महल (1949)

Curiosità

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 who moves into an ancient mansion, where he gets visions of a mysterious lady (Madhubala) claiming to be his lover in their previous lives.

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.

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.

The casting of female lead role became complex—several established actresses refused the role and those who accepted it asked high fees. At one point, Suraiya was considered and almost finalized by Vacha, who believed that she and Kumar would make a marketable pair together, but her grandmother appeared unenthusiastic about the film's unconventional story.

According to The Times of India, in her first screen test, Madhubala "looked terrible. Buzz is, German cinematographer Joseph Wirching, who was on the studio's payroll, had been instructed to shoot the teenage actress at her worst." Amrohi helmed the second audition himself and arranged the lights to his own convenience while photographing Madhubala.

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