Weekend

On the last weekend of Oct 2018, I am writing about one of the greatest and most admired Bollywood film of all time and the film is

Mughal e Azam

Directed by K Asif

This film was based on the imaginary story of love affair between Prince Salim( son of Emperor Akbar ) and court dancer Anarkali. This film is tribute to its maker K Asif regarding his imagination, hardwork, lavishness and grandeur and the way he extracted performances from all the artists.

The development of Mughal e Azam began in 1944, when Asif read a play set in the reign of Emperor Akbar (1556–1605). Production was plagued by delays and financial uncertainty. Before its actual shooting began in the early 1950s, the project had lost a financier and undergone a complete change of cast. Mughal e Azam cost more to produce than any previous Bollywood film; the budget for a single song sequence exceeded that typical for an entire film of the period. The soundtrack composed by legendary Naushad,, inspired by Indian classical and folk music, comprises 12 songs voiced by playback singers including Mohd Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar and classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, and is often cited among the finest inBollywood history.

Mughal e Azam had the widest release of any Indian film up to that time, and patrons often queued all day for tickets. Released on 5 August 1960, it broke box office records in India and became the highest grossing Bollywood film of all time, a distinction it held for 15 years. By some accounts, Mughal e Azam was the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, adjusted for inflation. . Mughal e Azam was the first black-and-white Hindi film to be digitally coloured, and the first in any language to be given a theatrical re-release. The colour version, released in November 2006, was also a commercial success.

The film is widely considered to be a milestone of its genre, earning praise from critics for its grandeur and attention to detail. Film scholars have welcomed its portrayal of enduring themes, but question its historical accuracy.

The plot of the film goes like this, Emperor Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor), who does not have a male heir, undertakes a pilgrimage to a shrine to pray that his wife Jodhabai (Durga Khote) give birth to a son. Later, a maid brings the emperor news of his son’s birth. Overjoyed at his prayers being answered, Akbar gives the maid his ring and promises to grant her anything she desires.

The son, Prince Salim, grows up to be spoiled, flippant, and self-indulgent. His father sends him off to war, to teach him courage and discipline. Fourteen years later, Salim returns as a distinguished soldier (Dilip Kumar) and falls in love with court dancer Nadira, whom the emperor has renamed Anarkali (Madhubala), meaning pomegranate blossom. The relationship is discovered by the jealous Bahar (Nigar Sultana), a dancer of a higher rank, who wants the prince to love her so that she may one day become queen. Unsuccessful in winning Salim’s love, she exposes his forbidden relationship with Anarkali. Salim pleads to marry Anarkali, but his father refuses and imprisons her. Despite her treatment, Anarkali refuses to reject Salim, as Akbar demands.

Salim rebels and amasses an army to confront Akbar and rescue Anarkali. Defeated in battle, Salim is sentenced to death by his father, but is told that the sentence will be revoked if Anarkali, now in hiding, is handed over to die in his place. Anarkali gives herself up to save the prince’s life and is condemned to death by being entombed alive. Before her sentence is carried out, she begs to have a few hours with Salim as his make-believe wife. Her request is granted, as she has agreed to drug Salim so that he cannot interfere with her entombment. As Anarkali is being walled up, Akbar is reminded that he still owes her mother a favour, as it was she who brought him news of Salim’s birth. Anarkali’s mother pleads for her daughter’s life. The emperor has a change of heart, but although he wants to release Anarkali he cannot, because of his duty to his country. He, therefore, arranges for her secret escape into exile with her mother, but demands that the pair are to live in obscurity and that Salim is never to know that Anarkali is still alive.

Some of the film sequences were shot with up to 14 cameras, significantly more than the norm at that time. There were many difficulties with the film’s lighting; cinematographer RD Mathur reportedly took eight hours to light a single shot. In total, 500 days of shooting were needed, compared to a normal schedule of 60 to 125 shooting days at the time.  The presence of the mirrors on the set caused problems, as they sparkled under the lights. Foreign consultants, including British director David Lean, told Asif to forget the idea since they felt that it was impossible to film the scene under the intense glare of lights in Sheesh Mahal. Asif confined himself to the set with the lighting crew, and subsequently overcame the problem by covering all the mirrors with a thin layer of wax, thereby subduing their reflectivity. Mathur also used strategically placed strips of cloth to implement “bounce lighting”, which reduced the glare. The other problem was that when first few shots were taken on the set of Sheesh Mahal, as the portion of the film which was shot on Sheesh Mahal was being photographed on coolur negative film, the negative film was sent to London for developing to check whether the  shots are ok. After being satisfied that the way devised by RD Mathur is working , then only the balance portion of the film which was supposed to take place in Shhesh Mahal was shot. This was the first time in the world cinema such filming on the set made of glass pieces/mirros was attempted.

In the end the film was a a technical master piece ,the breathtaking battle scenes, picturisation of songs and dances. The high light of the film was 2 songs filmed in the set made of various coloured glass pieces,  (Sheesh Mahal) that thing has still not been surpassed after more than 5 decades. The confrontation scenes between Akbar and Salim were superb. Fine acting by Prithviraj Kapoor as Akbar, Dilip Kumar as Salim, Madhubala as Anakkali. Fine cameos by Duga Khote as Jodha Bai, & Ajit as Rajput friend of Salim. But in the end show belonged to Madhubala,  who looked so beautiful in the film that it became swan song of her career and this was Madhubala’s life best performance.

The film is still enjoyable, and people keep on watching this film as & when it is telecasted on any TV channel.

I think there would not be any Bollywood film lover either in India or abroad who have not watched this movie.

Please write your comments/views/feed backs at the end of blog in the comments  space provided.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

26th Oct 2018.