Golden Era of Bollywood: 60 Years of Madhumati

Wednesday 12 September 2018

60 Years of Madhumati

Madhumati 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 was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation. Directed and produced by Bimal Roy, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi. The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles.
It won nine Filmfare Awards; including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Dialogue, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematographer—the most awards for a single film at that time. It also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Bimal Roy who made Devdas in 1955 with the same star lead was looking for a hit. His 1955 film Devdas was commercially unsuccessful, jeopardising his company Bimal Roy Productions; he needed a commercial success to survive. The film opened at the Roxy theatre near Opera House Bombay.“It was a fabulous evening, glamorous and glittering, just like the film premieres on screen.” Like all great movies, this one too inspired a genre of its own, the re-incarnation genre.

The soundtrack of Madhumati became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of 1958. Salil Chowdhury won his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. Suhana safar aur yeh mausam haseen is one of the most popular songs by recording artist Mukesh and is regularly played at dandiya functions. The Madhumati soundtrack features eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhury. Shailendra wrote the lyrics and Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Sabita Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammed and Dwijen Mukhopadhyay provided the vocals.
It is one of the greatest Hindi movies ever made. It’s top notch in terms of cinematography, directing, music, acting and dancing. I rank it among Top 10 Hindi films.Bimal Roy's classics like Sujata, Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen or Devdas, still bears the mark of a master craftsman. And it’s good entertainment value.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.
The film begins on a dark and stormy night (a recurring motif in the film: all the most dramatic events occur on stormy nights). Two friends – an engineer, Devendra (Dilip Kumar) and a doctor (Tarun Bose) are travelling by car along a mountain road when a fallen tree forces a halt. The driver advises the two men to take shelter in the nearby mansion while he goes off to find help. Devendra and his friend go off to the mansion, which turns out to be a spooky place, dusty and seemingly deserted.

The film was shot at a hill station. It had a six-week schedule at a location in Ranikhet, Nainital. Some scenes were filmed in Ghorakhal near Nainital. When the negatives were developed, most of the footage was found to be fogged. Since a reshoot in far-away Uttarakhand was not possible, sets were created near Vaitarna Dam, Igatpuri. The art direction team, led by Sudhendu Roy, created fake pine trees, which were planted to match the location in Nainital.A large part of the film was filmed in Aarey Milk Colony, a small forested area in Mumbai. A scene in which Dilip Kumar looks for Vyjayanthimala in the woods was filmed in Igatpuri. The foggy effect was recreated using gas bombs.
Commercially it was the biggest hit of Bimal Roys's career. It wiped out his losses of Devdas released in 1955. The fact that it scored over movies like Kala Pani, Sadhana, Phir Subah Hogi, all released the same year, speaks for its power to captivate the audience and hold its attention for long. More than anything, Madhumati, forever, will be remembered for its music.

Think of gems like ‘Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Hasin’, ‘Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha Hai’, ‘Aaja Re Mai To Kabse Khadi Is Paar’, ‘Chadh Gayo Paapi Bichua’, ‘Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi’, ‘Toote Hue Khwabon Ne’ and ‘Ghadi Ghadi Mera Dil Dhadke’, and you know instantly what melody stood for.

Madhumati' is primarily an entertainer but one doesn't think of it as a masala film, and there's a lot to like about it. Wonderful visuals and songs, very good performances, a nicely developed romance, and it's strong on atmospherics as well. It fully delivers on its promise and is quite a charming film.