India's first horror film became blockbuster, was inspired by real-life incident, launched careers of two biggest stars, was debut of...

The 1949 Hindi psychological supernatural horror film Mahal, starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala in the leading roles, is often considered as India's first horror film. The movie follows an aristocrat (Ashok Kumar) who moves into a centuries-old mansion, only to be haunted by visions of a mysterious woman (Madhubala) who insists they were lovers in a past life. Produced by Bombay Talkies, Mahal marked the directorial debut of Kamal Amrohi. Despite received mixed reviews from the critics, the film became a blockbuster as it grossed Rs 1.45 crore against its modest budget of Rs 9 lakh.

Mahal was inspired from Ashok Kumar's real-life incident

For Mahal, Ashok Kumar drew inspiration from his own real-life experience in 1948. While shooting at a hill station, he claimed to have seen a headless corpse in a mysterious woman's car around midnight. The woman disappeared shortly after, and Kumar’s servants dismissed it as a dream. When he reported the incident to a nearby police station, an officer revealed that a similar event had occurred 14 years earlier at the same location - a woman had committed a murder and later died in a road accident. Intrigued, Kumar shared the eerie tale with writer-director Kamal Amrohi, who transformed it into the haunting plot of Mahal.

Mahal launched the careers of Madhubala and Lata Mangeshkar

The success of Mahal proved to be a turning point in the careers of both playback singer Lata Mangeshkar and lead actress Madhubala, who were then struggling to establish themselves in the film industry. For Madhubala, Mahal remained her highest-grossing film for the next six years, until the release of Mr. & Mrs. '55 in 1955. Meanwhile, Mangeshkar’s haunting rendition of Aayega Aanewala became a defining moment in her career and she would later often name it as one of her all-time favorite songs.

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