Mahal (1949)

This is a very historic film in hindi cinema, as it's one of the first to deal with the story of reincarnation, Mahal (Mansion) is said to have been the inspiration for many later films based on Reincarnation usch as Madhumati, Kudrat etc. This movie is also said to have made Madhubala and Lata Mangeshkar superstars

The story begins about a haunted mansion where a tragic love story is said to have happened between the lord of the mansion and a woman. The woman is said to haunt the mansion with cries about her lover

ooohhhh haunted mansion
Hari Shankar buys the mansion and when he discovers a picture that looks strangely similar to him, he believes he is the owner of the mansion reincarnated with the purpose to find his love

he soon starts seeing a face, which he believes is that of his lover from his previous life Kamimi (Madhubala)

his friend Shivnath (Kanu Roy) thinks hes'c razy and tries to stop him from obsessing over Kamini in his bid to stop this he hires some prostitutes but this fails to work

Kamini reveals to him that they can both be together if he takes a liking to his veil wearing maid after which he can then kill, and then she would possess her body and they would be able to be reunited

Before Shankar can do this he's knocked out after a fall and his father takes him to Allahabad where he's married off to Ranjana (Vijayalaxmi)

Following his and Ranajana's marriage shekhar remembers Kamini and longs for her only. Ranjana becomes depressed over this and when she eventually catches Shankar declaring his love for Kamini, she's unable to bear it and plots her own suicide and then frames Shankar for it

Thus follows a court room drama where Shankar must try to prove his innocence

Will Shankar be able to prove his innocence? Was he really the incarnated owner of the mansion? Who is kamini? Is she real or are all these hallucinations

This is a well made film, its well thought out and it has an interesing story as well as great direction from Kamal Amrohi with a great twist which i wouldn't have guessed , many people refer to it as horror which it clearly isn't, i guess i would describe it more as supernatural suspense drama. The film has a quiet spooky feel about it and the cinematography and lighting is of a high standard. My only complain is that although the story and concept was great, it felt quite slow and it really could have been shorter.

Great performance here from Ashok Kumar as Shankar, so much poise, elegance and class, he's truly one of the great actors of Indian Cinema

And Madhubala what a great beauty she is, the camera clearly loves her gives a superbly convincing performance as Kamini, i really didn't see that end coming


The music by Khemchand Prakash is fantastic with well thought out beautiful lyrics, i really liked
'Mushkil bahut hai mushkil' the mellow 'yeh raat phir na aayegi', the subtle sounds of Dil ne phir but my favourite has to be aayega aanewal (oh my beloved will come back) which i would term as a subtle but undeniably catchy earworm, beautifully sang by Lata Mangeshkar



Total Score: 8/10 ( an entertaining suspense drama)