The Golden Era

MUGHAL- E- AZAM (1960) The Hindi movie ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, the classic romantic sage of K. Asif, was released in August 1960 and re-released in color print in November 2004. The film was produced by Kamal Amrohi, Aman and Shahpoorji Pallonji. The enchanting, everlasting music is by Naushad. The strong star cast included Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Durga Khote. It is an epic period drama about the Mughal emperor, Akbar, the Great and his relationship with his son, while ruling India as its emperor. The film is the eternal love story of Prince Salim with a courtesan, Anarkali. Prince Salim is born to King Akbar and his wife, Jodhabai after many prayers and rituals. As a child he becomes weak and a spoilt brat. So his father sends him to war to learn discipline and courage. After 14 years, the young and handsome Prince returns home spreading love and happiness in the empire. Prince Salim is greeted by the dance performance of Anarkali, a gorgeous court-dancer. The Prince falls in love with her and so does Anarkali but the latter does not reciprocate her love because she is a servant of the court. Soon their love blossoms into immense heights and becomes known to all. The King is against Salim’s desire to marry Anarkali. The dispute between a father and his son grows to an extent of a war between them, because of Anarkali. Salim is sentenced to death after he looses the battle against his father. Salim is hurt when Anarkali is forced to act as a deceiver to him (by the King). She spends a night in Salim’s arms as India’s queen but drugs him to sleep. Salim hates her. The King revokes Salim’s death sentence on the term of Anarkali death. Anarkali is in chains on betraying Salim and is to be killed. When Salim was born, Anarkali’s mother (Queen’s maid) broke the good news to the King. He gave her a ring and promised to fulfill any one wish of hers whenever she desires. When Anarkali is to be entombed alive, her mother goes to the King with the ring and requests him to grant life to her daughter. Anarkali is declared dead to the world but in reality she lives, thanks to the King’s promise and his greatness. Akbar, the Great was a king more than a father, henceforth he could not accept his son’s love story. This was the reason he fought his son and became his enemy. But he has a heart and was a man of his words, so he spares the life of Anarkali. The work on this film started in 1944 when K. Asif read a play on the Mughal ruler, Akbar, the Great. The film production was halted due to communal tensions and financial bankruptcy. In 1951 or 1953, when the film lost a major financer, the cast of the movie was changed completely. The film was K. Asif’s life’s main work, which became the most costly production in the history of Indian Cinema. The film budget was 1.5 crores in 1960’s and the box office returns were 5.5 crores. The returns became a record in the financial history of Indian Cinema. There were riots outside booking counters to buy tickets. The film was a mage block buster of its times. Such was the demand of the film that it was re-released in color print in 2004. The theatres were crowded with viewers to see the film in color. Its charisma was not lost and people loved watching it even after 4 decades. The film won the National Film Award and 3 popular Filmfare awards for the year. The film is an example of K. Asif’s devotional work as well as the great love story which created history during Mughal rule in India. The intense love between the two is beautifully portrayed and well acted by all actors. The money and the hard work which K. Asif spent on the film creation came out very well and was an amazing success. MOTHER INDIA (1957) The Hindi film classic ‘Mother India’ which identifies Indian Cinema of 1950’s is one of the best works of Nargis and Sunil Dutt. The film was released in October 1957, both produced and directed by Mehboob Khan. The memorable music is by Naushad. The other star cast includes Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. The film is representative of its name, meaning it depicts the strong and devoted Indian woman values. The storyline is set at the backdrop of an Indian village. The film begins with a village getting water, being inaugurated by Radha, played by Nargis. The flashback takes us to the marriage of Radha with Shamu, played by Raaj Kumar, for which his mother takes a loan from Sukhilal (played by Kanhaiyalal), the village moneylender. This loan becomes a problem for the family after a dispute. The villagers decide that Shamu has to give three quarters of their crop produced as interest for the loan of Rs. 500/-. Shamu is unable to pay Sukhilal his share of interest and has to sell his bulls, utensils to him. Trying to till one of his lands, Shamu looses one of his arms and becomes bed ridden. His helplessness and dependence on family makes him run away one night. All the responsibilities of the family fall on Radha who is sad about her husband’s disappearance. Hardships for her increase as her mother-in-law also passes away. She is left with her 3 children. Feeding them becomes difficult. Floods in the village destroy everything, even her crops. Radha looses one of her child. It is then when Radha goes to Sukhilal for some help. He has ill intentions for her and on realizing this she runs away. Years pass by and Radha’s two sons are young and strong. The elder son is Ramu, played by Rajendra Kumar and the younger, naughty son is Birju, played by Sunil Dutt. Sunil Dutt knows that Sukhilal is the evil moneylender who cheats everyone in the village. He even has her mother’s gold bangles which he plans to bring back to her. Apart from being the naughty boy troubling young girls of the village, Birju fights whenever his farm’s yield goes to Sukhilal. Ramu is the loyal son and marries a village girl he loves and has a child with her. Birju loves a village girl but cannot marry her. Birju’s ways are out of the norms of society and he soon becomes a dacoit, who loots the rich and helps the needy. Sukhilal’s daughter is getting married when Birju kidnaps her and is running away with her. Radha, respecting a girl’s identity, asks Birju to set her free. When Birju does not listen to her, she kills him protecting the dignity of a female. The guts of a true Indian woman become prominent when a mother kills her son for her ideals. Birju dying in his mother’s arm is an emotional scene. There is a scene in the film when the cut crop catches fire. Radha runs looking for Birju. In reality, while shooting the scene, the fire grew beyond the crew’s control, which put Nargis’s life in danger. Sunil Dutt played on his life and saved her. This event resulted in Sunil Dutt marrying Nargis. The film is a legend is all respects of film-making. It is a lesson to learn and live with for Indian women, though in real such guts are rare to find. It’s a genuine work of Film Art.