Mughal-E-Azam

Mughal-E-Azam took 16 years to complete.

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Mughal-E-Azam was the first feature-length film in world cinema history to be revived and colorized for theatrical re-release. Some Hollywood films had been colorized before, but only for re-release on home video.

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The heavy chains Madhubala wore in Mughal-E-Azam were not the light models worn at the time but genuine ones. They were her greatest ordeal during the film, and she was bedridden for days while the bruises caused by wearing the chains were treated.

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For the battle scene in Mughal-E-Azam, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 soldiers were used, most of them soldiers borrowed from the Indian Army. This was arranged with special permission from India's Ministry of Defence, a rare occurrence today. The soldiers came from the Jaipur regiment of the Indian Army.

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When bookings for Mughal-E-Azam opened, there was chaos and near-riots at Mumbai's famous Maratha Mandir. Fans were reported to have waited in line for days while family members brought them food from home. When the crowd of 100,000 turned unruly, police had to intervene. The tickets were folders containing photographs and trivia related to the film, and they are now considered collector's items.

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Counting Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas as well, Mughal-E-Azam was the most expensive film ever made in Indian history. Tailors were brought from Delhi to stitch the costumes, experts from Surat-Khambayat were assigned the embroidery, Hyderabad jewellers made the jewellery, Kohalpur craftsmen designed the crowns, Rajasthan ironsmiths made the weapons, and ornate shoes were ordered from Agra. For the battle scene, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 soldiers were used, most of them soldiers borrowed from the Indian Army. The film's total cost was Rs. 1.5 crore (Rs. 38.29 crore in present terms).

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The statue of Lord Krishna used in Mughal-E-Azam was made of pure gold.

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K. Asif was determined to have Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali provide the singing voice of Tansen in Mughal-E-Azam. Ustadji refused, and the director asked him to name his price. To put K. Asif off, he asked for 25,000 rupees, a small fortune at the time. K. Asif not only accepted the quoted price but also paid Ustadji an advance fee. Ustadji sings two songs in the film: Prem Jogan Ban Ke and Shubh Din Aayo Raj Dulara.

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In the song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad" in Mughal-E-Azam, Mohammad Rafi sang with a backing chorus of 100 singers.

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During the making of Mughal-E-Azam, K. Asif was so deeply in debt that he even bought paan and cigarettes on credit.

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With the arrival of Jhansi Ki Rani in 1951, colour films became a revolution. K. Asif wanted to remake the entire Mughal-E-Azam in colour, but when the distributors lost patience it was decided that two songs and the film's 30-minute climax would be shot in Technicolor while the rest of the film (85%) would be in black and white. In November 2004, however, the entire film was restored and colorized by IAAA (Indian Academy of Arts and Animation) over the course of a year and re-released.

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Another reason Mughal-E-Azam drew attention was the love story of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. The two became engaged but called off the engagement over certain differences. In his autobiography, the actor recounted that when things went bad between them, the director tried to smooth over Madhubala's situation. The iconic feather scene between the two has its own story. In his autobiography, Kumar stated that while shooting that scene the two did not speak to each other but worked together as two professionals. He remembered the late actress as someone full of life who could effortlessly rise above her shyness and reticence.

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Cinematographer R. D. Mathur had to run lighting tests to shoot the famous Sheesh Mahal setting of Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. To control the glare he tried coating the mirrors with wax, which worked but also dulled the images. He then tried placing strips of cloth strategically to create splashed lighting.

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The premiere of Mughal-E-Azam is regarded as an event that has been cherished for a lifetime in the Indian subcontinent as nothing else has been, to this day. Citizens of the newly partitioned Pakistan (East and West, today's Pakistan and Bangladesh) made special trips to watch the film in cinemas in India.

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In the film Kala Baazar, the premiere of Mughal-E-Azam was shown as a live event at which Dev Anand black-marketed tickets to the gala screening.

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Mughal-E-Azam was initially shot three times so that the actors' lips would match Hindi, Tamil and English dialogue, once for each language. The Tamil version of the film performed very poorly, so the dream of having English Shakespearean actors provide an English dub fell through. In 2004, after extensive searches, it was announced that no English version existed.

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Before principal photography began in 1953, the coveted role of Anarkali was offered to Suraiya. The role went to the 20-year-old Madhubala, who wanted a major part.

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The colour version of Mughal-E-Azam was the first Indian film to be released in Pakistan after Indian films were banned there following the 1965 war.

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The concept of Mughal-E-Azam dates back to 1944, but it took years for the film to actually be shot. It went through a series of changes. First, the financier backed out. Second, many casting changes were made, and the production cost of a single song was reported to be more than the entire budget of other films made at the time. It was finally released in 1960 and is said to have broken all box-office records. According to a report on En.Wikipedia.Org, the film had the widest release in India, something unprecedented at the time, and people queued all day just to buy tickets. In addition to the reports, it became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of its time and held that position consistently for 15 consecutive years.

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Although Madhubala was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Mughal-E-Azam, she did not win; the award in fact went to Bina Rai for Ghunghat. What was shocking and quite surprising was that Dilip Kumar and Prithviraj Kapoor were not even nominated for their performances. Even Naushad was nominated for a Filmfare award in the music category but lost to Shanker Jaikishen for Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai. Art director A. K. Sayyad recreated a replica of the Sheesh Mahal, and it took him two years to build it from scratch.

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It is the first feature-length film in cinema history to be colourised and re-released in theatres. Some British films were colourised, but they were released only in home video formats.

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'Mughal-e-Azam' (1957) was trilingual; every scene was shot three times, in Hindi, Tamil and English. When the Tamil version failed badly, the English version was cancelled.

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Prithviraj Kapoor refused to accept the Best Supporting Actor award because he believed he was the lead actor as Emperor Akbar and should have received the Best Actor award.

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For the scenes in which Madhubala was imprisoned, real, heavy chains were used to bind her instead of light ones so that the scene would look authentic. She was bound so tightly that Madhubala stood chained with these heavy chains even between takes so that the pain on her face would look real. For days afterwards she was in agony from the many bruises the chains caused.

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Dilip Kumar was reportedly not the first choice for K. Asif's masterpiece, but the actor is said to have been persuaded by the film's producer. The role of Anarkali was also allegedly offered to Suraiya but later went to Madhubala. The latter is said to have been suffering from a congenital heart condition at the time yet continued shooting for the film. Prithviraj Kapoor, who tried out for the role of Emperor Akbar, reshot one scene 19 times to get it right, and the director even asked him to regain the weight he had lost to play Akbar. According to a report on Webcitation.org, tabla master Zakir Hussain said he was considered for the role of young Salim in the film, which eventually went to Jala Aga.

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The song Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya was shot in Technicolor, and K. Asif wanted to reshoot the entire film in Technicolor. Because of the distributors' impatience, however, K. Asif released Mughal-e-Azam only partially in colour. This song was iconic in its own right. It was shot in the Sheesh Mahal at a cost of Rs. 10 million, at a time when a film could be made for under a million. Not only that, it is also claimed that the song was written and rewritten 105 times by lyricist Shakeel Badayuni before music director Naushad approved it. It is also claimed that when Asif approached Naushad, he gave him a briefcase full of money for composing the unforgettable music. This appeared to anger the second person who threw the money. But when Naushad's wife intervened and played the peacemaker, Naushad agreed to come on board. Since there was no way to give songs a reverberating sound in those days, playback singer Lata Mangeshkar had to sing the song in the studio bathroom.

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This is the only film ever produced by industrialist Shapoorji Pallonji.

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The production of the song Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya cost Rs. 10 million. It reportedly had to be rewritten 105 times before music director Naushad gave his approval. The only way Naushad could achieve the echo he wanted was for Lata Mangeshkar to sing the song in the studio bathroom.

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For the iconic battle scene between Salim and Akbar in the film, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 soldiers were used, and some soldiers were also borrowed from the Indian Army. The statue of Lord Krishna in the film was made of pure gold. The film is said to have been shot three times so that the lip movements would match correctly in the Hindi, Tamil and English dialogues.

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Mughal-e-Azam's original cast included Sapru, Chandramohan and Nargis. The film was shelved for five years after Chandramohan died midway through shooting, and was then recast with Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain was considered for the role of young Prince Salim. The role eventually went to Jalal Aga. Decades later, Zakir Hussain made his acting debut with the 1983 film Heat And Dust and followed it with a role in the 1998 film Saaz.

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Adjusted for gold-price inflation, it is by far the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. In 2011 its adjusted net gross was around 1,235 billion rupees, while the second highest-grossing film on the same criteria since 1960, Gunga Jumna (1961), stood at around 736 billion rupees. According to Trade, this method of comparing films' business with official ticket-price inflation rates is a more appropriate criterion because it is wholesale-oriented rather than consumer-oriented, though it is controversial.

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Mughal-e-Azam was the most expensive film made in Bollywood at the time and remained so for decades. No expense was spared on the elaborate costumes, stitched in Delhi and embroidered in Surat. The jewellery was made in Hyderabad, the crowns in Kolhapur, the weapons in Rajasthan and the shoes in Agra. The battle scenes used 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 extras, some of them real soldiers borrowed from the Indian Army. The film cost 1.5 billion rupees (nearly 40 million rupees today) to make.

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Madhubala's heavy chains were real, not light fakes. Already suffering from an unexpected heart condition, the chains left her bruised and bedridden for days.

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K. Asif wanted to shoot Tamil and English versions of Mughal-e-Azam. The film was dubbed in Tamil and released as Akbar, but it performed so badly that the English version, which was to be dubbed by Shakespearean actors from England, was scrapped.

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According to an report, K. Asif first cast Sapru, D. K. and Nargis in the roles of Akbar, Salim and Anarkali before completing the cast with Chandra Mohan, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. Mughal-E-Azam was one of the two films Asif completed as director; the other was Phool (1945). He left behind two unfinished productions: Sasta Khoon Mahenga Paani and Love and God. K. Asif spared no expense when it came to his film. According to a report on.com, tailors were brought from Delhi to stitch the costumes, experts from Surat-Khambayat were assigned the embroidery, Hyderabad jewellers made the jewellery, Kolhapur craftsmen designed the crowns, Rajasthan ironsmiths made the weapons and ornate shoes were ordered from Agra.

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International singer Susheela Raman recorded a cover version of the song Mohabbat Ki Jhooti Kahani Pe for the film Kajarya.

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Music maestro Naushad saab worked on the music of Mughal-E-Azam for 50 years, from the 1950s to the 2000s.

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Before every shot, Prithviraj Kapoor, who played Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, would look at himself in a full-length mirror. When director K Asif asked the reason for this strange behaviour, Kapoor said he did it to "get into the depths of the character."

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

For the battle scene, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 soldiers were used.

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K Asif directed only two films in his life, the second of which was Mughal-E-Azam. His third, Aşk ve Tanrı, was left unfinished when he died at the age of 48.

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Surendra played the musician Tansen in three films in leading roles: Baiju Bawra (1952), Rani Roopmati (1957) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960).

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Adjusted for ticket-price inflation, it became the highest-grossing Indian film of all time and had the biggest opening ever.

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Its tickets were priced at 100 Rs at a time when the average ticket price (ATP) was around 1 Rs or less.

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Director Tigmanshu Dhulia wants to make a biography about K Asif, as he mentioned in an interview with Smita of ANI.

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The lyrics of the song Mohe Panghat Pe Nandlal Chhed Gayo Re were written by Raghunath Bhrambhatt for a Gujarati play.

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K. Asif's masterpiece gained cult status over the years. Considered one of the most iconic and landmark films in the history of Indian cinema, Mughal-E-Azam kept the bar high. Starring Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Prithviraj Kapoor, this epic is known for its direction, music, sets and costumes, as well as for its lead pair, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar. Sweeping all the major awards, Mughal-E-Azam revolves around the story of Mughal Emperor Salim's love for the court dancer Anarkali and how the love between them enraged Salim's father Akbar. Although this story is a popular one portrayed on screen with grandeur, here are some lesser-known facts about the film.

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