Madhumati is a 1958 Hindi film produced and directed by Bimal Roy

Bimal Roy

Bimal Roy was one of the most acclaimed Indian film directors of all time. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films like Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, and Bandini, making him an important director of Hindi cinema...

, and written by Ritwik Ghatak and Rajinder Singh Bedi

Rajinder Singh Bedi

Rajinder Singh Bedi was an eminent progressive Urdu writer, playwright and a Hindi film director, screenwriter and noted dialogue writer....

. The music was composed by Salil Choudhury with the lyrics by Shailendra

Shailendra

Shankardas Kesarilal , popularly known by his pen name Shailendra, was a popular Indian Hindi lyricist.-Career as a lyricist:...

. The film stars Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar , is an Indian actor and a former Member of Parliament.He lives in Pali Hill, Bandra in Mumbai, India. He is commonly known as "Tragedy King",and is described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray....

, Vyjayantimala, Pran, and Johnny Walker

Johnny Walker (actor)

Johnny Walker is the screen name of an Indian movie comedian, who acted in over 300 movies. He was born as Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi in Indore, India, the son of a mill worker. The family shifted to Mumbai when the textile mill his father worked in closed...

. It was one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

 and had a gothic

Gothic fiction

Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...

 noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 feel to it. The first and only collaboration between Roy and Ghatak, it was one of their most commercially successful and influential films.

Janam Janam, 1988 Hindi film starring Rishi Kapoor is a remake of "Madhumati"

In 2007, Farah Khan

Farah Khan

Farah Khan is an Indian film director and choreographer. She is best known for her choreographical work in numerous Bollywood films. Khan has choreographed dance routines for more than a hundred songs in over 80 Hindi films. Khan has since become a noted Hindi film director as well...

 and Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan , often credited as Shah Rukh Khan, is an Indian film actor, as well as a film producer and television host. Often referred to as "the King of Bollywood", Khan has acted in over 70 Hindi films....

 made a new film, Om Shanti Om, that uses some plot elements from Madhumati, but did not credit the earlier film.
On a stormy night, Devendra (Dilip Kumar), an engineer, drives down a hill road with his friend, to fetch his wife and child from the railway station.