ur right m8 possibly just a photo to promote the film the type u see stuck on shop windows or cinema halls i think u know what i mean !!!

Mughal-E-Azam´ - Missing Song Added
By: Abid
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We had told you last week that one of songs ´Mohabbat ki jhooti kahani pe roye´ and a few scenes were not there in the colorised version . Here is an update .

According to our distribution sources , the makers have now added the missing song and a few scenes to the movie from the third week(Friday) in most prints .

"Added" is fine. I hope it's not inserted back in the film by cutting some other segment off, as done during MEA's 1960s vrsions.
Any info on what's the run time for the fullest version of MEA??

I have requested/invited fellas from India, Sanjay etc to comment? but no responce yet!unfortunately!!
it seems every one is trying to get over VZ!

A few interesting excerpts from:

http://sify.com/news/columns/fullstory.php?id=13624256

Mughal-e-Azam has long been the definitive reference for an opulent film, the epitome of the “myth as history” format of Indian traditional cinema of the early 20th century.

the enhancement of scale, using opulence as a virtue of visual narrative, and taking artistic liberties with a published work of literature are all strikingly similar to Asif’s own attitude in Mughal-e-Azam to a story filmed earlier: in 1960, Mughal-e-Azam was a successor to Filmistan’s Anarkali (1953), with both tracing their roots to Imtiaz Ali Taj’s famous play, Anarkali, which is still a text of study in postgraduate courses in Urdu literature.

Mughal-e-Azam is historically inaccurate on several counts, despite dealing with historical characters. Thumri, which is a 19th century musical form, is used along with Kathak and its costumes in a 16th century court. Even the Sheesh Mahal (Glass Palace), the royal bath of queen Noorjahan, has been presented as a huge dancing hall of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. While Anarkali could well have been one of the several nautch girls in the harem, Prince Salim fighting Akbar for her is not part of historical documentation.

The script of Mughal-e-Azam has been written, or rather rewritten, by four writers; emphases were changed from the earlier Anarkali and the scale enhanced to epic proportions, creating a cinematic masterpiece in which myth and history are indivisibly one.

The huge commercial success of the new-fangled dialogue EPs resulted in HMV releasing the entire audio track of Mughal-e-Azam in three LPs. Home video had not been invented,

The coloured Mughal-e-Azam is shorter in duration compared to the black-and-white original. The refurbished colour scheme broadly follows the palette of the Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya song, the only portion of the film originally shot in colour. The technique is amazing: it manages to create tones on a grey monochrome range, although the colour schemes fall short of a full classical depth and flair.
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(I have read it many times recently that PKTDK was the only MEA song picturized in color. This is contrary to what I saw in the 60s where the Sheeshmahal song (where Madhubala tricks Dilip Kumar to drink that makes him unconcious, near the end of the film) was in color too. It may very well be that PKTDK was the only MEA song shot in color and the other reels of MEA were artificially colored back then??)

A few more comments from the same web page:

At the end of the day, however, it is open to debate — and it should be debated — whether classics should ever be redone and/or retouched, even by their own creators. In their original forms, they are major milestones in the evolution of an art form, and afford perspectives to a growing artistry that the deepest of contemporary studies can scarce provide.

But for an unashamedly commercial art form like Hindi cinema, the search for a moneymaking enterprise may serve up some more made-up versions of old classics, much like parading grandmothers in beauty pageants with cosmetic enhancers. One hopes it doesn’t start a trend. (It’s a likely fear — after all, Bally Sagoo’s remix of Chura Liya Hai Tumne, created a bigger market run for remixes than for new music. On the other hand, remixes also reintroduce older melodies to a new generation.)

Today, when there has been horrendous damage done to our nation’s history in school books, and with all manner of censorship raising their heads, it’s not comforting to think of an Awara or a Do Beegha Zamin or a Kagaz Ke Phool in colour — despite all the visual benefits, that would amount to a mutilation of the history of Indian cinema, leaving no scope for later “detoxification”.

Sorry for not responding sooner but I have been away from Zulm and away from films for a while, busy with work out of town. Anyhow, I finally got around to seeing Mughal-E-Azam two days ago, which makes it during the fourth week of release and one song and apparently some scenes were still missing from the film. As much as I enjoyed watching the film, I was still quite dissapointed by the fact that the distributors have butchered a classic by deleting scenes and a song and the cropping of the film from top and bottom to make it widescreen is nothing short of a sin. The framing of scenes has been totally destroyed by the cropping and in some scenes it was unbearably painful to watch Prithviraj Kappors Lips moving while everything from above his lips are cropped and this in a scene in which the focus is Akbar. The so called restorers should have had the sense to atleast pan & scan the frames as per the demands of the scene. Instead of all the credit these idiots are getting, they ought to be shot for destroying a classic. By the way the coloring job also in my opinion is not too great. The colors are too garish for my liking.

MEA is being shown as forthcoming films at Albion-Woodside in Toronto.

Good news that finally, it's showing in the overseas.

Too bad, it's not showing in main stream theatres.

For it's technical acievements in restoration and coloring, I expected it to be shown in main stream theatres, Film Festivals and competitions.

Al Pacino's tryst with Madhubala

Hollywood star Al Pacino is likely to attend the London premiere of Bollywood epic Mughal-e-Azam .

London-based business tycoon Akbar Asif, the son of late K Asif who made the movie, has managed to convince Pacino to attend the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall.

Pacino evinced interest in the film after newspapers compared it to the Hollywood classic Benhur for its panoramic setting and spectacular filming. It also received praise for the fact that inspite of the limited financial and technical resouces available to Indian films in the 1960s - when Mughal -e-Azam was orignianlly released.

Celebrities from Mumbai will also fly down for the premiere, the first for a film at the imposing auditorium.

will film be playing in regular theatres too? dates any one? details?

http://www.albioncinemas.com/woodside/Soon.asp
At Albion-Woodside in Toronto, it's starting Jan 7, 2005. Albion Woodside, normally start showing Indian Films as they start showing in the US-Canadian Indian Theatres.
So, expect Jan 7 at most Indian Theatres in US-Canada.

Don't know, if it will make it to main stream theatres on Jan 7 or later/ earlier, if at all??

Thnx for your kind info rana!! I wish to see it!

Anyone know if it will be playing in the New York area?

Initially, Albion site had Jan 7, 2005 as starting date for M-E-A. No MEA yet. Albion site still has MEA as forthcoming films. No idea, when will it really make to the big screen in Toronto/ US/ Canada.

Any further news about MEA grand premier in UK that Al Pacino was to attend??

Will MEA release in North American theatres at all??

This is what Albion site says now:

http://www.albioncinemas.com/woodside/Soon.asp

Mughal-E-Azam

We are not sure as of yet if Mughal-E-Azam will be opening up in theatres in North America.
Because the movie is already on DVD no distributor has yet bought the rights to the movie
We will do our best to bring it to Albion and Woodside if the movie does release in theatres