Mughal-e-Azam was released in 1960, directed by K.Asif. It took him 16 years to picturise this techni-color film based on historical facts.It is the first full feature movie to be coloured for the theatrical re-release in the history of cinema.The film starred big actors like Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Durga Khote.
Despite being a tragic love story between Salim and Anarkali, Mughal-e-azam has brought more to the audience. The film was delayed due to financial uncertainty although it began its production in the early 1950s but the film had lost a financier and faced many troubles. The budget of single song sequences were much higher than that for a typical film of the period. The soundtrack of Mughal-e-Azam is still played on loop which is inspired by Indian Classical and folk Music comprising of 12 voice playbacks by the beautiful voice of Lata Mangeshkar along with Mohammad Rafi, Shamshad Begum and Classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khand. It is considered to be one of the finest films in Bollywood cinematic history.
The film is based on a historical concept but there are many other truths besides what is shown in the film. Anarkali , for instance, may have been called Nadira Begum or Sharif-un-Nisa, and was possibly painter of miniatures and or courtesan. The Merchant who had travelled to Mughal court in the early 1600, gave the evidence that she was Akbar’s wives and the mother of Salim’ s half-brother Princess Daniyal.
