Mughal-e-Azam

Mughal e Azam film poster for sale.

Featured here is an old Bollywood poster of the epic 1960 Hindi black and white film that is unanimously considered as one of the greatest Indian films ever made.

Directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji under the Sterling Investment Corporation banner, Mughal-e-Azam (1960) starred Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraj Kapoor and Durga Khote in key roles. Nigar Sultana, Ajit, Johnny Walker, Jalal Agha and Baby Tabassum played supporting roles in the epic.

Mughal-e-Azam (1960) told the story of Mughal Prince “Salim” (played by Dilip Kumar) who falls in love with court dancer “Anarkali” (played by Madhubala) and wants to make her his queen. The relationship is disapproved by his father, King “Akbar” (played by Prithviraj Kapoor), leading to a war between father and son.

Mughal-e-Azam has the distinction of being the most expensive Hindi film ever made in Indian cinema. It is consistently ranked in polls as the greatest Hindi film ever made in Indian cinematic history. The film held the coveted title of ‘highest grossing Hindi film of all time’ for a full 15 years after its first black and white release in 1960, making this Bollywood poster, highly collectible!

This Mughal-e-Azam film poster was originally designed and printed for publicity of the film during a subsequent theatrical release (somewhere in the 1980s) but never ended up being used.

Originally designed using an over-painted technique of painting over still photographs, this old Bollywood poster features striking artwork.

“Emperor of Acting” Dilip Kumar is seen hugging Bollywood’s eternal beauty queen, Madhubala in a striking illustration at the center. A stunning photograph of the interior of the royal palace is seen in the background. Smaller close up photos appear in boxes on the bottom left and right respectively, depicting Madhubala in chains and Prithviraj Kapoor in his royal attire as king.

The lettering used in this old Mughal e Azam film poster is primarily in English, with the title translated to both Devanagari Hindi as well as Urdu. The main English title of the film appears in red in an eye-catching cinemascope font at the bottom.

Mughal-e-Azam (1960) is the first full length black and white feature film in the history of Indian cinema to be colorized for a theatrical re-release. The film’s color version was released theatrically on 12 November 2004, with a digital reworked soundtrack.

A milestone in Indian cinema, the soundtrack album of the film is credited as one of the best in the history Bollywood and continues to be played till today. The film ranks on the lists of top Indian films, including the 2002 British Film Institute poll of “Top 10 Indian Films.”  The soundtrack album of the film was composed by legendary music director Naushad and lyrics were written by Shakeel Badayuni. “Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya” sung by Lata Mangeshkar has become an eternal classic, which continues to be played till today.

At a vintage Bollywood movie memorabilia auction in September 2014, the original first release two sheet as well as three sheet Mughal-e-Azam posters were consigned by Indian Hippy – Bollywood Movie Posters. The two sheet sold for $3,721.18, while the three sheet Mughal-e-Azam poster sold for $4,232.84. Combined together in one single lot, the two original Mughal e Azam posters were sold for $7,954.02 to the biggest superstar of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan. The auction established a world record of most expensive unsigned vintage Bollywood poster lot ever sold, which remains unbroken till today.