Madhumati

Madhumati is a 1958 Indian Hindi-language paranormal romance film directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Vyjayanthimala and Dilip Kumar in lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. But they face challenges in their relationship finally leading to a paranormal consequence. It was ranked 11th in the Outlook Magazine's 25 leading Indian directors' poll for selecting Bollywood's greatest films in 2003. Madhumati was filmed in various Indian locations, including Ranikhet, Ghorakhal, Vaitarna Dam and Aarey Milk Colony. The soundtrack album was composed by Salil Chowdhury and the lyrics were written by Shailendra. The film was released on 12 September 1958. It earned ₹40 million in India and became the highest-grossing Indian film of the year, and one of the most commercially successful and influential Indian films of all time. It received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised the technicality, soundtrack, and performance of the cast. Madhumati was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation, and was described by analysts as a potboiler that has a gothic and noir feel to it. It inspired later regional and international films that have reincarnation-based themes. It led the 6th Filmfare Awards with 12 nominations and won 9 awards including Best Film, Best Director for Roy, Best Music Director for Chaudhary, Best Female Playback Singer for Mangeshkar—the most awards for a film at that time—a record that it maintained for a record 37 years. It also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Plot On a stormy night, engineer Devendra drives down a hill road with his friend to fetch his wife and child from a railway station. A landslide blocks their path and they take shelter in an old mansion. Devendra finds the house eerily familiar. In the large front room, he finds an old portrait, which he recognizes. He’s joined by his friend and the old caretaker. Devendra, experiencing flashbacks of another life, sits down to tell his story while the storm rages outside.