'Blue Lotus') is a 1947 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Kidar Sharma and starring Begum Para, Madhubala and Raj Kapoor.

The elder princess ventures out on her horse disguised as a young boy to get help from her uncle, the king's brother Maharana Kharak Singh who rules another state.

Teenager Ganga (Madhubala) meets and falls in love with Madhu Sudan (Raj Kapoor), a rich but skeptical artist from Janakgarh who is in town to carve stone artifacts in a temple.

Having lost his parents, he lives in a mansion in Janakgarh with guru ji, his mentor, spiritual guide and the teacher who taught him sculpting.

Ganga's simplicity and doting love both worry and overwhelm Madhu Sudan who tells her "the harder I close the doors of my heart, the louder you knock .." However, he allows her to follow him to Janakagarh along with her parents since he feels obligated to help the family for their hospitality.

Pleased and gratified with his spiritual mentor's counsel, Madhu Sudan Ganga that he will soon have his guide talk to her father and that they will then get engaged.

She reveals to her that they are "untouchables" and that Ganga's lineage was unknown - which would make it impossible for her to marry an upper caste Madhu Sudan.

Heart broken by the revelation that she could never marry her love, Ganga quietly goes to the pond, jumps into it and dies while her mother watches from a distance.

A few days later a blue lotus (neel kamal) is seen growing in the pond at the spot where Ganga's body was found.

Madhu Sudan feels that Ganga has fulfilled his heart's wish by taking the form of the beautiful blue lotus flower in the pond.

The film was initially titled "Bichara Bhagwaan" and featured actors Jairaj and Kamla Chatterjee in major roles.

[3][4] Months after the incident, Sharma restarted the production in Chatterjee's memory and cast a 14 year-old Madhubala, a child actress popularly known as "Baby Mumtaz", as the leading lady.

Madhubala, who had earlier collaborated a few times with Sharma, already remembered most of the lines of her offered role and was never absent from work, which impressed the director highly.

[3][4] Following Jairaj's withdrawal, Sharma employed his clapper-boy Raj Kapoor to play Madhu Sudan—his first lead role in a film.

[5] When Sharma announced the cast publicly, it evoked immense criticism from the industry; furthermore, the financiers were apprehensive of the film's potential at the box-office for it did not feature any established star of the time.

[6] The soundtrack of Neel Kamal was composed by Snehal Bhatkar (credited as B. Vasudev) and lyrics were written by Kidar Sharma.