Mughal-E-Azam: Mughal-e-Azam is one of the best films in the history of Hindi cinema. This film, which came in the early 60s, remains in the news even after 6 decades. Three legendary actors of Hindi cinema, Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, worked in it. But these three were not the first choice for this film.
Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala had won the hearts of the audience with their excellent work. But these three were not going to be seen in this film. The story of these three getting this film is very filmy. The makers were initially going to work with three other actors.
These stars were cast
‘Mughal-e-Azam’ was released in the year 1960. But work on it had started in the year 1944 itself. DK Sapru, Chandra Mohan and Nargis were taken for this film. The shooting of the film started in the year 1946 at Bombay Talkies Studio. Its producer then was Shiraz Ali Hakim. But when India was partitioned in the year 1947, he went to Pakistan. In such a situation, director K Asif was left alone in terms of money. Then in the year 1949, Chandra Mohan died.
How did Prithviraj, Dilip and Madhubala enter?
After the death of Chandra Mohan, K Asif cast Prithviraj Kapoor in his place. Prithviraj Kapoor played the role of Akbar in ‘Mughal-e-Azam’. Asif wanted Dilip Kumar to play the role of Salim from the very beginning. Later he cast Dilip Kumar for the role of Salim.
On the other hand, Nargis backed out of this film. Nargis, who was earlier cast for the role of Anarkali, left the film because of Dilip Kumar. Actually, there were differences between the two during a film. In such a situation, Nargis did not want to work with Dilip. Then the makers took Madhubala in place of her for the role of Anarkali.
Budget of Rs 1.5 crore, earning more than 10 crore
‘Mughal-e-Azam’, which was released 64 years ago, took many years to be made. Work on it started in the early 1950s and the film was released in 1960. The budget of the film was Rs 1.5 crore. This was a huge amount at that time. But the film had a record-breaking performance at the box office. It earned Rs 10.8 crore worldwide.