Mughal-e-Azam songwriter gets his due

The controversy over who penned the evergreen song ‘Mohe panghat pe nandlal chhed gayo re....’ in the film Mughal-e-Azam has been settled.

Forty years after the film was first released in 1960 by K Asif, the producers of the all-new Mughal-e-Azam have given credit to the late Raskavi Raghunath Brahmabhatt for the lyrics of the song. All these years, the lyrics (of this song) had been credited to the late Shakeel Badayuni.

The film’s producer, Shapoorji-Pallonji’s Sterling Investment Corporation Ltd, recently signed an understanding with Raghunath Brahmabhatt’s grandson, Dr Raj Brahmabhatt, a prominent sexologist in the city, acknowledging the late lyricist’s contribution on the cover of the film’s VCDs and DVDs marketed by the company.

Dr Brahmabhatt refused to comment, saying he was bound by the understanding reached with Sterling Investments.
As Deepesh Selgia, in charge of Sterling Investments, was abroad, Sanjay Bhandari, in charge of sales and marketing of Mughal-e-Azam, told DNA:

“We have reached an agreement with Dr Brahmabhatt and, as per his request, have agreed to give Raskavi the credit for ‘Mohe panghat pe nandlal...’ on the cover of all VCDs and DVDs of Mughal-e-Azam. When the film was re-released, we gave all the credits mentioned in the original film. There had been no financial understanding.”

The controversy erupted last year when Dr Brahmabhatt found his grandfather’s name missing in the credit line when Mughal-e-Azam was re-released in full colour. He sent a legal notice to the producers, asking them to give due credit to Raskavi.

The lyricist’s family contended that Raskavi had penned the song for a Gujarati play, ‘Chhatra Vijay’, in 1920.
Dr Brahmabhatt had made it clear that he was not claiming any monetary benefit but only professional justice to his grandfather for the song — a fact that was confirmed by the producers.

When the film was released in 1960, a Pakistani fan was learned to have written to ‘The Dawn’, a daily newspaper, saying the song had been plagiarised. The original song was sung live by master Mukund, and even recorded by a gramophone company, The Twins.

Raskavi reportedly approached Asif, but it was only after he complained to the Film Writers’ Association that Badayuni and Asif relented and paid him Rs 11,000 as royalty.