K Asif had initially cast Chandra Mohan, DK Sapru, and Nargis as Akbar, Salim, and Anarkali, respectively. Read on to know why he had to replace them with Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Madhubala in his magnum opus.
Directed by K Asif, Mughal-e-Azam is one of the most iconic films in Indian cinema. Mughal prince Salim's love affair with court dancer Anarkali leads to a war between him and his father, the Mughal emperor Akbar in this epic historical drama. The 1960 release starred three brilliant actors Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Madhubala as Akbar, Salim, and Anarkali, respectively. But, it is an interesting story that neither of them were Asif's first choices for the film.
The filmmaker started working on Mughal-e-Azam in 1944 and cast Chandra Mohan, DK Sapru, and Nargis for the roles of Akbar, Salim, and Anarkali. When the shooting began in 1946 in the Bombay Talkies studio, Shiraz Ali Hakeem was attached to the project as the producer but after India's partition, he migrated to Pakistan and Asif was left without any financer. Meanwhile, Chandra Mohan also suffered a heart attack and died in 1949.
K Asif replaced Chandra Mohan with Prithviraj Kapoor, who recommended the name of the industrialist Shapoorji Pallonji as the producer. Though Pallonji had never produced any film before, he was interested in the history of Akbar and hence, decided to come on board. Asif always wanted Dilip Kumar to play Salim but Shiraz Ali had dissuaded the director to not cast him as he found him too skinny to portray a Mughal prince. After Shiraz had moved to Pakistan, Asif fulfilled his wish to see Dilip as Salim. After Dilip agreed, Nargis left the project as she didn't wish to work with him due to their creative differences on their last collaboration Hulchul in 1951. So, the director replaced her with Madhubala.
Finally, the production for Mughal-e-Azam began in the early 1950s. When it was released in 1960, it had already become the most expensive Indian film of that time with a budget of Rs 1.5 crore. After it hit the theatres, the K Asif directorial broke box office records, grossed Rs 10.8 crore worldwide, and became the highest-grossing Indian film of that time, a record it helf for 15 years. Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Madhubala-starrer also earned the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and also won the Filmfare Award for Best Film.
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 "Madhubala and Dilip Kumar in Mughal-e-Azam")
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