Mughal-E-Aazam
at...@sybase.com
Hi,
This last week-end, I saw a song from Mughal-e-Aazam (Pyar kiya to
daranaa kya).
What surprised me was that it was in color.
Am I missing something here or this movie was converted from black &
white to color some time back ?
As far as I know, all Madhubala movies were in black & white. correct me
if I am wrong.
Thanks in advance,
Atul.
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SKalra902
>
>Hi,
>
>This last week-end, I saw a song from Mughal-e-Aazam (Pyar kiya to
>daranaa kya).
>
>What surprised me was that it was in color.
>
>Am I missing something here or this movie was converted from black &
>white to color some time back ?
>
>As far as I know, all Madhubala movies were in black & white. correct me
>if I am wrong.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Atul.
>
>
This song, just before the interval in the film, and the last fifteen of so
minutes of the film as well were in color. That portion also had the song
"khuda nigehbaan ho tumhara".
Happy listenings.
Satish Kalra
ravi_krishna
The songs of MEA was in color , but the film as such was in B&W. During the
nascent years of color era this was common, specially in tamil movies.
-- RaviK.
>article <8767670...@dejanews.com>, at...@sybase.com says...
>>
>Hi,
>
>This last week-end, I saw a song from Mughal-e-Aazam (Pyar kiya to
>daranaa kya).
>
>What surprised me was that it was in color.
>
>Am I missing something here or this movie was converted from black &
>white to color some time back ?
>
>As far as I know, all Madhubala movies were in black & white. correct me
>if I am wrong.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Atul.
>
Anand Tiwari
In article , Ravi says...
>
>The songs of MEA was in color , but the film as such was in B&W. During the
>nascent years of color era this was common, specially in tamil movies.
>
>-- RaviK.
>
>
The songs "pyaar kiya to darna kya" and the final qawaali was in
colour. The climax of the film was also in colour (the sequence
in which the ring falls on the Tarazu and Akbar realises his promise).
There are may instances of part colour and B/W films in Hindi.
Two off the top of my head are "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" and "Teen Devian"
both of which have one song in colour.
regards
Anand
Anand Tiwari
In article , skal...@aol.com says...
>
>This song, just before the interval in the film, and the last fifteen of so
> minutes of the film as well were in color. That portion also had the song
> "khuda nigehbaan ho tumhara".
>
>
>Happy listenings.
>
>Satish Kalra
The song "Jab raat hai aisi matwaali phir subah ka aalam kya hoga"
sung by Bahar (Nigar Sultana) on the screen is in colour too. The
significant point in the original post is that all of Madhubala's films are
in black and white which is a trifle unfortunate. On the subject
of transforming black and white films into colour, a film company
in Calcutta called "Chhayabaani" has currently undertaken to restore
some of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar's films (like "Haaraano Sur")* into
colour. This is being done because till date Uttam Kumar's films run to
packed houses whenever re released and the Bengali film industry needs
cash flow, fast.
regards
Anand
* For Uttam Kumar - Suchita Sen film fans, this is a must watch film, where
Suchitra has the more dominating role. Very good music too.
HAbadzi
Part of this movie, specifically the spectacular scenes, is indeed in
color. It was expensive, so apparently they limited it.
Heroine632
Wouldn't it be great if M-E-A was re-released on the big screen? Wow...
Faez Nasrudin Kaiser
Anand Tiwari (anand....@prairiecomm.com) wrote:
: In article , Ravi says...
: >
: >The songs of MEA was in color , but the film as such was in B&W. During the
: >nascent years of color era this was common, specially in tamil movies.
: The songs "pyaar kiya to darna kya" and the final qawaali was in
: colour. The climax of the film was also in colour (the sequence
: in which the ring falls on the Tarazu and Akbar realises his promise).
Anand is right. There are only three portions of the film in colour. On a
related note, I managed to dig out a posting by Satish on the making of
Mughal E Azam, which may interest those who are looking for background
knowledge on the film. Here it is:
From: subr...@cs.umn.edu (Satish Subramanian)
Here is an interesting piece from a Filmfare article on
the making of Mughal-e-Azam. I am just extracting the pieces that
relate to the making of the music and songs of Mughal-e-Azam.
The contents of the other portions of this Filmfare article have
been more or less covered by Umesh Garg in his recent posting
on Mughal-e-Azam.
It is interesting to note, from this article, the involvement of
Naushad in various departments of the movie, along with movie's
director K.Asif.
--
Article: Making of Mughal-e-Azam
Source: Filmfare
Author: Roshmila Mukherjee
Madhubala was an unforgettable Anarkali. And her portrayal of
Radha in "mohe panghat pe nandala chhed gayo re" continues to
mesmerise movie-goers. Surprisingly, the song was almost edited
out. "It's bakwas.. it'll ruin the film," thundered noted direc-
tor Vijay Bhatt after the recording. "Why show Akbar celebrating
Lord Krishna's birth?"
Music director Naushad argued that with Jodhabai present in the
Mughal court, it wasn't all that illogical. After discussions
with the panel of script writers, a line was incorporated in
Anarkali's introduction scene to Prince Salim. A courtier was
made to say "Aaj Krishna janmashtami hai aur Radha ke liye Anar-
kali theek rahegi." The song went on to become piece-de-
resistance.
K.Asif wanted the best choreographer for the song. Naushad sug-
gested Lachchu Maharaj. And the great Kathak exponent burst into
tears the minute her heard the song. Asif was baffled. "Why is
he crying," he asked Naushad. "Tell him to start dancing."
Naushad took the dancer aside and asked him why he was weeping.
Lachchu Maharaj confided that his father, Alkaji Bindadin, had
been Nawab Wajid Ali Shah's darbari dancer. And "mohe panghat pe
nandalal" with nawab playing Krishna, was his favourite composi-
tion. "Hearing the number after all these years, I was
overwhelmed. It reminded me of baba".
It took Lachchu Maharaj five days to choreograph the number. His
Radha was lovely..but she was no classical dancer. So the camera
would zoom in on Madhubala for the close-ups. And one of Lachhu
Maharaj's boys doubled for the actress in the long shots. On
every one of those five days, there was an important visitor
across the border of the sets - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He would
drive down from Worli to Mohan Studio and spend the day there
raptly watching the song being picturised.
For Salim and Anarkali it was love-at-first-sight. It's a moon-
lit night. The prince is caressing her cheek with a feather. "No
dialog," decided Asif. "Just a song playing in the background."
Tansen singing "prem jogan ban jaoo.." in raag Sohni. A purely
classical number which only an ustad could render.
Naushad suggested Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. But Ustadji didn't sing
for films. Asif was convinced he could make him change his mind.
One Sunday morning he drove down to the Ustad's house with
Naushad.
Ustadji hated Asif on sight. He took Naushad aside and
whispered, "Who is this man smoking so arrogantly? Doesn't he
know this is a musician's house? I can't sing for him." But the
director wasn't stymied. Flicking ash on the floor has said,
"You will sing. Just name your price." Affronted, the Ustad
mentioned a staggering sum, "Rs 25000!" Asif immediately handed
him Rs 10000 and promised to pay the rest on the day of the
recording. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan would sing!
On the day of the recording, he was there at the Mehboob Studio
on the dot. Glancing around the studio he thundered, "Where is
the gadda, chaddar, takiya? I can't sing like this!" Within
minutes, the studio was transformed into a baithak. The Ustad
started in the gamak taan but it sounded too heavy for a romantic
scene. When Asif suggested something softer, Ustadji called for
pack-up. "Show me the scene first, only then I will sing," he
said before leaving the baithak.
Fortunately the scene had already been shot. It was edited over-
night and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saw it the next morning. One look
and he was fida over Madhubala. "Anarkali kaafi khubsoorat hai.
Shehzada bhi kaafi khubsoorat hai. The scene's been photographed
well," he nodded approvingly. He rendered the number four times
and each time the film had to be rewound and played. At the end
of the marathon session, all he had to say was, "Take whatever
you want.. Just see that it's good.".
However, K. Asif was not finished with the Ustad yet. Salim was
returning home after 14 years. Jodhabhai sends word to Tansen to
sing in a raag which would make Salim forget the sound and fury
of the cannon blasts. And Tansen meant going back to Bade Ghulam
Ali Khan. Another Rs 25000! "Shubh din aayo re" was recorded.
And only 15 second segment from it was retained!
Almost 20 songs were recorded for Mughal-e-Azam at the price of
Rs 3000 each. Each one was a classic. And yet, almost ten of
them were left out, including "Husn ki baraat chali" sung by
Lata, Shamshad Begum and Mubarak Begum because the scene where
Salim comes to the boathouse to give away awards to the court
singers was deleted from the film.
So were "akele mujhe chhod ke kahan chale re" and "aai ishq yeh
duniyawale bekaar ki baaten karte hain". Another hummable
Shamshad Begum song "chala ja re nami chhalakte hua" was also
never heard again because Anarkali never did send her prince a
love letter in a floating lotus.
There were times when Naushad wondered why he'd taken on the pro-
ject. He almost hadn't the first time K.Asif had approached him.
"I was upstairs in my music room. The family had strict instruc-
tions that I was not to be disturbed," Naushad reminisces. "But
who could stop Asifsaab? He entered the room and announced, 'I'm
making Mughal-e-Azam.' Immersed in my work I didn't hear him.
He repeated himself. I didn't react. Then he threw a bundle of
notes on my harmonium. I was livid. I glared at him. He still
insisted that I should compose the music for his film."
Meanwhile Rs 75000 lay scattered in the room. When the servant
came up with a trayful of tea, he was horrified. He rushed to
the music director's begum with the news that currency notes were
scattered all over. She shrugged, "Maybe they're counterfiet."
He insisted that they were real. She finally gathered the notes
unnoticed by her husband.
Today Naushad talks of the Mughal-e-Azam experience fondly. "I
remember composing "pyar kiya to darna kya". We had been experi-
menting all day and rejected two lyrics. It was almost midnight
when I remembered a folk song of East UP, "prem kiya kya chori
kari hai". It didn't take Shakeelsaab long to convert that into
a beautiful ghazal. By the time, we had the song wrapped up it
was 6am".
==-==
--
bye
satish
SKalra902
>>
>>What surprised me was that it was in color.
>>
>>Am I missing something here or this movie was converted from black &
>>white to color some time back ?
>>
>>As far as I know, all Madhubala movies were in black & white. correct me
>>if I am wrong.
>>
>>Thanks in advance,
>>
>>Atul.
......
The film had taken more than 8 years to be completed before being released in
1960. In 1951/52, when the project began after he had completed and released
Hulchul (Dilip, Nargis), there were only B/W movies being made, but then in
the mid-fifties, color began sneaking in (as an exception), and K. Asif
decided to put those portions in color, as he needed every gimmick in the
world to get the crowds into cinema theaters, or else he would have been
financially ruined. Not that he did not have his set of financial backers,
just like Raj Kapoor had his set of distributors to back him.
It would hve been interesting to see how his (Asif's) Love and God would have
shaped up under his own direction! As it is, the film appears to be an
incomplete film in its present release form, though one of the Rafi songs is a
delight.
Happy listenings.
Satish Kalra
SKalra902
>
>The songs "pyaar kiya to darna kya" and the final qawaali was in
>colour. The climax of the film was also in colour (the sequence
>in which the ring falls on the Tarazu and Akbar realises his promise).
>Two off the top of my head are "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" and "Teen Devian"
>both of which have one song in colour.
>
>regards
> Anand
>
The climax 'reel' of the classic "NAGIN" (1954) is also in color, including the
oh so sweeeeet "sun rasiya", "ooNchi ooNchi duniya kii diwaarein saiyyaN tod
ke".
Happy listenings.
Satish Kalra
Anil Hingorani
SKalra902 wrote:
>
> "aai ishq yeh
> >duniyawale bekaar ki baaten karte hain".
> crowds had starting waning), along with one more Lata song,
which is 'hume kash tum se mohabbat na hoti'. Both these gorgeous songs
are on the new Mughal-E-Azam CD (the classic films series).
Do you know if the remaining 7/8 songs were ever released? I have never
heard 'husn ki baraat..' or 'akele mujhe chhod..' and would like to
know if these are available somewhere.
Cheers,
--
ANIL P. HINGORANI
e-mail: hingora...@jpmorgan.com