The making of Mahal

Mahal, the film that almost unmade director Kamal Amrohi, introduced an exciting genre of Hitchcockian suspense to Hindi cinema.

The film was about a haunted house. One day a man enters its imposing precincts. As he walks in, he is shocked out of his wits by the crashing of a framed portrait in front of him. It's his own portrait! Dumbstruck, he turns to the gardener of the mahal, who tells him that it's the protrait of a man who had lived there three years ago. He was in love with a beautiful girl, who he could not marry. He used to come to the mahal to meet her.

The gardener's lovely daughter Kamini, who is listening from the shadows watches the look of amazement cross the young aristocrat's face. Her mind begins ticking, and she weaves an elaborate web of deceit. She entices the vulnerable stranger into believing that she was indeed the beautiful lover he had lost in another life. The imaginatively structured narrative had avid film buffs under its spell just as Kamini had her unsuspecting 'lover' under her spell! Only in the end did it emerge that the act of seduction was Kamini's ploy to escape from a life of drudgery and poverty.

Kamal Amrohi, who was already successful writer back then, narrated the story to Savak Wacha, Ashok Kumar's partner at Bombay Talkies. Wacha was fascinated by the story and decided to buy it. "But I'll sell it only on the condition that you let me direct the film," Amrohi told Wacha.

Once he signed on the dotted line, Amrohi demanded that a 16-year-old newcomer, Madhubala be screen-tested for Kamini's role opposite Ashok Kumar. And he went ahead and cast her, much against Wacha's wishes, who was keen on Suraiya.

Amrohi, however was not too happy with his hero. He didn't like the way Ashok Kumar rattled off his lines at break-neck speed. When the actor refused to change his dialogue delivery, the director requested for a break. During those three months, Amrohi visited Ashok Kumar frequently and had long conversations with him. He deliberately spoke to his hero in a slow, measured tone. After a few weeks, Ashok Kumar unconsciously adopted Amrohi's style of talking.

The shooting resumed and the change was there for everyone to see. Mahal turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 1949 along with Raj Kapoor's Barssat. Two stars were born, the ethereal Madhubala and melody queen Lata Mangeshkar.