Epic love story "Mughal-e-Azam" Released in 1960 is a cinematic landmark in many ways.
The supremacy of the movie can be gauged from the fact that when the movie was re-released in its color version in 2004, surprisingly, it recreated the same magic at the box-office that it created in the 60’s.
The supremacy of the movie can be gauged from the fact that when the movie was re-released in its color version in 2004, surprisingly, it recreated the same magic at the box-office that it created in the 60’s.
The premiere of Mughal-e-Azam was held at the then new,1,100-capacity Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai, The day before bookings for the film opened, a reported crowd of 100,000 gathered outside the Maratha Mandir to buy tickets.[8] The tickets, the most expensive for a Bollywood film at that time, were dockets containing text, photographs and trivia about the film, and are now considered collector's items
We Are Presenting 13 Interesting & Unknown Facts About the Legendary Movie .
1# When the first shooting schedule began in 1946, K. Asif cast Chandra Mohan, D.K. Sapru, and Nargis for the roles of Akbar, Salim and Anarkali, respectively.
2# 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."
3# 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.
4# The song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad" had Mohammad Rafi sing with a backup chorus of 100 singers.
5# During Making Of the Film K.Asif was in huge debt so he even bought paan and cigarettes on credit.
6# The statue of Lord Krishna used in the film was made of pure gold.
7# The colour version of the film was the first Indian movie to be released in Pakistan after Indian movies were banned there after the 1965 war.
8# Before every shot, Prithviraj Kapoor (who played Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar) would look into a full-length mirror. When director K Asif asked the reason for the odd behaviour, Kapoor said he did it to 'get under the skin of the character'.
9# This is the first full feature-length movie to be coloured and re-released in theatres in the history of cinema. Some English films have been coloured but only released in the home video format.
10# Cinematographer R D Mathur had to experiment with lighting to shoot the famous Sheesh Mahal setting of Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. He tried painting the mirrors with wax to check the glare, which worked but also made the visuals dull. He then tried placing strips of cloth strategically to create bounced lighting.
11# For the scenes in which Madhubala is imprisoned, instead of using lightweight chains, real, heavy chains were used to tie her up, in order to make the scene look authentic. So much was her dedication that Madhubala would stand, shackled with these heavy chains, even in between shots, so that the pain shown in her face would look real. She was in pain for days after that, with many bruises caused by the chains.
12# For the battle sequence, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 troops were used.
13# In the movie Kala Baazar, the premiere of "Mughal E Azam" was shown as a live event where Dev Anand does blackmarketing of the premiere shows tickets.
