Mughal-E-Azam: The untold story

The movie got re-released in color. I downloaded the DVD-rip thanks again to Bit comet. "Mughal-E-Azam" - I remember having sat until 1 AM in the morning to watch the movie on Doordarshan way back when I was in my seventh class. I remember seeing the eternally youthful song "Pyaar Kiyaa tho darnaa kyaa" umpteen number of times in Sunday morning's "Rangoli". I couldn’t understand why the songs popped up in color while the rest was in shades of grey. It looked so funny - the characters turning into colorful outfits once and then grey for the next few scenes. At that point of time I was too young to understand that way back in 1951 making a movie at a budget of 10 Lakhs was a big thing. Later on I came to know that the movie was in the making for 10 years and it ran into frequent production stalls. When finally the movie was released the print was brought to the main theater in Bombay on an elephant! The audience rejoiced. Thus began one of the most successful runs at the box-office in Indian cinema. The film kept re-releasing enchanting the generations afterwards. For Gen-X it got released in color unveiling its full splendor and all its glory. Tears welled up in my eyes the same way they did when I watched "Pyaar kiya tho darna kyaa ..." for the first time many years ago. True - Art lives long!

I heard that K.Asif, the director was nominated for an Oscar for the movie. As usual he didn’t get it. Perhaps those guys dismissed it as the usual song-and-dance affairs that Indian cinema is generally thought to be. What will the Americans understand about what Akbar's problem was as to why he couldn’t solemnize the marriage between a courtesan and the prince? Arthasastra says "The subjects have the right to err - the king does not" Akbar was tied down by the rules of the society. Being a king he was supposed to abide by them and hold them in respect.

Many people do not know the repercussions this love-story had in the later lives of both Akbar and Jehangir (Prince Salim). Salim was a great motivator and general of the Mughal army. After the tragic end of the love-story Salim fell into a downward spiral fuelled by excessive drinking. To make him realize his responsibility Akbar sent him away to the Deccan. It was Salim who induced a crushing defeat on the Bahamanis (Who were responsible for the downfall of the Vijayanagara Empire). Salim was rescued from the spiral and he got well only to nurse a deep grudge against his father and the Emperor - Akbar. Salim was given the title "Jehangir" in recognition of his victories in the Deccan. Jehangir commanded a regiment of 70,000 soldiers on horseback which was a sizeable fraction of the Mughal army. In spite of being the head of a large army like that he couldn’t bring himself to staging a full-scale rebellion against Akbar. Perhaps it was either his fear of Emperor Akbar “the Great” or just compassion for an old man. Though from my studies I conclude it to be fear. History says that after conquest of the Deccan Jehangir marched his army right across to the capital city of Delhi (Fatehpur sikri to be exact). Spies warned Akbar that the prince was planning to overthrow him. Residents of Delhi lived in constant fear of a blood feud. The army camped at the outskirts of the capital for months. Nobody knew the prince's intentions. He was guided by some power hungry generals in his army who wanted to replace the old school of power-bearers from Akbar's regime. Most of Akbar's contemporaries and friends like Tansen were already dead by then. Akbar founded a new religion called Din-i-Llahi. Birbal was the first to embrace it. Birbal who was old by that time was assassinated by Jehangir's men on the outskirts when he was trying to leave the capital. Akbar's General - Mansingh was captured by Jehangir's men and they sent him to exile away from the capital. Incidentally Mansingh was the one under whom Jehangir received tutelage in war fare. Still the army didn’t attack. Akbar was all alone in the city. Neither his nine gems nor his general were by his side. History says that Jehangir finally paid him a visit and Akbar was angry at the prince for denying a hero's death. A pact was made. Jehangir came in and started to take the affairs of the state into his control. Akbar's health began to fail. Finally Akbar died a broken man - friendless and all alone. Jehangir became the Emperor. Jehangir was the one who gave permission for trade to the Europeans in India thereby setting in motion a chain of events that finally resulted in the enslaving of India. Whether he gave the permission because he had the foresight that international trade relations are good for the economy or because of the exotic taste of the French wine (that the traders brought from Europe), we may never know.