Mughal-e-Azam Review

It lives up to all the hype of its greatness. It is Epic (with a capital "E") in that completely larger than life Spartacus or Gone With the Wind kind of way. A love story on a grand stage.

Dilip Kumar is simply amazing as Prince Salim. This is my first film seeing him and he is deservedly called one of the best Indian actors of all time. I can not tell you how glad I am that on the spur of the moment I added a four DVD set of his films, including his Devdas, to my Induna.com order of a few weeks ago.

Mudhabala as Anarkali is just fantastic. She is just luminous on the screen. Prithviraj Kapoor is perfection as autocratic Emperor Akbar!

I'm so glad I saw Jodhaa Akbar first and so I know something about these characters, and now I'm seeing the proud arrogant Akbar dealing with his recalcitrant son Salim. Knowing the background of the Hrithik/Aish film and the religious issues in that film, made the mix of religious traditions depicted in Mughal-e-Azam make more sense to me.

Even all the supporting players are something special. Sheila Dalaya as Suraiyya, Anarkali's coquettish sister was probably my favorite, but Kumar who plays the sculptor who sings the big Ae Mohabbat Zindagad number was great, too.

And the music!!! I could go on about that and the dance numbers, and the unbelievable palace sets for days. This was one of the most expensive films ever made in India, and it shows in every scene. There are some palace scenes with little mirror decorations everywhere that are both exquisite, and used to great effect in an almost Bugsby Berkley kind of way for some shots.

I want to see the colorized version now. I wanted to see the pure classic B&W original version, but the print on my DVD was a bit uneven and jumpy. I think they restored the print when they colorized it, too. This is the kind of movie where I wouldn't mind owning two copies!