How a tailor made the greatest movie of all times in India
K.Asif will always be an inspiration for directors to come and dreamers to keep dreaming. If a tailor for Ittawa of UP can do it. Anyone can do it. It’s the madness that keeps you going.
I read Danik Bhaskar regularly and I have been reading it for six years. In the past six years, I read extensively to see if there are any articles about movies or management. Any reader knows the name of N. Raghuraman. He writes about management and the film critic Jai Prakash Chouksey who writes with DB star Bhaskar. Sunday, we read Rajkumar Keshwani's column Apki ki baat. He invariably had insights about songs from the first ’50-’70s songs in Indian cinema and their writing and execution process. I had little or no plan about his work and the accomplishments he had within the field of journalism that I ought to realize when he passed on to the great beyond of covid complications. I even have scanned several articles about him and the way he did the role of whistleblower in the Bhopal gas tragedy and predicted the disaster however nobody listened and was a key person in conveyance to justice to the folks and created an effect together with his journalism and was awarded for it too. I wasn’t awake to this aspect of him. He did some greats within the field of journalism and his books and insights concerning cinema are going to be cherished forever. One such book is Dastan- e- Mughal- e -Azam by him that brought the making of the film to the readers in an epic book.
I took the 10th exam in 2014 When Richard Linklater’s "Boyhood” had released and the news that it took more than 12 years to make this movie, made me shocked and pleasantly surprised. It is hailed as a master movie and is widely acclaimed, and is listed as one of the best movies ever. Later I saw Richard Linklater's work when I was in love. If you have ever been in love and found Boyhood an average movie then "Before Trilogy" which is a must watch
Now let’s talk about the person I actually have written the title about. This person has been constant in my readings, while I was reading about Guru Dutt, he had mentioned him a great deal of times and was in awe of his works. Similarly, while I was watching Tigmanshu Dhulia’s interview on ScoopWhoop, he had mentioned him in the40th minute of the interview. The person I'm talking about is the director who took sixteen years to finish the greatest film of India Mughal-e -Azam, Karimuddin Asif referred to as K.Asif, educated until class fifth and trained as a tailor who was mad with films and needed to make one and changed the course of Indian cinema. while I was reading Dastan-e- Mughal -e -Azam, I found several instances of his greatness and his love of cinema and madness to inform stories that apparently, I share that too.
Mughal-e-Azam is a milestone in Indian cinema both technically and aesthetically, and today films don't have the aura and the same canvas that K. Asif could have in his time. However, we have this canvas in Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ashutosh Gowarikar movies, but K. Asif's madness is nowhere to be found.
There is no mention of Anarkali in history, whether she really exists or not, but Asif's films identified her as an immortal figure in Indian cinema. Asif was born in 1922 in the same year that Imtiyaz Ali Tajj published "Anarkali" the play which inspired the film in Ittawa district of UP, a prophecy that made this play immortal in history. Taz's work in 1922 was way ahead of the time and it' adaptation into play was a difficult task back then. Many people tried to adapt this play into movies among them were Praful Ray and Charu Ray who was working on a mute film based on it called “The love of a Mughal Prince". However, they were outpaced by Ardeshir Irani, who made the first talkie film in India, "Aalam ara" he followed the same idea and released his own movie Anarkali, staring then star Sulochana as the lead, which was released 7 days earlier than his later counterparts.
Asif's father was Dr Fazal Karim, and his mother, Gulam Fatima, was a housewife. He was not very interested in studying and was sent to live with his mamu, Nazir Ahmad Khan, who was a small-time actor and film producer and brought a tailor shop for Asif to work in Bombay. For K.asif this didn't last long since he had an affair with one of his clients and this threatened his mamu reputation so he brought him into movies to look after him which was the ultimate goal of Asif. He would tell people about his vision for Indian cinema even when was a tailor. His mamu eventually took him to the movies, and in 1943 he started as an assistant director of the movie Salma. At the age of 21, he directed Pukar based on the script of Kamal Amrohi (one of the co-authors of the dialogue of Mughal-e-Azam), thus making his directorial debut. Kamal Amrohi was one of the greatest screenwriters and directors in India). Asif's first movie was a multi-star, all outstanding actors of the time: Prithviraj Kapoor, Mazhar Khan, Ashraf Khan, Durga Khote and Suraya, who were rare together in the movies that time came together. His debut film had new perspectives in terms of shot division and cinematography. A pullout from the top shot he used in this film is very relevant in his magnum opus during the fight sequence between Akbar and his son Salim.
In a mere coincidence, on October 12, 1945, the production process of the movie Mughal-e-Azam began at Bombay Talkies on my birthdate. In the initial film, Anarkali was to be played by Nargis, Sanjay Dutt's mother, and Akbar was to be played by Chandra Mohan. The 1945 version had a different story than that of the later release. During the partition, Jinnah's close ally, film producer Shiraj Ali Hakim moved to Pakistan, the project was shelved, and K.Asif's dream came to an abrupt end.
The veteran actress Durga Khote in her book "I Durga Khote" wrote that when the set was dismantled, several trucks were needed to move things, and 10 trucks were used to take away the footage of the film, which is enough to understand the canvas of the film .
In 1952, when K. Asif regained his old dream with the support of the new producer Shapoorji Palanji Mistry, he faced several failures. His protagonist Chandra Mohan (playing Akbar) died unexpectedly. While other actors became less relevant to the casting apart from few names such as Durga Khote who was playing the role of Maharani Jodha Bai, the entire casting was new. In the new cast, Prithviraj Kapoor as Akbar and Dilip Kumar was chosen in the role of Salim. He was rejected in the previous version of the film. In an interview, Shah Rukh said that his father had auditioned for a role in a K. Asif movie, but was Rejected. Asif's knew who would know who were fit for the role. After many actresses rejected the project, Madhubala was taken as Anarkali. Madhubala's father who was her manager too had conflicts with Dilip Kumar due to the romantic affairs of Madhubala and Dilip Kumar who didn't approve of their relationship and remained always present during the shot, sometimes creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. K.Asif gave his PRO a sum of money, asked him to lose to Madhubala's father who was a gambling addict until they were shooting an intimate scene where his presence created discomfort to the leads.
Prithviraj Kapoor was an accomplice in K. Asif’s commitment to his work. While he was struggling with the swelling of his legs and had asked Asif to replace him. In counter to his request, Asif said, “I cna’t imagine anyone other than you playing Akbar and ordering the crew to pack up and wait for him until he is better. Such was his associations with his actors, an unsaid commitment and understanding. An excellent example of his detailing can be understood when he halted shooting for 4 months for Salim (Dilip Kumar's wig) which were to come from England.
He had such a self-belief in his art and understood his potential that when took his debut film script to Manto, who was his friend for a review. Manto after reading replied.” Bakwas hai”. Knowing that he Still made the film and it was a super hit. He had such a belief in him even after having no formal education in cinema. He was driven by his urge to tell stories.
He understood his actors terribly well. in an exceedingly shot wherever Akar was to Shoot on hot sand, Prithviraj Kapoor was very uncomfortable with it. For his comfort, he told him he’ll stay within the hot sand too till the shot is completed so did, he. In my personal experience once we create films it’s almost about the character it’s about quite them, more than characters it’s emotions and other people who express themselves and until they feel you're there for them and perceive the process it isn’t an expected result. Those films lack soul. Asif ordered Shoe prices of Rs 4000to be worn by Akbar that were even not visible within the shot by cameraman R.D Mathur who was the cinematographer of the film and had informed about it too. Contrary to his belief he told him he's Akbar even his shoes don't seem to be in Frame he is Akbar.
