Mahal (1949)

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Movie
Original title Mahal
Country of production India
original language Hindi , Urdu
Publishing year 1949
length 162 minutes
Rod
Director Kamal Amrohi
script Kamal Amrohi
production Ashok Kumar , Savak Vacha ( Bombay Talkies )
music Khemchand Prakash
camera Josef Wirsching
cut Bimal Roy , M. Shanker , RM Tipnis
occupation

Mahal ( Hindi : महल , mahal ; Urdu : محل; translated: Villa ) is a commercially successful Hindi feature film by Kamal Amrohi from 1949.

action

Hari Shankar's father buys the Sangam Bhavan villa on the banks of the Jamuna River . Shankar himself is more fascinated by the tragic love story of Kamini and her lover, the previous owner of the villa. But when the picture of the former owner happens to come into his hands, Shankar is visibly shocked: The portrait shows his likeness. A short time later he also sees Kamini's ghost swirling around and lets himself be seduced by her.

Shankar's friend Shrinath tries to stop him before Kamini drives Shankar insane. But Kamini has so cast a spell on him that Shankar is ready to die for her just to be united with her. Kamini, on the other hand, has a better suggestion: If he kills Asha, the gardener's daughter, she would adopt this body.

Shankar is ready to make this sacrifice. Before an accident happens, Shrinath calls on Shankar's father, who forcibly marries him to Ranjana. For Ranjana, marriage is pure hell, because Shankar doesn't pay any attention to it. At some point she can no longer take it and poisons herself. Shankar is suspected of having poisoned Ranjana and is therefore arrested for the time being. Everything speaks against him at the trial. The veiled gardener's daughter Asha is also asked to take the stand. There she should take off her veil and everyone looks shocked into Kamini's face.

Now Asha is forced to reveal Kamini's secret: Asha has been overwhelmed by Kamini's tragic love story since she was a child, so that she soon falls in love with Kamini's lover herself. When she sees Shankar's face, she decides to take on Kamini's identity without further ado in order to avoid the fear of not being loved by Shankar as the gardener's daughter.

Nevertheless, the story does not change Shankar's alleged motive and is condemned. Only Ranjana's letter, which she had posted before her suicide, testifies to Shankar's innocence. After being released, Shankar rushes to the villa and dies in front of Asha / Kamini.

music

song Singer
Aayega Aanewala Lata Mangeshkar
Chhun Chhun Ghungharwa Rajkumari , Zohra Ambala
Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya Lata Mangeshkar
Ek tar chala Rajkumari
Ghabra Ke Jo Hum Rajkumari
Main Woh Haseen Hoon Rajkumari
Mushkil Hai Bahot Lata Mangeshkar

Nakshab wrote the lyrics to the music of Khemchand Prakash . The song Ayega Aanewala acts as a leitmotif for the "spirit". The trend of using a song as a leitmotif throughout the film also inspired filmmakers of other works such as Madhumati , Woh Kaun Thi? and Mera Saaya .

Reviews

  • "Mahal" is an elegiac mourning song, surrendered to the longing for death and the agony of love, full of enchanting music, tuned to the minor key, with appearances and exits that hardly know their own kind in their dreamlike world oblivion. Classic Bollywood in its essence. - Ekkehard Knörer

background

Mahal was the directorial debut of Kamal Amrohi . It is considered the first ghost film in India and was one of the greatest successes of the film company Bombay Talkies .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=154&catName=MTk0OQ== ( Memento from June 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ http://www.jump-cut.de/backlist-mahal.html
  3. ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 314, ISBN 085170669X

Web links