The old classic movie – Madhumati closely resembles Ruskin Bond’s short story – The Wilson’s Bridge. Though both the stories – of Madhumati and Gulabi are different, their setting is based in mountain side villages of Uttarakhand. Like Gulabi, Madhumati, a tribal girl from mountain falls in love with a guy from a city. Unfortunately their romance is tragically cut short by a evil thakur who lusts for Madhumati. To save her honor, Madhumati committs suicide by falling from the mansion. The apparition of Madhumati haunts her lover and makes his aware of her ghostly presence. When Madhumati’s lover comes to know about Thakur’s evil intentions behind the death of Madhumati he decides to seek justice. How he brings the accused to justice forms the rest of story. This classic movie reminded me of Hollywood movies – The Dragonfly and ‘The Ghost’.
The misty backdrop, the foggy setting lend a gothic touch to the movie. In Ruskin bond’s short story – the Wilson’s bridge, Gulabi, a village girl became a victim of infidelity when she discovers that her husband, a British business man is in love with a mistress. She commits suicide by jumping from a bridge. Her ghost keeps haunting the villagers until the author Ruskin bond sees her apparition. Does the haunting of Gulabi stops? To know more, I highly recommend reading the short story – the Wilson’s bridge written by Ruskin bond.
Director Bimal Roy was ahead of times in terms of story telling. The soulful songs and the powerful performance make the movie memorable. Actress Vaijayanti Mala as Madhumati is highly convincing. She reminded me of Gulabi. Actor Dilip kumar’s performance as Madhumati’s lover is tragic like Shakespearean character. Even in Shakespeare’s play – Hamlet, prince Hamlet sees the spirit of his dead father who urges his son to take revenge of his murder. The movie – Madhubala also reminds me of another book – the woman in white written by Wilkie Collins. Though I had seen Madhumati twice, I had failed to capture the gothic touch connected to the story. In the third viewing, I saw the movie in a different perspective.
I do love watching movies with supernatural elements and Madhumati was a treat watching on a lazy weekend. Was Madhumati really based on a gothic story based in India? We may never know.
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