Mahal, released in 1949, is consistently cited as Bollywood’s first horror film. The reincarnation arc places it in the reincarnation subcategory.

Even after eighty years, Mahal is the biggest Bollywood horror movie to ever exist. Direct Kamal Amrohi. Madhubala and Ashok Kumar are part of the cast.

Lata Mangeshkar and Zohrabai have sung and Bimal Roy has edited Mahal. Mahal is still fresh in everyone’s mind because of the perennial song, “Aaega, Aaega, Aanewala”. Lata Mangeshkar sang the song.

Bollywood horror movie is a very important movie in Bollywood history.

Not just because it’s a great movie, or because it’s a horror movie. Mahal is an important film.

Already in 1949, Kamal Amrohi introduces us to the young woman who does not care about the consequences of her actions.

She is the center of her universe and it is her antics that form the main and only reason for the tragic spiral that the film is about.

With Mahal, Madhubala becomes one of the few actresses to have played characters who love someone so much that their antics hurt their love.

The other two characters that come to mind are Madhuri Dixit’s Anjali in Pukar (2000) and Kajol’s Isha Diwan in Gupt (1997).

The director has not judged Asha at all. He has not made her like the vampire, he has not given her the characteristics of her trope of being a smoker or a follower of some other vice.

She is just a young woman busy with the idea of ​​being in love and being loved.

With Mahal. Asha also becomes one of the first stalkers in Indian cinema.

A special mention goes to Ashok Kumar and his production company Bombay Talkies.

Even in 2020, it would take guts to pitch that concept to investors. It would be a miracle if they come out of those meetings without creating an evil, flawed Asha/Kamini character.

This is a very different reincarnation movie. Every reincarnation movie is about a couple who get separated in their previous life, because of a villain or villains.

In the next current reincarnation, they meet once again and defeat the enemy and live a happy life.

Mahal is markedly different from any other Bollywood reincarnation film in that regard.

Bollywood horror movie Mahal Synopsis Hari, a young man, takes over a large mansion that his father has bought. The gardener tells him some of the old stories about the mansion.

According to the locals, a man built the mansion so he could spend time there with his lover.

He lived across the river, and his lover waited for him to cross the river every night. The man would be gone before dawn.

One night, the man’s boat capsizes and he dies. His mistress, pining for him, dies a few days later. Since then, the mansion has fallen into disrepair.

Hari takes it as a story and tells the servant to go to a friend, Shrinath, who lives nearby, to announce his arrival.

Without the gardener, Hari comes across a strange woman, Kamini, who seems to haunt the mansion.

When his friend arrives, a disturbed Hari is ready to shoot someone. Shrinath understands that Hari is upset and tries to solve the problem of his friend.

He even hires nautch girls to seduce him so he can forget about the woman he thinks is a spirit lurking in the mansion, but things don’t work out there.

Hari’s father forces him to marry a young Ranjana, but the marriage is a loveless and unlucky marriage.

Ranjana gives in to what she thinks is her bad luck, but soon discovers that her husband is pursuing another woman. Ranjana constantly writes to Shrinath’s wife and tells her about her spirit.

After a long time, he confesses to her in a letter that he plans to commit suicide.

In an attempt to avenge the destruction of her life, Ranjana files a complaint against Hari.

She accuses him of poisoning and killing her. Ranjana dies at the police station. Hari was arrested on charges of killing his wife.

During the legal process, the gardener’s daughter, Asha, confesses that she frequented the mansion as Kamini.

She confesses that she heard the story of incomplete love and wanted someone to love her like this.

When he saw the painting depicting Hari in what seemed to be his past life, he falls in love with Hari and decides to pursue him.

Although the court sympathizes with Hari, they cannot ignore the fact that his passion for the spirit led to the death of his wife.

They sentence him to death. However, before the death sentence can be carried out, Hari’s friend Shrinath reveals the contents of the letter Ranjana had written to his wife, which clearly tells him that she plans to commit suicide.

Hari gets a release and the way is clear for Hari and Asha to get married. Unfortunately, Hari is too heartbroken and tired at the end of the movie and dies, thinking about everything that has happened, leaving Asha alone in the world.

The Bollywood horror movie scene has changed a lot in the eight decades. Today the film is a landmark film and newer audiences will find it tame. Still, they’ll get an idea of ​​how disturbing the movie would be, if one saw it the way it’s supposed to be: in the theater. There is no doubt that Mahal inspired a number of filmmakers to bring horror and the supernatural to the screen.

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