- The film cost about Rs 1.5 crore, an immense budget then. The original story was changed to give a somewhat happy end.
- The main stars went to London to be fitted for special wigs. But the hair began to fall as they weren’t suited to Indian weather.
- Tailors from Delhi, Hyderabadi jewellers, ironsmiths from Rajasthan were brought to Bombay. Shoes came from Agra.
- There is a mausoleum for Anarkali (though there’s no historical evidence she existed) in Lahore, and a bazaar is named after her.
The enduring appeal of the film, however, is not just the love story. Certainly Mughal -E-Azam is epic in the same vein as Hollywood historicals with its battle and court scenes and declamatory posings in Urdu, especially Prithviraj as Akbar. But the story moves smoothly between the public and private. At one level, the conflict is between an emperor who believes his son’s love for the palace maid would undermine his empire. At another, it’s the conflict between father and son, with the latter challenging his father’s authority, and convention.
For the young lovers, love, especially articulated by Madhubala, is a higher authority than the throne. Madhubala excels in this film, and in her celebrated dance sequence in the Sheesh Mahal, when she defiantly declares her love (Pyar kiya to darna kya), the black-and-white film famously metamorphoses into colour; her whirling dance reflected an infinity of times in the countless mirrors. Sanjay Leela Bhansali can eat his heart out: Devdas can’t hold a candle to this one.
