Mughal-e-Azam (K. Asif) 1960

Mughal-e-Azam (1960)

Director: K. Asif; Writer: K. Asif, Kamal Amrohi, Ehsan Rizvi, Wajahat Mirza, Aman; Producer: K. Asif; Cinematographer: R.D. Mathur; Editor: Dharamvir; Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala (Begum Mumtaz Jehan), Dilip Kumar, Durga Khote, Nigar Sultana, Ajit, M. Kumar, Murad, Jilloo Maa, Vijayalaxmi, S. Nazir, Sheela Delaya, Surendra, Johnny Walker, Jalal Agha, Tabassum, Gopi Krishna, Sheila Dalaya, Jago, Khurshid Khan, Khanna, Khwaja Sabir, Pal Sharma

Duration: 03:17:11; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 13.380; Saturation: 0.026; Lightness: 0.323; Volume: 0.229; Cuts per Minute: 10.082; Words per Minute: 38.374

K. Asif’s classic megabudget spectacular and best-known historical romance was nine years in the making. Opening with the voice-over words ‘I am Hindustan’ spoken over a map of India, the film retells in flashback the popular story (cf. Loves of a Mughal Prince, 1928; Anarkali, 1953) of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (P. Kapoor) and his Rajput wife Joda Bai (Khote) who finally manage to have a son, Prince Salim (D. Kumar). Salim grows up into a weak and pleasure-loving youth. Having proved himself in battle, Salim receives a sculpture of a beautiful female slave. He falls in love with the ‘live’ statue, Anarkali (Madhubala), and wants to marry her. Akbar pressurises Anarkali to give up Salim, humiliating and imprisoning her, but to no avail: in the film’s best-known Sheesh Mahal (Palace of Mirrors) sequence, shot in colour, she defies Akbar through song: Pyar kiya to darna kya (‘What is there to fear? All I have done is to love’, sung by Lata Mangeshkar). Salim remains devoted to her and disobeys his father to the point of rebelling against the emperor and challenging him to battle. Akbar defeats Salim and condemns him to death. Anarkali is allowed to sacrifice her life to save Salim. However, contrary to the legend which has Anarkali walled in alive, Akbar spares her unbeknown to Salim. The film is remembered mainly for Amrohi’s dialogues, esp. the confrontations between Kapoor and Kumar. Naushad’s music includes the songs by noted classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Shubh din aaye and Prem jogan ke sundari pio chali) and Mathur’s expansive camerawork interrupts the statically and frontally shot dialogues (cf. R.D. Mathur, ‘Mughal-e-Azam and its Creator Mr K. Asif’, Lensight, 1993). Mahesh Bhatt (1993) drew attention to the memorable love scene 'shot in extreme close-ups of just faces in which Dilip Kumar tickles the impassioned face of Madhubala with a white feather. This was perhaps the most sensitively portrayed erotic scene on the Indian screen.’

Minimal Bollywood Art for Mughal-e-Azam

censor certificate

Epic opening sequence: Hindustan rises on the horizon; majestic male VO narrates history; Akbar inserted into a mythic list of those who loved India; the king prays for a male heir...

Akbar was a devout follower of the saints of the Chisti order. The revered Salim Chisti resided in a cavern in Fatehpur Sikri. It is Salim Chisti who is said to have blessed Akbar and Jodha with their firstborn. - named Salim after the saint himself. It is said that Akbar's mad love for Salim Chisti made him relocate the capital of the Mughal Empire to Fatehpur Sikri.
K. Asif’s classic mega-budget spectacular and best-known historical romance was nine years in the making. Opening with the voice-over words ‘I am Hindustan’ spoken over a map of India, the film retells in flashback the popular story (cf. Loves of a Mughal Prince, 1928; Anarkali, 1953) of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (P. Kapoor) and his Rajput wife Joda Bai (Khote) who finally manage to have a son, Prince Salim (D. Kumar). Salim grows up into a weak and pleasure-loving youth. Having proved himself in battle, Salim receives a sculpture of a beautiful female slave. He falls in love with the ‘live’ statue, Anarkali (Madhubala), and wants to marry her.
salim chisti

salim

Singer: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
Song: Shubh din aaya raj dulara

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Mohe panghat pe
मोहे पनघट पे नन्दलाल छेड़ गयो रे

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Singer: Shamshad Begum
Song: Teri mehfil mein kismat aazma ker
तेरी महफ़िल में किस्मत आज़मा कर हम भी देखेंगे

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Ae ishq yeh sab duniya wale

Singer: Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
Song: Prem jogan ban ke

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Mohabbat ki jhooti kahani pe roye
मुहब्बत की झूठी कहानी पे रोये

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Humain kash tumse mohabbat na hoti
हमें काश तुम से मुहब्बत न होती

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Jab pyar kiya to darna kya
इन्सान किसी से दुनिया में इक बार मुहब्बत करता है

Anarkali
And K. Asif's opulent melodrama, the biggest budget film to be made in India in the 60's, now miserably colourised. It has everything: the grand Mughal emperor of Hindustan, his Hindu wife, his son Salim born by a boon from Saint Salim, and unacceptable love with a court attendant of his.
Its the epic everyone knows, the true Anarkali, in black and white.
The song of forbidden love.

salim

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Bekas pe karam kijiye
बेकस पे करम कीजिये, सर्कार-ए-मदीना

Singer: Mohammad Rafi
Song: Ae Mohabbat Zindabad
ऐ मुहब्बत ज़िन्दाबाद

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Yeh dil ki lagi
ये दिल की लगी कम क्या होगी

Singer: Lata Mangeshkar
Song: Khuda nigehban ho
ख़ुदा निगेहबान हो तुम्हारा

Anarkali's entombment and the finale

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