Mughal E Azam 1960 Hindi Movie

Mughal-e-Azam (The Emperor of the Mughals) is a 1960 Indian film directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, the historical epic follows the love affair between Mughal Prince Salim (who went on to become Emperor Jahangir) and Anarkali, a court dancer. Salim's father, Emperor Akbar, disapproves of the relationship, which leads to a war between father and son.

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 principal photography 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 Indian motion picture; the budget for a single song sequence exceeded that typical for an entire film of the period. The soundtrack, inspired by Indian classical and folk music, comprises 12 songs voiced by playback singers including Lata Mangeshkar and classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. It is often cited as one of the finest soundtracks in Bollywood cinematic 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. The accolades awarded to the film include one National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards. 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 2004, was a commercial success.

The film is widely considered 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.

Cast

Prithviraj Kapoor as Emperor Akbar

Dilip Kumar as Salim

Madhubala as Nadira (Anarkali)

Durga Khote as Jodhabai, Salim's mother

Nigar Sultana as Bahar, a court dancer

Ajit as Durjan Singh

Murad as Raja Man Singh

M. Kumar as Sangtarash, the royal sculptor

Sheila Dalaya as Suraiyya, Anarkali's sister

Jillo Bai as Anarkali's mother

Directed by K. Asif

Produced by Shapoorji Pallonji

Year of release  5 August 1960

Intresting facts about MUGHAL-E-AZAM

The movie was premiered in Mumbai's Maratha Mandir and released simultaneously in 150 theatres across the country. 

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'. 

K Asif took nine years to make Mughal-e-Azam. In 1952, Jhansi Ki Rani became India's first movie to be shot in technicolour. Asif wanted to remake his film entirely in colour too, but it is said the distributors lost patience and settled for shooting two songs and the climax of the film in technicolour. Some 85 per cent of the movie was filmed in black-and-white. In November 2004, the Indian Academy of Arts and Animation restored, colourised and re-released the film in 100 per cent colour. 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.

Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya was shot in Sheesh Mahal at a cost of Rs 10 lakh at a time when entire movies were made on that budget. Most thought financier Shapoorji Pallonji would go bankrupt filming this one song itself. The song was written and re-written more than a hundred times by lyricist Shakeel Badayuni before music director Naushad approved of it. To provide the reverbration effect in the song, Lata Mangeshkar recorded it in a bathroom. 

The director had initially thought he would release Mughal-e-Azamin three languages - Hindi, Tamil and English. The Tamil version did so badly, Asif dropped the idea of dubbing it in English. Madhubala's heart condition did not allow her to sign any films after this one. 

To ensure a life-like performance, the chains Madhubala wore in the movie were real. The actress nursed the bruises caused by the chains for days 2, 000 camels, 4, 000 horses and 8, 000 troops were used in the battle sequence, many of them were sought from the Indian Army through special permission from the Defence Ministry. The soldiers were from the Jaipur regiment.

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.

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."

The song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad" had Mohammad Rafi sing with a backup chorus of 100 singers.

During Making Of the Film K.Asif was in huge debt so he even bought paan and cigarettes on credit.

The statue of Lord Krishna used in the film was made of pure gold.

For the battle sequence, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 troops were used

Guide 1965 Romantic Drama Movie

Guide is a 1965 Romantic Drama film starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman. It was directed by Vijay Anand, who contributed to the screenplay. The film is based on the novel, The Guide, by R. K. Narayan.The film was a box office hit upon release. The movie proved memorable for its award-winning performances by the lead actors and memorable music by S. D. Burman. Time Magazine listed it at Number Four on its list of Best Bollywood Classics.A 120-minute U.S. version was written by Pearl S. Buck, and directed and produced by Tad Danielewski, The film was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 42 years after its release.

STORY

The movie starts with Raju (Dev Anand) being released from jail. Raju was a freelance guide, who earned his living by taking tourists to historic sites. One day, a wealthy and aging archaeologist, Marco (Kishore Sahu) comes to the city with his young wife Rosie (Waheeda Rehman), the daughter of a courtesan. Marco wants to do some research on the caves outside the city and hires Raju as his guide.

While Marco devotes himself to the discovery of the cave, Raju takes Rosie on a tour and appreciates her dancing ability and innocence. He learns about Rosie's background as a daughter of a prostitute and how Rosie has achieved respectability as the wife of Marco but at a terrible cost. She had to give up her passion of dancing since it was unacceptable to Marco. Meanwhile, Rosie tries to commit suicide by consuming poison. Marco, upon learning of the incident, returns from the caves to see Rosie and is furious with Rosie after seeing her alive. He tells her that her act of committing suicide was a drama, otherwise she would have consumed more sleeping pills so that she could really have died. Upon returning to the caves which were discovered, Rosie learns that Marco is spending time and enjoying the company of a native tribal girl. She is enraged at Marco and both indulge in a serious heated discussion, which concludes with Rosie leaving the caves, and she once again wants to end her life.

Raju calms her down by saying that committing suicide is a sin, and that she should live to pursue her dream. She finally says good-bye to the relation of being the wife of Marco. Now she needs support and a home. Raju gives her shelter. Rosie is considered a prostitute by Raju's community (as classical dancing traditionally was prostitutes' work at royal courts), which leads to many problems, including his mother and her brother insisting that Rosie be kicked out. Raju refuses and his mother leaves him. His friend and driver also falls out with him over Rosie. Raju loses his business and the entire town turns against him. Undeterred by these setbacks, Raju helps Rosie embark on a singing and dancing career and Rosie becomes a star. As she rises as a star, Raju becomes dissolute — gambling and drinking. Marco comes back on the scene. Trying to win Rosie back, he brings flowers and has his agent ask Rosie to release some jewelry which is in a safe deposit box. Raju, a bit jealous, does not want Marco to have any contact with Rosie and forges Rosie's name on the release of the jewels. Meanwhile, Rosie and Raju drift apart due to Rosie's incomprehensible behaviour when she tortures Raju by not obliging him a caring hug even and asks him to leave her room else she says she will have to go out. Before this, they also had a discussion about how a man should live when Rosie remembers Marco and tells Raju that Marco was probably correct when he used to say that a man should not live on a woman's earnings.

Raju retorts by saying that she is under a misunderstanding that she has become a star on her own and it was only because of Raju's efforts that she became famous. Later, Rosie learns of the forgery release. Raju is convicted of forgery, resulting in a two-year sentence. Rosie does not understand why Raju indulged in forgery, when he could have easily asked her for money. It was not money, it was the loving fascination for Rosie which urged Raju not to reveal Marco's visit to Rosie so that she doesn't remember him again and to eliminate the probability of Rosie and Marco's togetherness, if at all, there was any little chance. On the day of his release, his mother and Rosie come to pick him up but they are told that he was released six months ago because of his good behaviour.

Meanwhile, upon his release Raju wanders alone. Despair, poverty, rags, hunger, loneliness engulf him until he finds a wandering group of sadhus (holy men) with whom he spends a night at a derelict temple in a small town.Raju impresses the woman with the logic in taking a husband and she submits, which convinces Bhola that Raju is a swami (holy man). Impressed by this, Bhola spreads the news through the village. Raju is taken as a holy man by the village. Raju assumes the role of village holy man (Swami Ji) and engages in skirmishes with the local pandits.And drama started here. Due to drought Raju was forced to fast for 12 days so that it rains. Meanwhile, his mother, friend and Rosie unite with him and patch things up. In the end it rains but Raju dies.

Directed by 

Vijay Anand Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)

Vijay Anand ... (dialogue)

Pearl S. Buck ... (US version) (US version)

R.K. Narayan ... (novel)

Cast

Dev Anand as Raju

Waheeda Rehman as Rosie Marco/Miss Nalini

Leela Chitnis as Raju's Mother

Kishore Sahu as Marco

Gajanan Jagirdar as Bhola

Anwar Hussain as Gaffoor

Rashid Khan as Joseph

Ram Avtar as Pandit

Nazir Kashmiri as villager

Produced by Dev Anand

 Music by Sachin Dev Burman ... (as S.D. Burman)