Mahal

About the film

Mahal (transl. "Mansion") is a 1949 Indian Hindi-language psychological supernatural horror film produced by Savak Vacha and Ashok Kumar under the banner of Bombay Talkies, and directed by Kamal Amrohi as his directorial debut. The film centres on a screenplay written by Amrohi, while its music is composed by Khemchand Prakash. Cited as Bollywood's first horror film, it revolves around an aristocrat (Ashok Kumar) who moves into an ancient mansion, where he gets visions of a mysterious lady (Madhubala) claiming to be his lover in their previous lives.

Mahal was produced by Bombay Talkies studio on a modest budget. Amrohi, who made his directorial debut with the film, was turned down by many major female stars before then-fledgling Madhubala was put on the board. The film took a relatively long time filming that earned it a negative reputation in the media.

Plot

Mahal is a 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.

Some 40 to 45 years ago, 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 a 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 her voice. 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 him 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 into 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 a train and goes to the palace. Kamini tells him that she is real, 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.

Production

Mahal was produced by Savak Vacha and Ashok Kumar under the banner of Bombay Talkies, and written and directed by Kamal Amrohi, who made his directorial debut with the film. It was Kumar who suggested part of the story, recalling a real life incident: in 1948, he was shooting near Jijiboy House at a hill station when, at midnight, the actor saw a headless corpse in a mysterious woman's car. The woman vanished from the scene soon after, and Kumar's servants believed that he might have dreamt the incident. When Kumar went to a nearby police station to register a complaint, a policeman told him that 14 years ago a similar incident happened at the same place—a woman had committed a murder and later died in a road accident.

Kumar narrated the story to Amrohi, who had previously written dialogue for the 1939 Sohrab Modi blockbuster Pukar, but never directed a film. Amrohi partly modified and further developed the story and named the film Mahal, meaning a mansion or a palace. Interestingly, the film's supernatural twist is also reminiscent of a short story by Rupert Croft-Cooke that was made into the film The Fatal Witness in 1945.

The film's plot was rejected by Vacha, who was apprehensive that suspense films do not always find a repeat audience, while Bombay Talkies was already suffering financially due to the box office failure of some of its previous films. However, Kumar insisted that the film may become interesting if directed well and appointed Amrohi as the film's director. Kumar himself agreed to co-produce, bear the losses if any and even star in the film. He entrusted Amrohi to choose a suitable actress for playing Kamini.

Release

Mahal was theatrically released on 13 October 1949. The film soon gained popularity and by its third week became a nationwide sensation. Due to the failure of previous Bombay Talkies releases, Mahal was completely unexpected to do well and "surprised the prophets of doom who said it would only add to Bombay Talkies' financial woes." A theatre owner told the media, "I am submerged by requests from friends and public to give out passes. I do it for some shows as all shows are always sold out in advance. It is a hit that has hoisted up our revenues beyond expectations and I think it will become a silver jubilee hit for sure. People want to see it over and over again." The film always opened to sold-out shows and there was a widespread demand of booklets carrying the dialogue and the lyrics of soundtrack.

Trade site Box Office India has declared Mahal a "Super Hit". Although exact figures for the film's box-office earnings are not available, film-trade websites provide estimates. Box Office India cited the gross as ₹14.5 million (US$1.92 million), and said that it was the third highest-grossing Hindi film of 1949 after Barsaat and Andaz. In February 2009, the website gave the adjusted gross as ₹410 million (US$8.47 million), and called it the tenth highest-grossing film of the decade (1940s). As of 2020, Mahal remains one of the hundred highest-grossing Indian films in India when adjusted for inflation.

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