Mahal
About Mahal
Hari Shankar, a lawyer, moves into an empty palace in Allahabad. The gardener tells of a man who drowned and of Kamini, who died waiting for him. Shankar looks like the man in an old photograph and hears a woman singing in the house. His father takes him home and marries him to Ranjana. Kamini tells Shankar that to join her he must kill the gardener's daughter Asha. Ranjana drinks poison and accuses him. In court Asha is the singer: she had been playing the ghost because she loved the face in the picture. A letter frees Shankar. He dies at his friend Shrinath's house while Asha and Shrinath walk away.
Cast & crew
More about Mahal
Kamal Amrohi's first film as director. Savak Vacha and Ashok Kumar produced it for Bombay Talkies. Amrohi wrote the script. Josef Wirsching photographed it. Bimal Roy was among the editors, with M. Shanker and R. M. Tipnis. Khemchand Prakash wrote the music. Established actresses turned the role down or priced themselves out of it. Suraiya was considered. Madhubala, then 15, was rejected by Vacha, failed a first test that Wirsching had lit badly on purpose, and was cast after Amrohi lit a second test himself. The long schedule drew bad notices in the press before release. Amrohi put in antiques and costumes when money ran short.
Themes
Background
Bombay Talkies released it in October 1949, Amrohi's debut and a ghost story built on reincarnation rather than a monster.
In film history
Aayega Aanewala, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, became the song people took from the film, and Madhubala's performance was what reviewers singled out over Ashok Kumar.
Making
Ashok Kumar was more than twice Madhubala's age. The first camera test was arranged to make her look wrong. The second, with the lights reset, got her the part.
Reviews
Opening notices were mixed to negative. The Motion Picture Magazine wrote about ghosts and apparitions and treated Josef Wirsching's photography as a mark in Indian camerawork. One review dismissed the plot as fantastic nonsense.
Audiences
Estimated receipts were ₹1.45 crore, against an estimated cost of ₹9 lakh. That was the biggest return in Bombay Talkies' history and third among Hindi films of 1949, after Barsaat and Andaz.
Look
Josef Wirsching shot the palace, the midnight song, and the water under the terrace. He also set the lights for Madhubala's screen tests, the first of them deliberately unflattering.
Music
Khemchand Prakash composed the score. Lata Mangeshkar sings Aayega Aanewala, Mushkil Hai Bahot, and Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya. Rajkumari and Zohra Bai sing other songs.
Notes
- Ashok Kumar plays Hari Shankar. Madhubala plays Kamini and Asha. Vijayalaxmi plays Ranjana. Kanu Roy plays Shrinath. M. Kumar plays Shankar's father. Nazir Hussain plays Kamini's father.
- Lata Mangeshkar sings Aayega Aanewala. Rajkumari sings several other numbers, including Ek Tir Chala and Main Woh Hansee Hoon.
- It was the third-highest-grossing Hindi film of 1949, behind Barsaat and Andaz.
- The British Film Institute later placed it on a list of ten romantic horror films.
- Aayega Aanewala is listed at 6 minutes 52 seconds.
Scenes
- Shankar follows the singing woman through the palace and out to the terrace.
- In court the gardener's daughter admits she invented Kamini.
- Shankar dies, and Asha and Shrinath walk off under the end title.