Madhumati

Madhumati
Directed by	Bimal Roy
Produced by	Bimal Roy
Written by	Ritwik Ghatak (screenplay) Rajinder Singh Bedi (dialogues)
Starring	Dilip Kumar Vyjayanthimala Johnny Walker Pran
Music by	Salil Choudhury Shailendra (lyrics)
Cinematography	Dilip Gupta
Editing by	Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Studio	Bimal Roy Productions
Release date(s)	1958 (1958)
Running time	179 minutes
Country	‹See Tfd› India
Language	Hindi

Madhumati is a 1958 Hindi film produced and directed by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The music for the film was composed by Salil Choudhury with lyrics written by Shailendra. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in lead roles along with Pran and Johnny Walker. It was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation and had a gothic noir feel to it.^[1] The first and only collaboration between Roy and Ghatak, it was one of their most commercially successful and influential films.^[2]

Janam Janam, 1988 Hindi film starring Rishi Kapoor is a remake of "Madhumati"

In 2007, Farah Khan and Shahrukh Khan made a new film, Om Shanti Om, that uses some plot elements from Madhumati, but did not credit the earlier film.

Plot

On a stormy night, Devendra (Dilip Kumar), an engineer, drives down a hill road with his friend, to fetch his wife and child from the railway station. A landslide blocks their path and the friends take shelter in an old mansion just off the road. Devendra finds the house uncannily familiar. In the large front room he finds an old portrait which he recognizes. His friend and the old caretaker join him, and Devendra, amidst flashes of memory from another life, sits down to tell his story while the storm rages outside. Anand (Dilip Kumar) had come to Shyamnagar Timber Estate as its new manager. An artist in his spare time, he roamed the hills and forests with his sketching pad and fell in love with Madhumati (Vyjayantimala), a tribal girl whose songs have haunted him from a distance. Soon Anand meets his employer, Ugranarayan (Pran), a ruthless and arrogant man. Anand refuses to bend down to him like the others, and incurs his wrath. Anand also has enemies among his staff who have been fudging the accounts till his arrival. Sent away on an errand suddenly, he returns to find that Madhumati has disappeared. Anand learns from Charandas how Madhumati had been taken to Ugranarayan in his absence. He confronts Ugranarayan whose men beat him unconscious. Anand's life is saved, but his mind wanders. One day in the forest he meets a girl who looks exactly like Madhumati. She says she is Madhavi (Vyjayantimala), but Anand refuses to believe her and is beaten up by her companions when he tries to plead with her. Madhavi finds a sketch of Madhumati in the forest and realizes he was speaking the truth. She takes the sketch to the rest house where Anand now stays and learns his story from Charandas. Meanwhile Anand is haunted by the spirit of Madhumati who tells him that Ugranarayan is her killer. Seeing Madhavi at a dance recital where she dresses as a tribal girl, he appeals to her to pose as Madhumati and appear before Ugranarayan and help him get a confession out of him. She agrees.

Returning to Ugranarayan's palace, Anand begs permission to do a portrait of him. Next evening with a storm brewing outside Anand paints Ugranarayan. At the stroke of eight, Ugranarayan sees the pretend-Madhumati in front of him. Shaken, and goaded by the pretend-Madhumati, he confesses the truth. The police who have been waiting outside the room now come and take him away. Anand suddenly realizes that the questions "Madhavi" asked were on matters unknown to him. How could Madhavi know where Madhumati was buried? "Madhavi" just smiles and moves towards the stairs. Now the real Madhavi, dressed as Madhumati, rushes into the room. She is late, for the car failed on the way. Anand realizes that Madhumati's ghost had made an appearance, and runs up to the terrace where the ghost beckons to him. Madhumati had fallen from the same terrace trying to escape Ugranarayan. Anand follows the ghost, falling to his own death. Devendra's story is over. "But," he says "I finally did have Madhumati as my wife. In this life — Radha." Just then news arrives that the train in which his wife was traveling has met with an accident. The road the friends were to take is cleared, and the they rush to the station. From one of the coaches, Devendra's wife Radha (Vyjayantimala) appears unhurt with her baby.

Cast

• Dilip Kumar as Anand / Deven
• Vyjayanthimala as Madhumati / Madhavi / Radha
• Johnny Walker as Charandas
• Pran as Raja Ugra Narayan
• Jayant as Pawan Raja (Madhumati's Father)
• Ramayan Tiwari as Bir Singh
• Ranjit Sood
• Shivji Bhai
• Tarun Bose as Doctor (Deven's Colleague)

Awards and nominations

Madhumathi was the record holder for the most awards (9) received by a film at the Filmfare Awards for 37 years until the release of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge which won ten awards. The film had multiple screenings since its release screened; 10th Bite The Mango Film Festival (2004), 4th Pune International Film Destival (2006) and Toronto Film Festival (2011).^[3][4][5]

Track listing

Influence

Madhumati went on to become the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with the theme of reincarnation in Indian cinema, Indian television, and perhaps world cinema. It may have been the source of inspiration for the American film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)^[2] (though that film was based upon a 1973 novel by Max Ehrlich) and the Hindi film Karz (1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures.^[2] Karz in particular was remade several times: as the Kannada film Yuga Purusha (1989), the Tamil film Enakkul Oruvan (1984), and more recently the Bollywood film Karzzzz (2008). The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and Karz may have also inspired the American film Chances Are (1989).^[8] The most recent film to be directly inspired by Madhumati is the hit Bollywood film Om Shanti Om (2007), which led to the late Bimal Roy's daughter Rinki Bhattacharya accusing the film of plagiarism and threatening legal action against its producers.^[9][10]

Other later Indian films featuring reincarnation as a main theme include:

• Mooga Manasulu (1963)
• Milan (1967)
• Mehbooba (1976)
• Karz (1980)
• Kudrat (1981)
• Janam Janam (1988)
• Suryavanshi (1992)
• Prem Shakti (1994)
• Karan Arjun (1995)
• Hamesha (1997)
• Mr Ya Miss (2005)
• Valley of Flowers (2006)
• Love Story 2050 (2008)

Reincarnation has also appeared as a main theme in the following Indian soap operas and television serials:

• Banoo Main Teri Dulhann
• Kaajjal
• Kumkum

Trivia

• The film was launched in front of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Theatre in Czechoslovakia.^[11] Dilip Kumar faced the camera, while Soviet actress Tatjana Konjuchova, switched on the camera. Polish actress Barbara Polonska acted as Clapper loader.^[11] Madhumati is the first Indian film to be launched abroad.^[11]

See also

• List of submissions to the 31st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Indian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

• Madhumati at the Internet Movie Database
• Madhumati at Upperstall.com
• Madhumati profile & review at Rediff