I was very bad in studies. My childhood was spent at movie theatres.
The film that really stayed with me is a slightly older one — Mughal-e-Azam (1960), which is my favourite film till date.
I also love Pakeezah ; I love those big, theatrical films which have costumes, songs... the actresses have so much drama, I like all that.
Each one-on-one close-up shot of Madhubala is so beautiful. And the shot of Meena Kumari’s eyes (in Pakeezah ) is so stunning... I love all that.
They must have taken so long to shoot each of those things. It fascinates me even today, you know. How did they make those sets? How did they make that costume? How did they shoot that scene?
Like, if you see Pakeezah ’s opening credits, it is all in darkness. There is just one silhouette dancing in white.
Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in a still from ‘Mughal-e-Azam’
I was fascinated: I wondered how they did it, and then I found out that there was a foreign cameraperson who had done it.
I find it to be very progressive, the way they thought of these shots. In Mughal-e-Azam , taking a shot is so difficult when there are mirrors all around, because the light bounces from everywhere.
So think of how much technique and thought... you know, that tells me only one answer.
- Mughal-e-Azam is widely considered by critics to be the best Hindi film ever made.
- Starring Prithiviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, the film was made at a then astronomical cost of ₹ 1.5 crore.
- It went on to collect more than ₹ 5.5 crore during its theatrical run.
- Mughal-e-Azam won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi in 1961.
- The film was colourised and re-released in 2004 by the original producers Shapoorji Pallonji & Co., at a cost of ₹ 5 crore.
That when you have passion, you find a way. It’s a parallel — there’s knowledge and education, and then there’s passion.
It’s like how you can be highly educated but not have common sense, or you could be not educated at all, and still have common sense. In a creative field, both go parallel.
As told to Meghna Majumdar
