Mughal-e-Azam :An old classic in colour

A scene from the film featuring Mudhubala

This film was released for the first time on August 5, 1960. It has been dusted and dressed up acquiring both colour and dolby sound and is slated for release in more than 100 cinema halls across the country on November 12.

It is the first time that a black and white film, turned into colour, will get a theatrical release in the world,' claims Deepak Salgia, project director of the coloured version of Mughal-e-Azam on behalf of the original producers of the movie Sterling Investment Corporation.

The making of the 85 percent black and white edition of Mughal-e-Azam cost Rs one and half crore at a time when most films did not need more than one million rupees and it took Asif a decade to complete the film.

It will be interesting how this generation of cine-goers react to the scene with the memorable song Jab Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya. This song which was lip synched by Madhubala dancing in the Sheesh Mahal. Who can forget her image reflected in hundreds of mirrors all around-- something that had once drawn viewers to the movie again and again after its first release?

The making of that song sequence alone had cost Rs 15 lakh, said Laxman. He points out that by today's standard of film-budgeting and given the elaborate and intricate sets of the original film, making of Mughal-e-Azam today would cost no less than Rs 230 crore.

Dilip Kumar, Naushad and Lata Mangeshkar are expected to be present when the all-colour Mughal-e-Azam is premiered again in a Mumbai cinema hall on November 10, said Laxman. 'Dilipji is extremely happy about the colour version of the film,' he added.

The colour version of the film would fulfill the dream of Asif, who had wanted the original film in colour but had to be content with only 15 percent of it in colour.

According to Salgia, the technology that has revived Mughal-e-Azam in colour has attracted attention not only in Bollywood but also Hollywood.

The promoters of the coloured version of Asif's film are clearly pinning their hopes that Mughal-e-Azam will rework the magical spell it had cast on cinema-lovers more than four decades ago.