Mughal-E-Azam

Mughal-e-Azam
Directed by	K. Asif
Produced by	K. Asif
Written by	Aman Kamal Amrohi
Starring	Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraj Kapoor Ajit Khan Durga Khote Nigar Sultana
Music by	Naushad
Cinematography	R. D. Mathur
Editing by	Dharmavir
Release date(s)	1960
Running time	173 min.
Language	Urdu
IMDb profile

Mughal-e-Azam (Urdu: مغلِ اعظم, Hindi: मुग़ल-ए आज़म) is an Indian epic film, remniscent of the older style of Indian cinema. It was produced and directed by K. Asif and released in 1960. It took nine years to finish and was the most lavish production for its time.

The film broke box office records in India when released and held the record for the highest grossing film ever until the 1975 film Sholay broke its record.

In 2004, a colorized version of the movie was released theatrically for the first time. The movie was again a success. The colorization project was executed by Mr.Rajeev Dwivedi of Sankranti Creations.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Trivia 3 References 4 External links

Plot

The film re-tells a popular Indian tale, which was previously filmed as Loves of a Mughal Prince (1928) and Anarkali (1953). It is loosely based on an episode in the life of the Mughal prince Salim, who went on to become the Emperor Jahangir. In the movie, the great conqueror Akbar (played by Prithviraj Kapoor) and his Rajput wife, Mariam-uz-Zamani (played by Durga Khote) have but one son, the weak and pleasure-loving Salim, played by Dilip Kumar. Salim falls in love with Anarkali (Madhubala), a slave and court-dancer. He wants to marry her, but his father objects and throws Anarkali into prison. Despite imprisonment, Anarkali refuses to reject Salim. Salim revolts against his father, is defeated in battle, and is sentenced to death. Anarkali pleads for his life in exchange for her own, and is condemned to be walled up alive. However, it is revealed that Akbar owed a favor to Anarkali's mother, since she informed him of the birth of his son. Anarkali's mother takes advantage of this, and begs for her daughter's life. The emperor relents, and arranges for Anarkali's secret escape into exile. Unfortunately, it is still announced that the slave girl was killed, and Salim is heartbroken.

Most tales of Salim and Anarkali end with the death of the latter, even though the movie version is slightly more upbeat. However, Salim is still left to believe that Anarkali is dead and the lovers are separated for the rest of their lives.

Trivia

• Its most famous dance sequence takes place in the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) of the Amber Fort of Jaipur, where Anarkali dances for the Mughal Emperor and his court, singing Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya, "I have loved, so what is there to fear?" This song was one of three sequences shot in Technicolor, while the rest of the movie was in black and white. The singing is, of course, playback singing by Lata Mangeshkar and lip-synched by Madhubala.

• Mughal-E-Azam's soundtrack was composed by the legendary music director Naushad, and was named as the second best Bollywood soundtrack ever^[1], by planetbollywood.com.

• It took over 10 years for the movie to be complete.

• Prithviraj Kapoor would look into a mirror as tall as himself before each shot. When K Asif asked him why he did so, he replied, "I do so to get under the skin of the character."

• Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain says, "I was considered for the role of the young Dilip Kumar. But the role was eventually played by Jalal Agha."

• The first full feature-length movie to be revived/colorized for a theatrical re-release in the history of world cinema. It has been done for some Hollywood movies but only for re-release on home video.

• K. Asif initially cast Sapru, Chandramohan and Nargis for the roles of Akbar, Salim and Anarkali.

• With the advent of Jhansi Ki Rani in 1951, colour films became a revolution. K. Asif wanted to remake the whole film in colour, but when the distributors lost patience settled for having two songs and the film's 30-minute climax shot in Technicolor, with the rest of the film (85%) black-and-white. However, in November 2004, the whole movie was restored and colorized in a year-long process by the IAAA (Indian Academy of Arts and Animation) and re-released.

• This was one of only two films K. Asif completed. When he died in 1971, he left behind two unfinished films, Sasta Khoon Mahenga Paani and Love and God, the latter released by K.C. Bokadia in 1986.

• This was (counting Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas) the most expensive film ever made in Indian history. Tailors were brought from Delhi to stitch the costumes, specialists from Surat-Khambayat were employed for the embroidery, Hyderabad goldsmiths made the jewellery, Kohalpur craftsmen designed the crowns, Rajasthan ironsmiths crafted the weapons, and the elaborate footwear was ordered from Agra. For the battle sequence, 2000 camels, 4000 horses and 8000 troops were used, many of them soldiers on loan from the Indian Army. Altogether the film cost Rs. 1.5 crores (38.29 crores in present terms).

• The song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad" had singer Mohammed Rafi with a chorus of 100 singers.

• The song "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kiya" has an unusual history to it: it cost Rs. 10 million at a time when a film would be made for less than a million; it was written and re-written 105 times by the lyricist, Shakeel Badayuni, before the music director, Naushad, could approve of it; it was shot in the renowned Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors); and in those days of sound recording, editing and mixing, as there was no way to provide the reverberation of sound, Naushad had Lata Mangeshkar sing the song in a studio bathroom.

• For the battle sequence, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 troops were used, many of them soldiers on loan from the Indian Army. This was arranged through special permission through the Indian Ministry of Defence-a rare occurrence today. The soldiers came from the Jaipur regiment of the Indian army.

• The statue of Lord Krishna used in the film is made of pure gold.

• The heavy chains Madhubala wore in the film were authentic, not the lightweight models worn in those days. It was her greatest ordeal in the film and she was bedridden for days nursing the bruises caused by wearing those chains.

• The movie was originally shot three times, once each for lips moving for Hindi, Tamil and English dialogs. The Tamil version of the movie did very poorly, so the dream of having Shakespearean actors from Britain doing the dubbing in English was dropped. In 2004, it was announced that after extensive search, no copies of the English version are available.

References

External links

• Mughal-e-Azam at the Internet Movie Database
• Immortal-e-Azam

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Sujata	Filmfare Award for Best Film 1960	Succeeded by Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai

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