The Mughal Dynasty in Hindi films

Two incidents happened this week and became the trigger for this write-up. The opinion that India is ruled by "dynasts"  in many fields was aired on foreign soil by a wannabe ruler. 

 Closer home, there was an   edict by an important functionary of the ruling regime to re-write the history to embed in the minds of the pupils that Mughals were bandits and not one who should be held in awe. Re-writing history is tricky since  there is a distinct possibility that different generations will view historical events from different perspectives , widening the already big generation gap. 

However, the mention of the names of Mughal emperors makes one reminiscent of various Hindi films made on the life and times of these kings, who ruled the country for more than years, from Babur to Zafar. 

Today we  check out the Hindi films made as biographical sketches of Mughal emperors, with cinematic license already available with the film makers. Deviating from the usually adopted format of the narrative indexed on chronological release of the films, we follow the history.

The first of the Mughals was Babur, who laid the foundation of the Dynasty in 1526 and ruled for a mere 4 years. But this was enough to have a place of prayer named after him, which led to a lot of events in the country some 450 years after the ascent of Babur ! 

Two films were made with the title of Babur. Shahenshah Babur was a 1944 film starring Sheikh Mukhtar and Khursheed. The music was by Khemchand Prakash. Khursheed was at the top of hr popularity and had the lion's share of the songs. 

Babar was again  the central character in the eponymous  film of 1960. This film had Gajanan Jagirdar and Azra , alongwith Shubha Khote. The musical combination of Roshan and Sahir ensured a melodious score. Sudha Malhotra sang this song written by Sahir, returning the emotional strokes with finesse.

Humayun, the son of Babar ruled for about 25 years in two spells and consolidated the empire , even after setbacks. This laid the basis of a long reign for the future emperor.

The films on Humayun are , understandably, not much. In 1945, there was a film with Ashok Kumar and Veena, named Humayun. Shamshad Begum got the most songs in the film. Ghulam Haider was the music director of the film.

Akbar has been the most celebrated Mughal Emperor.With nearly 50 years of uninterrupted reign and strategic alliances with Rajputs, coupled with a liberal outlook. He is largely considered to be an able administrator and a benevolent ruler.  

No wonder, he has been featured the maximum number of times, whether it is directly or through the legend of Anarkali. An early film was the 1943 film Shahenshah Akbar.

There were two films made on Anarkali and her love story with Jahangir, the son of Akbar. In both these films, the role was Akbar was substantial.

The 1953 film had   Pradeep Kumar and Bina Rai playing Salim and Anarkali. Akbar was played by Mubarak. The storyline of the film was a tussle between Akbar and Nadira ( whom he named  Anarkali, since she asked for a pomegranate as a reward !) . The music of C.Ramchandra was brilliant and had the country swinging to the tunes of 10 songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

The other Anarkali film was the celebrated Mughal-e-Azam, in 1960. Madhubala as Anarkali, Dilip Kumar as Salim and Prithviraj Kapoor as Emperor Akbar etched their names in stone and the film continues to be one of the most popular films, 57 years after its release. The film was converted to colour and very recently, a dance-drama is being show-cased based on the iconic film. 

Naushad's music and Lata Mangeshkar's voice meant that the film had songs which will be perennial hits. Add to that the two songs by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and you have the most perfect casting in not only the acting department but also in the music department.

It was, indeed, very brave of the film maker Ashutosh Gowarikar to attempt a film on the love life of Akbar, showing him in his youth. This had not been attempted earlier, in any detail. Hritik Roshan played Akbar to Aishwarya Rai's Jodha. Akbar was shown in his true glory and his interactions in various matters were depicted with precise details.  A.R.Rahman's music and Javed Akhtar's lyrics made the score of the film popular, in the times of meaningless words tuned to   cacophonic drumbeats.

Jahangir ruled for 22 years, having got the throne from  Akbar. He was known to be interested in art, science and architecture. He was considered a just emperor in the medieval times.  Humayun was known to be a just ruler. it is said that he had a bell outside his palace which anybody could ring at any time and he had a right to be heard. 

Apart from the films made on Anarkali, Prince Jahangir was featured in a film in 1955 called Adle-Jahangir. Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari played the lead.Before that, however, there were two other films: in 1930,  Jahangir a silent film and a talkie in 1933.  Sohrab Modi's Pukar in 1939 also was set in the times of Jahangir (played by  Chandramohan) and Noor Jahan ( played by Naseem Banu).
Adle Jahangir had music by Husnlal Bhagatram and lyrics by Qamar jalalabadi. This song from the film is one of the most melodious ones to have been included in a score

The fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan is one of the most featured royalty, primarily because of Taj Mahal, the monument of love that he made. Shah Jahan ruled for 30 years and marked the beginning of the end, in a way. He had seen the power struggle in his early years and that made him a ruthless ruler. 

Saigal was the first one to play Shah Jahan in the film of the same name in 1946, paired with Ragini. He was the reigning star -singer and dominated the film's music . Naushad's music and Majrooh Sultanpuri's words  were brought alive by Saigal's rendition. 

A couple of years earlier Mumtaz Mahal was the central character in the film of the same name. Khursheed and Chandramohan were the actors.Again in 1957, there was a film, which had P.Jairaj and Shiela Ramani. However, the two films which made history, pun intended, were Taj Mahal ( 1963) and Jahan Ara ( 1964). 

Taj Mahal had Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari and the hit combination of of Roshan and sahir. The msuic was   superhit and the the icing on the cake was this eternal call of love 

 . 

Jahan Ara was about the daughter of Shah Jahan and had Bharat Bhushan and Mala Sinha in the lead roles, the emperor being played by Prithviraj Kapoor. The composer was Madan Mohan and he chose Talat Mehmood to be the singer for the film, against stiff opposition. The quality of songs validated his instincts. 

Taj Mahal was the topic of two other films, one in 1941 and the other in 2005.

Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story was the 2005 film,  made by Akbar Khan. The lead pair ( for Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal ) was Zulfi Sayed and Sonya Jahan, the grand daughter of Noor Jahan. Kabir Bedi played the old Shah Jahan and Arbaaz Khan was in the role of Aurangzeb.
The music was by Naushad, who had been the composer of many of Noor Jahan's songs, bridging the generation gap !

With the ascent of Aurangzeb, music was banned  and therefore, he can never be a topic for a musical. A film named Aurangzeb did get made , but it was about mafia wars in Gurgaon, with the lead mafioso being named after the heartless king.

The last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar had the ignominy of being exiled in a place miles away from his country and even if all the verses attributed to him were by someone else, they echoed his plight so well. The film Lal Qila ( 1960) was based on his life , P.Jairaj playing the role of the Last Mughal.

A sad end to a glorious tale of conquering rulers.