Classics, at times, are happy accidents. Had the cash-strapped Bimal Roy not digressed from his pet socially-relevant subjects to make a commercial film, Indian cinema would have been deprived of its great formula movie Madhumati. Had the legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak (who wrote the story for this film) packed his bags earlier for Kolkata, the great reincarnation drama probably wouldn’t have made it to the celluloid. Its landmark music wouldn’t have happened had Salil Choudhury not gone gung-ho in using western classical instruments. And the film wouldn’t have been so well-knit had Hrishikesh Mukherjee not thought of editing one last film for Roy before turning a filmmaker himself.

The reminder of all that went into making the Dilip Kumar and Vyjyantimala movie a cult formula film is the golden jubilee celebration of Madhumati today at Globus, Bandra. The event, jointly organised by the Bimal Roy Memorial Film Society and Taj Enlighten Film Society, is a tribute to its unfading charm and timeless inspiration for filmmakers.

The newest instance is Om Shanti Om: its climax bears an uncanny similarity to that of Madhumati. And although OSO co-writer Mushtaq Sheikh denies being influenced by Madhumati, he says the Roy film is “a must-see and far ahead of its time”.

“However, when the film released in 1958, the response was lukewarm for a nearly a week while Bimalda faced criticism for resorting to formula. Soon, business picked up and it went on to become a top grosser. For weeks, four of its songs were on top of the Binaca Geet Mala chart,” says Debu Sen, Roy’s first assistant for the film.

The reason for making Madhumati was pretty clear for the 1912-born filmmaker. “My father made just two commercial films—Yahudi, to help a producer friend and Madhumati, to bail his own production house out of financial crunch,” says Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, daughter of Bimal Roy. Ghatak’s story, full of twists and turns, was another huge draw.

“The filming of Madhumati started even before the Dilip Kumar-starrer, Yahudi, was over. The latter went on to become a hit and Bimalda decided to make Sujata. A chunk of the money he got from the distributors for Sujata was used for Madhumati,” Sen says.

Though the theme was commercial, the treatment showcased the class and craft for which Roy was known. “By then, colour had invaded the silver screen.”

Yet, the filmmaker staunchly stuck to black-and-white for Madhumati and Sujata, says Sen. This worked to the rebirth saga’s advantage by creating an eerie feeling. The outdoor shooting was done mainly in Ranikhet, Nainital and Igatpuri (Suhana safar was picturised here).

Roy, famous for his musical ear—evident from including Devdas, Bandini and Do Bigha Zameen—spun magic with Choudhury. The composer got his first major break with Madhumati. “Though the instruments he used were Western, the music was Indian. He also used folk tunes in compositions like Daiyya re daiyya,” remembers Manohari Singh, who handled Madhumati’s background score. In fact, Lata Mangeshkar was apparently hesitant to sing Daiyya re daiyya, which captured Vyjyantimala at her dancing best, though the great singer considers the film’s Aaja re pardesi as one of her top favourites. Another unforgettable gem of the film is Hum haal-e- dil sunayenge by Mubarak Begum. “People still request me to sing this when I perform,” she says.