The Indian movie, "Madhumati", is a directorial piece by Bimal Roy. It was written by the famous filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. The film is all about reincarnation. "Madhumati" includes the famous star cast of that era namely Pran, Dilip Kumar, Vyjayntimala, and Johnny Walker. The film was the highest grossing Indian film of the year 1958. It also received positive reviews from critics. The film was released on 12th September, 1958. "Madhumati" was one of the earliest films to showcase the idea of reincarnation.

Plot of the movie "Madhumati"
On a stormy night with full of thunderstorm, Devendra, played by Dilip Kumar, drives down a hill road with his friend, to fetch his wife and child from the railway station. He is an engineer by profession. A landslide blocks their path and they take shelter in an old mansion just off the road. Devendra finds the house uncannily familiar. In the large front room he finds an old portrait which he recognizes at once. After this, what begins is a flashback of a love story. Devendra suddenly goes through flash of memories of a previous life. He recognizes the places inside the mansion. He feels as if he has been there before. He eventually recognises that haunting voice he hears, a voice that echoes, `Aaja re pardesi, Main to kab se khadi is paar`. Overwhelmed by all this, he goes into a hypnotic state and reveals everything about his previous life to his friend. His friend and the old caretaker join him and Devendra, amidst flashes of memories from his previous life, sits down to tell his story while the storm rages outside.

He continues with his story of his previous life. Anand, played by Dilip Kumar comes to Shyamnagar Timber Estate from a city. He comes there to work as its new manager. He is an artist during his spare time and to fulfill this hobby he often roams around the hills and forests with his sketching pad. Within a short period of time he falls in love with Madhumati, played by Vyjayantimala. She is a tribal girl whose songs have haunted Anand from a distance. Soon Anand meets his employer, Ugranarayan, played by Pran. He is a ruthless and arrogant man. He disrespects girls and treats them as his servant. Anand refuses to bend down to him like the others, and thus, incurs his wrath. Initially, Madhumati`s father, played by Jayant was against their relationship but later on when Anand promises to marry his daughter, he accepts. Ugranarayan is also enamored by Madhumati`s beauty and begins to see her as a potential way of getting revenge on the man he envies and detests.

Left on her own for a few days while Anand and her father made important trips in and out of the village, Madhumati is tricked into falling into Ugranarayan`s trap where she meets her tragic fate. Making this tragic discovery on his return to the village, Anand plunges into grief and despair. Anand learns from Charandas how Madhumati had been taken away to Ugranarayan in his absence. He confronts Ugranarayan whose men beat him unconscious. Anand`s life is saved, but his mind wanders. One day in the forest he meets a girl who looks exactly like Madhumati. She says she is Madhavi, but Anand refuses to believe her and is beaten up by her companions when he tries to plead with her. Madhavi finds a sketch of Madhumati in the forest and realizes that he was speaking the truth. She takes the sketch to the rest house where Anand now stays, and learns his story from Charandas. Meanwhile Anand is haunted by the spirit of Madhumati who tells him that Ugranarayan is her killer.

One day, Anand sees Madhavi at a dance recital where she dresses as a tribal girl. He appeals to her to pose as Madhumati and appear before Ugranarayan and help him get a confession out of him. She agrees. Returning to Ugranarayan`s palace, Anand begs permission to make a portrait of him. Next evening while a storm was brewing outside Anand paints Ugranarayan. At the stroke of eight, Ugranarayan sees Madhumati in front of him. Shaken, and pricked, he confesses the truth. He thinks that the ghost of Madhumati has come to taunt him. The police who have been waiting outside the room, now come and take him away. Anand suddenly realizes that the questions which the false Madhumati asked to Ugranarayan were on matters even unknown to him. He becomes ashtonished and asks Madhavi how she knew where Madhumati was buried. The girl just smiles, and moves towards the stairs. Just at that time Madhavi, dressed as Madhumati rushes into the room where he was making the portrait. She apologises for her late entry, as the car failed on the way. Anand realizes that Madhumati herself had come. He runs up to the terrace where Madhumati"s ghost waves to him. She had fallen from the same terrace trying to escape Ugranarayan. Anand follows her falling to his death. Devendra`s story is over.

After he finishes the story, he says “But, I finally did have Madhumati as my wife, in this life in the form of `Radha.`” Just then the news comes that the train in which his wife Radha was travelling has met with an accident. The two friends rush to the station. From one of the coaches, Devendra`s wife Radha, also played by Vyjayantimala, appears unhurt with her baby as well.

Cast and Crew of Madhumati
The cast of the film `Madhumati` includes Dilip Kumar, Vyjayntimala, Pran, and Johnny Walker in pivotal roles. The supporting roles were played by:

Jayant as Pawan Raja (Madhumati`s Father)
Tiwari as Bir Singh
Tarun Bose as Devinder`s colleague
Misra
Baij Sharma
Jagdish
Sagar
Ranjit Sood
Sheojibhai

The movie is directed by Bimal Roy while it is written by Ritwik Ghatak. Dialogues have been penned by Rajinder Singh Bedi. Editing of the movie has been done by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Salil Chowdhury is the music director while the lyrics are penned by Shailendra.

Music and Soundtrack of Madhumati
The soundtrack of "Madhumati" comprises eleven songs composed by Salil Chowdhury. The lyrics were penned by Shailendra. Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, Mubarak Begum, Asha Bhosle, Sabita Chowdhury, Ghulam Mohammed and Dwijen Mukhopadhyay provided the vocals for the songs. The original tracklist follows in the table below.
Awards and Accolades received by Madhumati
"Madhumati" was the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards. The movie won the "Best Feature Film in Hindi" at the 6th National Film Awards. At the 6th Filmfare Awards, "Madhumati" had won 9 awards including the categories of Best Film, Best Director (Bimal Roy), Best Supporting Actor (Johnny Walker), Best Music Director (Salil Chowdhury), Best Female Playback Singer (Lata Mangeshkar), Best Dialogue (Rajinder Singh Bedi), Best editing (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) etc.