Mahal (1949)

A young lawyer is involved with a ghostly woman in his new house, where the builder and his fiancée died shortly after it was built.

Director:

Kamal Amrohi

Writer:

Kamal Amrohi (by)

Stars:

Ashok Kumar, Madhubala, M. Kumar

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ashok Kumar	...	Hari Shankar
Madhubala	...	Kamini
M. Kumar	...	Hari Shankar's Father (as Kumar)
Vijayalaxmi	...	Ranjana
Kanu Roy	...	Shrinath
S. Nazir
Eruch Tarapore
Sheela Naik
Leela Pandey
Neelam
Kaneez
Jagannath
Mohsin
Laxman Rao
S.A. Baker	...	(as S. A. Baker)

Storyline

Hari Shankar (Ashok Kumar) comes to claim his inheritance - a palatial building known as Shabnam Mahal. He does not see anything out of the normal, until he sees his portrait on the wall. The housekeeper tells him the background of the portrait and the tragic ending of two lovers. Later, Hari Shankar sees a woman singing and swinging in the garden swing, when he approaches, she disappears. Both the housekeeper and his lawyer friend, Shrinath, warn Hari Shankar, and ask him to stay away from this house, he does so, only to be drawn back. No one can help Hari Shankar now as he continues to be drawn deeper and deeper into the dark world of the ghostly apparition. "Ayega.. ayega... aanewala, aayega...." is still popular on radio and tapes/cd.

---

Plot Keywords:

portrait | friend | inheritance | mansion | reincarnation | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

---

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Urdu

Release Date:

1949 (India)

Also Known As:

The Palace

Box Office

Budget:

INR 4,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Bombay Talkies Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of kamaal amrohi as director and also first film of madhubala and the first major songs of lata mangeshkar from this film.

---

Soundtracks

Main Wo Hansi Hun Lab Pe Jo Aane Se Rah Gayi
Lyrics by Nakshab
Music by Khemchand Prakash

User Reviews

Classic suspense movie

This is one of the greatest suspense movies of all times in any language. Kamal Amrohi was a genius, who could never reproduce at the same level, as in Mahal, his debut venture. In this respect, he reminds me of Orsen Welles, whose debut venture Citizen Kane was his best, and one of the greatest movie of all times. What upsets me most is that Mahal is considered a ghost story by many commentators. Nothing could be further from truth. It's a great suspense story, told in a straight forward way, and yet exceptionally hard to guess the surprise ending on first viewing. Khemchand Prakash's music is among the finest in Hindi movies. But for his early demise, he would have been as much an icon as Naushad he introduced to Hindi films.