South Asian Business news and information

Rameshwar Dayal Mathur, cinematographer of Mughal-E-Azam, was one of the all time best photographers of Indian film industry. Seeing his interest in photography, his father, Gouridayal Mathur encouraged him to study photography in America. This was unthinkable at that time. The film world was looked down upon by the Indian educated society. Parents could not think of their sons and daughters pursuing  careers in movies.

Shooting the song “Pyar Kiya to darna Kya” in 'Sheesh Mahal' or Palace of Mirrors set was a major challenge for cinematographer R.D. Mathur. I have mentioned earlier that the reflections of the lights from the mirror pieces created lots of problems. R.D. Mathur tried to gather information but he could not find any. After lot of research, he decided to use bounce lighting instead of direct lighting. More than 100 reflectors were hung or suspended. In addition, clamps and hangers of different types were used hide the lights. Two songs were shot in Sheesh Mahal: Jab Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya and Jab Raat Hai Aisi Matwali. The final shots were sent to Technicolor Limited in London for evaluation. The technicians were amazed looking at the shots. After Mughal-E-Azam, R.D Mathur worked in many famous movies but Mughal-E-Azam is considered to be his master piece.    

During the shooting of the battle scenes, R.D. Mathur used eight cameras to capture the shots.

At times more than 100 lights were used to shoot Mughal-E-Azam. The large size of the movie set required such spectacular lighting. The problem was that there were not enough lights at Mohan Studios. So lights were borrowed from other studios. The shooting was done at night and in the morning, the lights were returned to the studios as they needed them to shoot their movies. This was a very arduous task. The crew worked many hours just to shoot two/three shots.

Famous tabla player of India, Ustad Zakir Hussain, said that he was first considered to play the role of young prince Salim. Later, it was played by Jalal Agha.

The heavy iron chains wore by Madhubala in the movie was for real. The heavy chains caused bruises and she was bedridden for sometime. Mughal-E-Azam was Madhubala’s last major work.  

The first generation actor of the famous Kapoor family, Prithviraj Kapoor, played the character of Emperor Akbar in this movie. Before each shot Prithviraj Kapoor used to see himself in a mirror that was equal to his height. When K. Asif asked him why he did so, he replied that he had wanted to get under the skin of the character.

Liked this entry? Then, why not support me? Just subscribe the feed of this blog at free of charge, Please.