Mahal

Shankar (Ashok Kumar) who moves into an abandoned mansion that has a tragic history. He notices his resemblance to a portrait of the mansion’s former owner and sees the ghost of the man’s mistress, Kamini (Madhubala), who tells him he must die if they are to be united. Or he must kill the gardener’s daughter for her to once again come alive. His friend, Shrinath (Kanu Roy), tries to break the obsession by arranging Shankar’s marriage to Ranjana (Vijayalakshmi). However, Shankar’s obsession continues so he goes someplace far off where Ranjana is expected, among other things, to live in a snake and bat infested hut. One night, she follows Shankar and sees him with Kamini. She commits suicide, accusing Shankar of the deed in her dying statement to the police. In court, the gardener’s daughter, Asha, is unveiled in the witness box. She is none other than Kamini and was, in fact, masquerading as the ghost. Shankar is sentenced to death but continues to be obsessed with Asha/Kamini. He then asks Shrinath to marry Asha so that they are separated this birth but hoping he and Asha/Kamini would meet again in the next birth and be re-united. As his sentence is about to carried out, a letter mailed by Ranjana confessing that she did indeed commit suicide is found and Shankar is released. But it is too late. Shrinath is already married to Asha…

In 1942-3, the breakaway group from Bombay talkies formed its own film studio, Filmistan. As Filmistan grew from strength to strength, Bombay Talkies began to decline and began making huge losses. Ashok Kumar, who used to be Bombay Talkies biggest star and who was part of the breakaway group to Filmistan, returned to his alma mater, so to speak, in the late 1940s to try and turn the company around. In the wake of this effort came Mahal, perhaps one of Indian cinema’s earliest ghost stories!

Mahal was Kamal Amrohi’s first film as director and immediately sets him apart as a filmmaker. It was a film that was startlingly different in its times, a tragic psychodrama-thriller with overtones of a ghost story. Mahal was among the earlier efforts to improve not only the content but also the form of Hindi films. The film is till date known for its unique-at-the-time story, its richly textured and moody visuals, the imaginative use of sound, its tantalizing ambiguity and of course, its haunting music. The original Bombay Talkies cameraman, Josef Wirsching. Interestingly, the lighting, inspired by the German Expressionist Films of the late 1910s and early 1920s, was initially darker and moodier with a much more sombre use of light and shade but the studio executives felt that the audiences must ‘see everything’ and so the look of the film was made a little brighter. The film is further enhanced by its deep focus photography creating haunting images of Madhubala walking down long corridors of the haveli.

Mahal is also held solidly together by its two central performances, those of Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. Along with Motilal it was Ashok Kumar who brought a more natural style of performing to Indian Cinema. Dadamoni was one of the earliest actors who understood the cinematic medium and realized that acting was reacting as well. Before Dadamoni, most artistes would just say their lines and that was it but Dadamoni knew that silences and reactions in fact constituted more of acting rather then just dialoguebaazi. In Mahal, Ashok Kumar speaks volumes with his silences and plays the obsessed lover to perfection. Just see the frenzied look in his eyes as he follows the ‘ghost’ leading him on. Mahal finally made Madhubala a huge star and she is spot on as the spirit that ‘haunts’ Ashok Kumar, bringing a haunting quality to her performance as well. What is ironic was that Madhubala was never the first choice at all. Many actresses including Suraiya were considered for the role before Madhubala was finally chosen. Today it is impossible to think of anyone but Madhubala in Mahal. Incidentally, it was a sort of coming home for Madhubala too as she had been a child star in one of Bombay Talkies biggest hits, Basant, made in 1942 and here she was playing the heroine and that too opposite the studio’s top actor.

But even more than Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, perhaps the biggest reason for Mahal’s success was its super hit music by Khemchand Prakash. The soundtrack of Mahal was light-years ahead of its time in terms of its music, use of sounds and orchestration. The key song, Aaega Aanewala, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, is brilliantly used as a leitmotif for the ‘ghost’ and set the trend for a suspense and ghost film to always have a song that works as a leitmotif throughout the film be it Madhumati (1958), Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) or Mera Saaya (1966). It is said the recording began with the mike placed in the center of a large hall with Lata in the corner of the room. As the prelude began she inched her way to the mike singing Khamosh Hai Zamana (an early use of prelude before the actual song – here lyrics were written by Amrohi himself while J Nakshab wrote rest of the song). Mahal, without a doubt, represents the finest work of Khemchand Prakash at his peak. Interestingly, during the production of Mahal, someone carelessly remarked to the studio authorities that if the film did not prove to be a hit it would be because of the music. When the film was released, of course its music proved to be extremely popular. Khemchand Prakash received innumerable letters from all over India praising his compositions. In spite of being ill, he took a cab to the man’s house and forced him to read all those letters.

While Aaega Aanewala proved to be a turning point in her career, 1949 was also the year that the Lata Mangeshkar phenomenon took off as apart from Mahal, her songs in other films released the same year such as Andaz, Barsaat and Dulari reached hithertho unknown levels of popularity. Such was Lata Mangeshkar’s impact that within a year she had changed the face of the playback singer as her highly trained high-pitched singing rendered the nasal, basy voices of the day totally obsolete. At least music directors had found the voice that could stretch their creative experiments to the fullest. The only two singers to survive the Lata onslaught were Geeta Roy (later Dutt) and to a certain extent, Shamshad Begum as Lata went on to conquer all and sundry with her magical voice and become the greatest female playback singer that India has ever seen. Incidentally, Mahal sees two other wonderful Lata solos as well – Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya and Mushkil Hai Bahut Mushkil, both filmed on Madhubala.

The other singer that Mahal is a triumph for is Rajkumari. Rajkumari began her career in the late 1930s as a singer actress with Prakash Pictures. But the love of food and a resulting weight problem forced her to concentrate on playback singing only. Mahal sees some of Rajkumari’s greatest work as a singer with splendid use of her sweet voice that was strong yet not sharply high pitched. The song Ghabrake jo Hum Sar Ko Takraye To Achcha Ho on Vijayalakshmi is perhaps the greatest song sung by Rajkumari in her entire career.

Mahal was a tremendous success at the box office.  Sadly however, the film offered but a temporary relief to Bombay Talkies’ declining fortunes and by 1954 this great institution of filmmaking finally folded up. One cannot help but notice the influence of Mahal on Bimal Roy’s Madhumati as Dilip Kumar, too, comes to a strange mansion at night and in the dark, eerie atmosphere of large shadows and swinging chandeliers, he sees his own portrait there! Madhumati also makes use of the ‘ghost’ song as a leitmotif this time with Aaja Re Pardesi, which is sung again by Lata Mangeshkar. And coincidentally, Lata considers both Aaega Aanewala and Aaja Re Pardesi among her ten best songs ever!

Hindi, Suspense, Thriller, Black & White