Mughal-e-Azam is often hailed as one of the most glorious films of Indian cinema. Released in 1960, the magnum opus was made across nearly a decade by director K Asif, starring Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Prithviraj Kapoor in lead roles. The film was a period piece based on a play set during the reign of Emperor Akbar and continues to be the benchmark for period films made in India. In a recent interview, veteran Bollywood screenwriter Kamlesh Pandey spoke about the making of the film, where Asif demanded real pearls and gold statues on set, but faced a lot of opposition from producer Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry.
K Asif returned Rs 1 lakh, demanded real pearls for a scene
In a significant scene in the film, when Dilip Kumar’s Salim returns home after being on the battlefield for 14 years, his mother Jodha Bai, played by Durga Khote welcomes him in a grand fashion. The way Asif had envisioned the scene required a lot of pearls as he imagined that Jodha bai would shower pearls on Salim, instead of flowers. When they were to shoot the scene, Asif insisted that he wanted real pearls, and Shapoorji put his foot down, as they were anyway shooting it in black and white.
Kamlesh shared on The Raavya Sarda Show, “Asif insisted that the pearls had to be real. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry said, ‘Hadd ho gayi yaar (That’s too much). This is a black-and-white film. Who will get to know if the pearls are real or fake?’ But Asif said, ‘I will know.’” Asif did not back down and neither did Shapoorji, and so the shoot was stalled.
“Asif refused to shoot without real pearls. Shapoorji also did not back down. And the shot was stalled for a few days,” Kamlesh said. He shared that a few days after this incident, they celebrated the festival of Eid and since Shapoorji was older than Asif, he gave Eidi to the director. “Asif asked, ‘How much is it?’ Shapoorji told him it was Rs 1 lakh. Asif said, ‘I will keep one rupee. You take the rest and buy real pearls with it.’”
Dilip Kumar on the set of Mughal-e-Azam. (Photo: Express Archives)
K Asif asked real gold Lord Krishna statue for temple scene
A similar incident happened with a gold statue on set as well when Asif insisted that he wanted a real gold statue of Lord Krishna for Jodha bai’s temple in the film. When Shapoorji asked how anyone would know about the authenticity of gold, since it was a black-and-white film, Asif said, “I don’t care what others find out. I will know it’s fake. I can’t place a fake statue in Jodha bai’s temple.” Here too, Asif won the argument.
Stalled shoot for three days, wanted pomd filled with ‘ittar’
Previously, Karan Johar had also shared a similar anecdote that he learnt from his late father Yash Johar, who was present on the set of Mughal-e-Azam. Talking to Film Companion, Karan shared that Asif once stalled the shoot for three days because he wanted a pond to be filled with ‘ittar’ instead of water. “My father told me about a moment how K Asif announced pack-up because they didn’t have real ‘ittar’ and he wanted real ‘ittar’ in the pond so that Madhubala could give up that close-up as a result of that whiff that she would get. She had to give that whiff to give that beauteous expression,” he said.
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Asif, as per Karan, refused to shoot until the pond was filled with ‘ittar’. “It’s a production requirement, you can’t fill in a pond full of real ittar. They said they would take three days to fill it with ‘ittar’. He packed up and didn’t shoot for three days until that pond was full of ‘ittar’,” he recalled.
About K Asif
K Asif is best known for making this film. He passed away in 1971 at 48. Posthumously, his film, Love And God, was released in 1986. Love And God had a long history of troubled production. It was first being made with Guru Dutt, but was shelved after the actor-director passed away in 1964. 15 years after Asif’s death, his last wife Akhtar Asif, who was also the younger sister of Dilip Kumar, decided to finish this film with Sanjeev Kumar in the lead role. The film released after Sanjeev Kumar’s death in 1985.
