Synopsis
On
a stormy night, Devendra (Dilip Kumar), an engineer, drives
down a hill road with his friend, to fetch his wife and child
from the railway station. A landslide blocks their path and
the friends take shelter in an old mansion just off the road.
Devendra finds the house uncannily familiar. In the large
front room he finds an old portrait which he recognizes. His
friend and the old caretaker join him, and Devendra, amidst
flashes of memory from another life, sits down to tell his
story while the storm rages outside. Anand (Dilip Kumar) had
come to Shyamnagar Timber Estate as its new manager. An artist
in his spare time, he roamed the hills and forests with his
sketching pad and fell in love with Madhumati (Vyjayantimala),
a tribal girl whose songs have haunted him from a distance.
Soon Anand meets his employer, Ugranarayan (Pran), a ruthless
and arrogant man. Anand refuses to bend down to him like the
others, and incurs his wrath. Anand also has enemies among
his staff who have been fudging the accounts till his arrival.
Sent away on an errand suddenly, he returns to find that Madhumati
has disappeared. Anand learns from Charandas how Madhumati
had been taken to Ugranarayan in his absence. He confronts
Ugranarayan whose men beat him unconscious. Anand's life is
saved, but his mind wanders. One day in the forest he meets
a girl who looks exactly like Madhumati. She says she is Madhavi
(Vyjayantimala), but Anand refuses to believe her, and is
beaten up by her companions when he tries to plead with her.
Madhavi finds a sketch of Madhumati in the forest and realizes
he was speaking the truth. She takes the sketch to the rest
house where Anand now stays, and learns his story from Charandas.
Meanwhile Anand is haunted by the spirit of Madhumati who
tells him that Ugranarayan is her killer. Seeing Madhavi at
a dance recital where she dresses as a tribal girl, he appeals
to her to pose as Madhumati and appear before Ugranarayan
and help him get a confession out of him. She agrees. Returning
to Ugranarayan's palace, Anand begs permission to do a portrait
of him. Next evening with a storm brewing outside Anand paints
Ugranarayan. At the stroke of eight, Ugranarayan sees Madhumati
in front of him. Shaken, and goaded by Madhumati, he confesses
the truth. The police who have been waiting outside the room
now come and take him away. Anand suddenly realizes that the
questions the false Madhumati asked were on matters unknown
to him. How did Madhavi know where Madhumati was buried? The
girl just smiles, and moves towards the stairs. Madhavi dressed
as Madhumati rushes into the room. She is late, for the car
failed on the way. Anand realizes that Madhumati herself had
come and runs up to the terrace where her ghost beckons him.
She had fallen from the same terrace trying to escape Ugranarayan.
Anand follows her falling to his death. Devendra's story is
over. "But," he says "I finally did have Madhumati as my wife.
In this life - Radha." Just then news comes that the train
in which his wife was travelling has met with an accident.
The road has been cleared, and the two friends rush to the
station. From one of the coaches, Devendra's wife Radha (Vyjayantimala)
appears unhurt with her baby...
The film
Madhumati
has often been criticized as one of Bimal Roy's
lightweight formulaic films and formulaic
it is in its choice of theme and content
but Bimalda's sheer skill as a filmmaker
transcends above everything to give us an extremely engrossing tale
of reincarnation and revenge, which is further
boosted by the fine performances, cinematography,
editing and above all its scintillating
musical score by Salil Choudhury. True,
coming after sensitive masterpieces like
Do Bhiga
Zameen (1953), Biraj Bahu (1954)
and Devdas (1955) it does appear
odd that Bimalda took up such a conventional
story but the final film remains one of
his most enduring cinematic efforts. In
fact that very year Bimalda came up with
another lightweight film again starring
Dilip Kumar,
Yahudi (1958), which incidentally
was also a huge success at the box-office.
Madhumati
had all the elements of a typical Hindi
Film Potboiler - The Haveli in which the
hero experiences a sense of déja vu leading
to his flashback, the naive and innocent
village belle, the pardesi babu and the
lecherous zamindar lusting after the belle
but Bimal Roy uses these elements to advantage
rather than be hampered by them. Madhumati
has all the right qualities of an eerie
romantic film that hooks the viewer right
from the beginning as Dilip Kumar takes
shelter from the storm and enters the old
haveli.
Bimalda's
ability to recreate mood and ambiance is
again displayed throughout the film be it
the luscious romantic interludes outdoors
or the swinging chandeliers and dark shadows
within the haveli but none better than in
the scene of the Mela where the several
documentary like establishing shots beautifully
capture the sheer rustic flavour of the
Mela. But even here the mastery of the filmmaker
is seen as it isn't merely coverage but
small human touches in these shots like
a young boy hungrily eyeing a food stall
or the various times that both Dilip Kumar
and Vyjayantimala
cross each other's paths without noticing
the other (they do so finally at the end
of the sequence) - a good 37 years before
the much talked about crossing of paths
of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). This eye
for detail in capturing a flavour is seen
once again in Images of Kumbh,
a film put together by Bimalda's son Joy
Roy from footage that Bimalda shot of the
Kumbh Mela to be used as part of a feature
film Amar Kumbh ki Khoj which sadly
never got made. Incidentally the ambiance
of the crowd in the Kumbh film is the ambiance
sound from the Mela scene of Madhumati!
Another masterful touch is the shot of Dilip
Kumar's hands holding up the painting of
Madhumati in the foreground and when he
brings down his hands in the background
we see Madhavi standing there. We are as
shocked as he is to see her.
Admittedly
on the fall side there are elements catering
to the commercial requirements of mainstream
Hindi Cinema that do stick out and take
a toll on the story for example the entire
lengthy 'comic' sequence with Johnny
Walker and the exorcist which adds nothing
of value to the film and slows down the
otherwise engaging film.
The
performances are right on-key. While their
roles are none too demanding both Dilip
Kumar and Vyjayantimala turn in capable
performances. For the latter the film showcases
both her acting as well as dancing abilities
and the dizzying success of Madhumati
took Vyjayantimala to the highest rungs
of stardom. Sadhana (1958) coming
the same year saw a remarkable and sensitive
in-depth performance from her (She won the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress for the
same) to cap off an extremely successful
year for her. Both, as an actress of considerable
dramatic merit and as a star. Pran in particular
scores heavily as the lecherous zamindar
reinforcing his status as perhaps the greatest
villain ever to grace the Indian Screen.
(Such was his impact on moviegoers that
an unofficial survey of schools in the 1970s
revealed that not a single child had been
named Pran for as many as 10 years!)
The
film, Bimalda's biggest commercial success,
was scripted by Ritwik
Ghatak. In fact, many of the people
involved in this film had worked together
on Hrishikesh Mukherjee's
Musafir (1957), also based on a Ghatak
story. The film is stunningly shot by Dilip
Gupta and much of it is actually shot outdoors
on location unlike most ghost stories. The
evocative song picturizations further help
elevate the film.
But above all, the film is a total triumph
for Salil Choudhury seeing perhaps his best
and most popular musical score ever. Each
song be it the haunting Aaja Re Pardesi,
the folksy Bichua or Zulmi se
Aankh Ladi, Toote Hue Khwabon ne
or Suhana Safar or the romantic Ghadi
Ghadi Mera Dil Dhadke or Dil Tadap
Tadap ke Keh Raha Hai Aa Bhi Jaa or
even the comic Jungle Mein Mor Naacha
is tuned to perfection. In fact Lata Mangeshkar
counts Aaja Re Pardesi from Madhumati
as among her ten best songs ever. To quote
her,
"I
love all the songs of Madhumati," she
confessed and remembered how happy everyone
was on the day Aaja Re Pardesi was
recorded. "Lyricist Shailendra gave me
flowers. The director Bimal Roy came forward
to congratulate me. The song was beautiful
and it was such a big hit too."
In
Madhumati Salil Choudhury seems inspired
by the verdant hillsides of Assam where
as a child he had roamed with his forest-
officer father. When the songs of Madhumati
were composed, the tweeting of birds, the
flight of an eagle, and the patter of rain
all seemed to seep into the melody. And
as always Salilda's background score is
right on target lifting the film several
notches.
Though
some critics slighted the film, Madhumati
walked away with nine Filmfare Awards including
Best Film, Director, Music, Best Playback
Male (Mukesh) and
Best Playback Female (Lata Mangeshkar).
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