A PANORAMIC AND NOSTALGIC VIEW OF K. ASIFS MONUMENTAL EPIC MUGHAL E - AZAM ON ITS COMPLETION OF 50 YEARS IN THE ANNALS OF INDIAN CINEMA.

more images

September 1, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): THE ‘MUGHAL-E-AZAM’ OF 1960

Black tinged with white is beautiful they said. And it was, indeed. As I discovered myself when I had first trudged into Mumbai’s grand Maratha Mandir Cinema holding my mom’s hand. The year was 1960. My first brush with cinema as a ten year old kid was incidentally with thespian Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Yahudi’ directed by Sohrab Modi. By end of the movie, I had become a diehard fan of the tragedy king. The beauty of ‘Mughal -E-Azam’ as I had seen even then was a like a textured black and white canvas. No it never appeared like a painter’s muse. Yet it was soothing to the eye. Of course it had the power to capture you, enrapture you, spell bindingly mesmerize you. The reasons: The opening of the film where the soul of India, with the Sohrab Modi voice over, lisping ‘Main Hindustan Hoon’ instilling a patriotic fervor in you. Then slowly it sidetracks and narrates Shahenshah Mohammed Jalaluddin Akbar’s {Prithviraj Kapoor} quest for an heir at the Durgah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in a desert. The boon is granted with the birth of Saheb - e - Alam Mohammed Nurruddin Salim {Dilip Kumar}. The young prince is debauched so he is sent off for 14 years of Banvas, unlike Lord Rama, on a battlefield. The beauty of the desert and the battle sequences in black and white hues then were mind blowing. As I learnt later on they were shot in 16mm and later its prints were blown up in 35mm to match the size of the celluloid silver screen. The hypnotizing effect of a colorless ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ then was unbelievable gluing you to the edge of your seat. No mystery, no suspense or no horror movies of then and now can ever have that effect on you.

So Prince Salim returns to the Palace. And then amidst all the joy he witnesses a candle waxed beauty of Nadira erected like a live mujjassam {magic} by a sangtarash {sculpure} a role enacted by another great actor of its time, Motilal. Prince Salim falls in love with Nadira who has by now been bestowed with the title of Anarkali {Madhubala}. The passionate romantic scenes between Salim and Anarkali especially when he just admires her beauty by ruffling a long tailed Peacock’s feather on her countenance, was like reaching beyond the height of ecstasy. These scenes in its originally classic presentation are still unmatched, unparalleled, unsurpassed. More drama unfolds. Apart from patriotism, brotherhood, Muslims and Hindus co - existed in the most peaceful milieu in King Akbar’s court besides he had married a Hindu Queen Maharani Jodhabai {Durga Khote} a sure sign of secularism even in those times, parental devotion, undying friendship between a Muslim Prince and a Rajput Warrior Durjan {Ajit} and of course the height of romanticism, Mughal – E -Azam also had its share of jealousy, rivalry, debauchery, treachery, fighting for a principle. So there was a vamp of the piece Bahar {Nigar Sultana} too who plots the end of romance and the final separation of Salim and Anarkali.

Yes, how can one forget the pain and the anguish of Anarkali chained and shackled from neck to toe or the hurt and the anger of Salim when he returns back to the battlefield to fight against his own father King Akbar who had imprisoned the love, the life and the soul of his heart. But the lovers were doomed. Yes I still think that the beauty of K. Asif’s monumental and historical depiction of the immortal lovers had its own charm in its original glory. Lastly how can one forget those beautiful, lilting, melodious and mellifluous songs like ‘khuda nighebaan ho tumhara dhadakte dil ka paiyam le lo’, ‘mohabbat ki jhooti kahani pe roye’, ‘mohe panghat pe’, ‘prem jogan ban ke’, ‘beqas pe karam kijiye, sarkare madina’ and ‘zindabad, zindabad ae mohabbat tu zindabad’ et al. And yet again its two back to back color songs in all its technical glory, the prints of which were especially developed in London, ‘jab raat hai aisi matwali to subah ka aalam kya hoga’ and ‘teri mehfil mein kismet azma kar hum bhi dekhenge’ including the third mirrored song ‘pyaar kiya toh darna kya’.

THE MUGHUL – E - AZAM OF 2010 (The Entire Movie in its Colored version)

Yes once again I saw the old beauty of Mughal – E - Azam in its new avatar, first in a Multiplex in Bangalore this time all alone and with more than four decades behind me, then on DVD with my family and the countless other times when I saw it on the big screen and the small screen. And no I did not find anything missing in it. In fact its beauty was more enhanced with the Digital Dolby sound system and of course the entire colorization process so painstakingly undertaken for each and every inch of the frames by all the behind the scenes technicians in the year 2004. Kudos to Producer Boney Kapoor and Distributor Dinesh Salgia for achieving this feat to total perfection. And then how can one not bow in absolute reverence of the greatest celluloid master director K. Asif, the greatest music maestro Naushad, who had also reworked on the entire refreshed and fragrant background musical and the original songs repackaging in lieu with his son Raju Naushad. Needless to say, they all deserve a thunderous applause, a standing ovation. As when you step out to see Mughal -E-Azam even now in its Golden Jubilee year it will recreate the same spellbinding, mesmerizing and hypnotic effect on you. For the simple reason that when you visualizingly compare the two versions with all the scenes mentioned above you will notice that it makes no difference whatsoever. And as for the coloring of Mughal -E-Azam, not even in its entirety it creates no surprise as director K. Asif had already shocked and surprised the viewers then, down the line and even those who keep watching this classic masterpiece on their CD’s and DVD’s, by originally filming a few scenes before and after the memorable songs like ‘Khuda Nigheban ho tumhara’, ‘Jab raat hai aisi matwali phir subah ka alam kya hoga’, ‘Kisike ishq mein duniya bhulakar hum bhi dekhenge’ and of course the everlastingly unforgettable Sheesh Mahal number ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya’. Yes believe me, it was a novelty in those days with its Technicolor prints processed in the London of those days. While later the colorization had been done in an Indian lab to be precise the Kwality lab of Chennai. Yet they all deserve due credit as the resultant effect is not jarring to the eyes at all.

Lastly this is not a review, but just my everlasting impressions of both the versions and also a tribute to the everlasting masterpiece and to sum it up the regal and the royal performance par excellence of all the actors can still be an institutionalized learning for all the current actors worth their salt. A special mention must be made of Dilip Kumar; he is still capable of holding you speechless if he makes a comeback on the celluloid screen, and Madhubala, whose porcelain beauty is as enhancing in color as it was in black and white. And yes I did take refuge in my journalistic license by not referring to any of the departed persona connected with the movie by mentioning them as the late so as all of you will agree with me that they are not dead they are immortal, their physical presence maybe missing but their soul will keep haunting its subsequent viewers till eternity. So if you had a perchance to drink in the beauty of the old ‘Mughal -E-Azam, then don’t miss the golden opportunity to get intoxicated by partaking goblet after goblet of the heady mix of the new ‘Mughal -E-Azam’ too. Aameen.

– Shaheen Raaj/ Sampurn Wire