Unrivalled Grandeur Once Again: ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ Comes to the Stage

If the scale of the movie was huge back in the day, the musical sets a whole new record for theatre production.

56 years after Mughal-e-Azam hit the silver screen, Feroz Khan is back with a broadway-adaptation of the eternal love story. (Photo Courtesy: NCPA)

56 years ago, a man named K Asif released a movie that would become legend, after nine years of crazed attention to detail in the film. Now, Mughal-e-Azam is all set to make a comeback – this time on a stage no less worthy than NCPA, in a format no less intriguing than a broadway-style musical, with attention to detail that would make K Asif proud.

Mughal-e-Azam will premiere on 21 October at the National Center for Performing Arts in Mumbai before traveling across India and the world. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/Mughal-e-Azam)

The casting has been kept under wraps until the release, adding to the intrigue of who will take up the mantle of handsome Dilip Kumar and naive Madhubala. But we are assured that the leads are lookers, dancers and classical singers, at the very least.

Directed by Feroz Abbas Khan, of Tumhari Amrita fame, the play is being produced by Shapoorji-Pallonji, the same real-estate magnet that financed the black and white and technicolour versions of the classic movie when they were originally made. The rest of the team is no less worthy: an Emmy-nominated projection-designer, an award-winning lightning-designer, a set-designer with an established name in theatre in the US – the list goes on.

The Scale of Cinema, The Power of Stage

It all started when Feroz came to me asking for the rights to <i>Mughal-e-Azam</i>, saying he wanted to write a play on the love-story of Salim and Anarkali. I explained to him that those were two very different things. If anyone wanted to make a play on their love story, they didn’t need rights for that. It’s in the public domain. But, that if he wanted to make a play out of <i>Mughal-e-Azam</i>, then it’s a completely different issue altogether, where Shapoorji-Pallonji would have to be involved. Why? Because then it can’t be just a play. There’s a legacy to live up to; the scale, the grandeur, all has to match. &nbsp;

Deepesh Salgia, Director, Shapoorji-Pallonji&nbsp;

What began in the 40s with K Asif watching Imtiaz Ali Taj’s play Anarkali has now come full circle: the eternal love story of Salim and Anarkali has made it back to the stage, for which it was written in the first place. “It was originally written for stage, but Asif sahab saw great potential in the story for a cinematic, grandeur experience. Today, the technology in stage has dramatically increased allowing us to bring the scale Asif sahab envisioned together with the power of a play as a medium, as it was originally meant to be,” says Salgia.

Any attempt at Mughal-e-Azam’s legacy has to be perfect in all aspects for producer, Deepesh Salgia. (Photo courtesy: NCPA)

A Haseen Kaneez and Salim’s Dhadakta Dil: Re-Enacting Heavy Melodrama on Stage

Mughal-e-Azam achieves what it does because of the meticulous effort by K Asif over almost a decade to have the best dialogue writers, singers, musicians, set-designers, costume designers and dancers of the time in India. Logic dictates that Khan’s play follows in the same footsteps.

Take costumes; the original movie saw tailors from Surat and Lucknow for zardozi embroideries, craftsmen from Kolhapur for the crowns and from Agra for the footwear and goldsmiths from Hyderabad for the jewellery. The play’s costumes are being designed by none other than the champion of couture, Manish Malhotra.

The characters’ costumes in <i>Mughal-e-Azam</i> will always be a cult classic and loved by audiences. We decided to reinterpret the outfits, while retaining the authenticity and experience. We used antique elements to depict the period with newer embroidery forms and modern texture mixed together. We went through an extensive research process – from the Mughal era, to the movie along with Feroz Abbas Khan’s vision; all played a significant role in creating these beautiful outfits.

Manish Malhotra, Fashion Designer

The sets are being made abroad in Broadway theatres, and later assembled in Mumbai. (Photo courtesy: NCPA) 

Malhotra’s three to four years of couture work has focused on reviving old structures, patterns and styles that are a blend of old-world charm on modern silhouettes. For Mughal-e-Azam, his team have presented utmost extravagance when it comes to the theatre costumes – a lot of jewelled tones such as shades of ruby red, emerald and royal blue have been used. (Anarkali’s famous light-blue and red costume, anyone?)

For me, the intricacy in each garment has to be authentic. I have been working with craftsmen from different regions of the country for a reasonable amount of time, thus, translating the individual talents from diverse cultures wasn’t as big a challenge as the scale of production was – we created almost 550 costumes for all the characters. The scale was so big, the production for the label had to be put on hold.&nbsp;

Manish Malhotra

What of Song and Dance?

What is Mughal-e-Azam without the daring Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, or the sassy Teri Mehfil Mein? After all, both the protagonist and the antagonist, Bahar, another court-dancer eyeing Prince Salim are supposed to be the most charmed Kathak dancers in all of King Akbar’s land. Close-ups saved Madhubala when she lacked the technique, but that was camera. How does Feroz Khan plan to manage that on stage?

He’s entrusted this responsibility to Mayuri Upadhya, a renowned and passionate dancer based in Bangalore, heading Nritarutya. With six original songs by Naushad from the movie and two new scores, Upadhya’s team has prepared four main choreographies and four smaller dance interludes over the last two months, day in and day out.

For the lead roles, the main criteria for selections were acting skills and extraordinary singing skills. Dancing wasn’t non-negotiable, just as Madhubala in the movie wasn’t shown as a dynamic, overwhelming dancer. There was zero compromise on dancers from day 1. We did months of online video auditions, city auditions across the country, visited several <i>gurus</i> and <i>gharanas</i>, even vetting freelancers for the roles. Out of 120 dancers, we narrowed it down to a final 30 and these 30 dancers have dropped every commitment for the last two months, putting their everything into this play and believing in my imagination.&nbsp;

Mayuri Upadhya, Founder, Nritarutya

“The dresses are so gorgeous, the women refuse to get out of them after rehearsals”: Mayuri Upadhya, Choreographer (Photo: NCPA)

Upadhya is sticking to the classics for this one. She believes that she can still be very strong with her roots of classical dance form while entertaining audiences. It’s only a matter of packaging it in a certain way. Upadhya has made it a point to stick to traditional Kathak throughout the play. The form remains purely classical, merely packaged in a contemporary way for the audiences. “It’s not just about making the audience clap; they have to leave NCPA with a memories to last forever, just like the movie did.”

The weight of expectations from this team in unfathomable. It’s as if they took up this challenge and the rest of us are just waiting to see what they make of it, assuredly impressed and surprised by the level of perfection they’re going for.

Very soon, yeh tamasha muskura kar hum bhi dekhenge.