Tun". Thereel.scroll.in. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Doniger, Wendy (2005), "Chapter 6: Reincarnation", The woman who pretended to be who she was: myths of self-imitation, Oxford University Press, pp. 112–136 [135], ISBN 0-19-516016-9
  10. ↑ Ashanti nags Om Shanti Om Mumbai Mirror, 7 August 2008.
  11. ↑ Shah Rukh, Farah Sued: Writer Claims SRK stole his script for Om Shanti Om
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