Mughal-e-Azam () is a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

-style

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

based on the 1960

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film of the same name, directed by

K. Asif K. Asif (born Asif Karim; 14 June 1922 – 9 March 1971) was an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who is known for his epic film, ''Mughal-e-Azam'' (1960). Early life Asif was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India to paren ...

and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. The musical was directed by

Feroz Abbas Khan Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like Mughal-e-Azam, ''Saalgirah'', ''Tumhari Amrita'' (1992), ''Salesman Ramlal'' and ''Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi''. Car ...

and produced by

Shapoorji Pallonji Group Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited, trading as Shapoorji Pallonji Group, is an Indian conglomerate company, headquartered in Mumbai. It operates in construction, real estate, textiles, engineered goods, home appliances, shipping, pu ...

. Based on the love story between Mughal Prince Salim and courtesan Anarkali, ''Mughal-e-Azam'' portrays the conflict faced by Mughal

Emperor Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

: his responsibility towards the future of his empire and his duty as the father of a beloved son. It was the first large-scale Indian Broadway-style musical, and was in production for ten months. The show was well received by critics in the media and entertainment industry. In 2017, it won seven out of the fourteen BroadwayWorld India Awards including Best Play, Best Director, and Best Costume Design.

Plot

In the era of the Mughals, Emperor Akbar's desire of a son is fulfilled when his wife, Jodhabai, gives birth to Salim, who grows up to be a spoiled brat filled with disrespect and self-indulgence. Consequently, he's sent off to war in Akbar's army and returns as a reformed person with perseverance and discipline fourteen years later. Salim, now a young man, falls in love with Anarkali, a lowly courtesan. Bahar, a dancer who covets the love of the Prince, is filled with jealousy upon discovering the secret affair and exposes it to Akbar. The emperor, full of royal pride, vehemently disapproves of the relationship and imprisons Anarkali, which leads Salim to declare an open rebellion against him. The war between father and son changes the lives of everyone in the empire threatening the foundations of the Mughal rule in India.

Background

The 1960

film was inspired by a play called '' Anarkali'', written in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

in 1922 by dramatist

Imtiaz Ali Taj Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj ( ur, ; ; 1900–1970) was an Pakistani dramatist who wrote in the Urdu language. He is remembered above all for his 1922 play ''Anarkali'', based on the life of Anarkali, that was staged hundreds of times and was adapted ...

had wanted to recreate the film onstage since he saw the

black-and-white film Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a grayscale, range of shades of gray, shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology imp ...

re-released in colour in 2004. In a 2017 interview, Khan said he hadn't wanted to do an imitation of Asif's ''Mughal-e-Azam'', but rather "pay a tribute to K. Asif sahab". For him, the play was “an interpretation; carrying the legacy forward in a different medium.” Prior to ''Mughal-e-Azam'', Khan was known for minimalistic productions like ''

Tumhari Amrita ''Tumhari Amrita'' is an epistolary play directed by Feroz Abbas Khan. Its original cast includes Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh. Inspired by ''Mughal-e-Azam'', he approached Shapoorji Pallonji Group to get the stage rights. The current CEO and director of

, Deepesh Salgia, agreed on the condition that the play kept up the tradition of the film and provided creative consultancy for the production. According to Salgia, after the colourisation of the original black-and-white movie, the company was looking for new ways to promote the film. The musical retained

Naushad Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...

’s soundtrack and

Shakeel Badayuni Shakeel Badayuni (3 August 1916 – 20 April 1970) was an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter in Hindi / Urdu language films. Early life Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Mohammed Jamaal Ahmed Sokhta Qadir ...

’s lyrics from the original film, along with two newly composed songs. The songs are sung live by the singers on stage to a pre-recorded orchestral and choral score. The play is in both the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindi language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

s, with LED screens displaying English

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

of the dialogue.

Production

The technical team included

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

-winning light designer David Lander;

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-nominated John Narun for projection design, who has previously worked on

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

’s concerts and productions at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

; and production designer Neil Patel, a recipient of the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

and

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

, who recreated the design of Emperor Akbar's '' Sheesh Mahal'' (mirror hall) on set. Bollywood designer

Manish Malhotra Manish Malhotra (born December 5 1966) is an Indian fashion designer, couturier, costume stylist, entrepreneur, filmmaker, revivalist based in Mumbai, India. The founder of the eponymous label, Manish Malhotra, he has been deeply entrenched in ...

designed over 550 costumes and

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Mayuri Upadhya recreated the dance sequences from the film for the play.

Cast

Mughal-e-Azam recruited a cast and crew of over 350 people, including 30 classically trained

Kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

dancers who had been living and training in Mumbai for three months. Since the lead actresses had to both sing and dance simultaneously, two actresses — Neha Sargam and Priyanka Barve — played the part of Anarkali alternatively. Theatre actors Nissar Khan, Syed Shahab Ali, and Dhanveer Singh played the parts of Akbar and Salim respectively. For special show in Singapore Theatre actor Harsh Jha essayed the role of Salim The part of Jodha Bai was played by

Sonal Jha Sonal Jha (born 29 July 1971) is an Indian film and television actress. Sonal Jha is best known for her roles in films such as ''Lipstick Under My Burkha'', ''3 Storeys'', '' Chillar Party'' and TV Serials such as '' Na Aana Is Des Laado'' and ...

. Yudhvir Ahlawat played the part of Young Salim. Rajesh jais & Tareeq Ahmed Khan played part of Sangtarash/Narrator, and Palvi Jaswal essayed the role of Suraiya. Durjan Singh was portrayed by Chirag Garg and Amit Pathak alternatively. Mughal e Azam Musical in Delhi

Reception

The premiere public shows of the musical were held at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre. The musical had 57 shows in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, and one successful season in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. The premiere of the musical in Delhi was attended by Union Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley Arun Jaitley (28 December 1952 – 24 August 2019) was an Indian politician and attorney. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Jaitley served as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of the Government of India from 2014 to 2019. Jait ...

, Information and Broadcasting and Textiles Minister

Smriti Irani Smriti Zubin Irani (''née'' Malhotra; born 23 March 1976) is an Indian politician and a former television actress and producer. She is a Minister in Union Cabinet of India since May 2019 currently administrating the Ministries of Women and C ...

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways cu ...

, and

Jyotiraditya Scindia Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia (born 1 January 1971) is an Indian politician who serves as the Minister of Civil Aviation, a position his father also held from 1991 to 1993. He also heads the Ministry of Steel. He is a Member of Parliament i ...

. Bollywood actresses

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fil ...

and

Hema Malini Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successful ...

, and directors

Karan Johar Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several s ...

Ashutosh Gowariker Ashutosh Gowariker (born 15 February 1964) is an Indian film director, actor, screenwriter and producer who works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema. He is known for directing films "set on a huge canvas while boasting of an opulent treatment". His is ...

, and

Gurinder Chadha Gurinder Chadha, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in the UK and ho ...

attended the last show of the musical at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre in Mumbai. In her review of the Broadway-style musical, Eshita Bhargava of the

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

called it “an audio-visual extravaganza that will be a joy to behold”.

Rishi Kapoor Rishi Raj Kapoor (4 September 1952 — 30 April 2020) was an Indian actor, film director and producer who worked in Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry base ...

, a

actor and the grandson of actor

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

who played the role of Mughal emperor Akbar in the original film, tweeted “I don't have enough of adjectives to describe it. This will play forever.”

, Bollywood director and actor, tweeted “Mughal-e-Azam, the musical play, was a spectacular throwback to the legendary film; the team and director Feroz Khan have excelled themselves.” ''

The Quint ''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...

'' called it “Indian theatre’s coming of age”, “succeeding in giving the audience its own, new set of timeless memories”. In her theatre review of

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

, Purvaja Sawant stated “the live performances of 'Mughal-e-Azam's hit songs transport you back to a nostalgic era, one you don't want to come out of.”

Awards

Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical won seven trophies, including the Best Indian Play, at the Broadway World India Awards 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical 2016 musicals Indian musicals Musicals based on films