Mughal-e-Azam (Audio and Video)
Vish Krishnan
>Surendra wrote:
>>
>> In article <327B96...@slb.com>, Hrishikesh says...
>> >
>> >I recently saw Mughal-e-Azam on video, and was rather surprised to find
>> >two songs in it that I had never heard before -
>
>> If you really want the full versions of the songs, then your best bet is
to find
>> somebody who has the LP (Vinyl) of these movies.
>
>
>RPG Music (for that's what EMI/HMV is called now) is trying to right some of
>these wrongs now: Mughal-E-Azam has been re-released on CD as a 68:29 min.,
>single-movie-soundtrack that has all the complete songs and some dialogues.
>
>CDF130075
>
>Regards
>guri
There were at least 2 movie prints in circulation (from the mid-late '70s), one
with the two Lata songs, and one without. There are in fact several audio
releases,
and most of them DO NOT have "Ai ishq..." and "humei.n kaash tumse....".
The 4 audio releases I recall are:
1. The LP
2. A 2-pack EMI cassette release with dialogues and movie background music
(lots of sitar pieces by Abdul Halim Jafar Khan). Don't recall the title.
3. An EMI CD Release titled "Selected Hits From ANAARKALI - MUGHAL-E-AZAM
(Serial Number CD PMLP 5112).
4. The new CD release mentioned by Guri is titled "Classic Films -
MUGHAL-E-AZAM"
(Serial number CDF 130075 ADD, as per Guri's message).
A few odd facts re. the above releases:
. Releases 2 and 4 are NOT equal. In fact, #2 follows the movie sequence. It
even starts with "main Hindustaan hoon. Himaala meri sarhado.n ka... etc
etc".
The recording quality of #2 is a little questionable. I have never seen the
second cassette of Release #2, and so can't say if this release has all songs.
However, Release 2 does have more sitar interludes. In particular, it
features
a "Madhyami" piece. This raaga, according to Abdul Halim Jaafar Khan, is
his own
creation. He played it at a campus concert back when I was in engg
school. Had
not seen the movie until then, and then, when I did get around to watching
it in
a theatre, it was a pleasant discovery. I don't believe Release #4 has this
much sitar, but I should really listen to it again.
. Release #3 has two problems: it is missing 3 songs (the 2 Lata songs under
discussion here, and "prem jogan ban ke.."), AND the song versions featured
are NOT complete.
. Release #4 has, by and large, more complete versions of ALL songs, but even
so, they are NOT completely complete!! In particular, 2 songs on this release
cause some disappointment. First, "pyaar kiyaa to Darnaa kyaa.." has a
kathak piece right in the beginning, painstakingly (and some accounts even say
painfully) choreographed on Madhubala. Then the song starts as "insaan
kisi se..".
This initial dance piece is missing in Release #4. The LP (Release 1) has it.
Second, at the end of "jab raat hai aisi matwaali..", the movie features the
dance of death, a really nice Malkauns interlude choreographed and
danced by
Lacchu Maharaj (or is it Birju Maharaj?). Release #4 did away with it
while the
LP has included it.
. The dialogues featured in Release #4 have me wondering. It is a well known
fact that song versions in movies are very often different from those released
on audio. But I found that at least some of the conversation in #4 is not
how I remember it from the movie. Particularly, there is a scene where Murad
(Mansingh) says "agar in dastaavezon par imkaanaat jaari nahin kiye gaye, to
sooba-e-ajmer mein badghamni phailne kaa andeshaa hai..". I remember this
line
only because it sounded very funny at that time. Now, in this CD release,
Murad
says something else, not totally different, but different enough. I have a
feeling that this was unintentional, and that EMI/HMV->RPG AND the movie
industry
have a version control problem in general.
Article Unavailable
Anand Tiwari
> Second, at the end of "jab raat hai aisi matwaali..", the movie
>features
>the
> dance of death, a really nice Malkauns interlude choreographed and
>danced by
> Lacchu Maharaj (or is it Birju Maharaj?). Release #4 did away with it
>while the
> LP has included it.
Hi Vish,
Thanks for the very informative post on MEA. The dance director
for MEA is Lachchu Maharaj. A very good aricle in FF on the recollections
of veteran journalist Ram Aurangabadkar describes how difficult it was
for Lachchu Maharaj to get Madhubala do the right steps. The article
was authored AFAIR by Roshmila Mukherjee. Your post encourages me to
record all the songs of MEA (in the film) directly from the cinema hall
(the next time i see it)
because i am sure HMV shall never give us one complete version. Thanks
all the same.
regards
Anand