The dancer at the end is Gopi Krishna ... Ravi Shankar ka bhai! The one from Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje.

thanks, so indeed only survivors are Dilip sahab and a gumnam taxi driver some where, and ofcourse Naushad sahab too!

I saw names of Tabassum and Jagdeep in the titles/credits of MEA. Can anyone figure out them in the movie?
Who acted as sister of Anarkali - is she Baby Tabassum?

and Jagdeep was shahi darmiyana, aka Karan Johar

Is this topic beaten to death already??

Having seen MEA in 1960, Shemaroo B/W DVD, colored pirate MEA DVD, EROS colored DVD, 1980s VHS, I have lot more to add:
-Evidence of excellent work that we in North America have not seen yet.
-Run time descripencies.
-EROS DVD encoding.
-Is EROS DVD PQ better or theatrical screening. My PQ quality rating is 6/10 and 1/10 for the two versions. What's the potential if done right??

If enough interest, let me know and we can revive this topic.

I still have some interest in this thread! Would like to hear more about your views on this subject Rana.

My experience with MEA is this:

1) Seeing it in the cinema in the 1970's
2) Owning 2 different shoddy 'cut-to-shreds' VHS versions
3) Owning a copy of the excellent Channel 4 broadcast of the movie (in the 1990's)
4) Owning the Shemaroo DVD of the original version
5) Seeing the BFI restored version in the cinema
6) Seeing a very bad quality screening of the colourised version in the cinema
7) Ordering the EROS DVD to see if it is better than the cinema screening!

So far my best experiences have been seeing MEA on channel 4 and seeing MEA in the National Film Theatre (restored version by the BFI).

The BFI were planning on releasing this version on DVD but they did not get the rights for the DVD, although they still hold the rights to show the original version in the cinema. The restoration work that they have done is not a complete restoration ... the film still suffers from the shakes when seen in the cinema ... but some parts of the new print look very fresh.

Some extras from the DVD, thanks to Arsh;















Ali

Thanks ali bhaii!

this is one shit dvd!!

You finally got it RIGHT! faddy!!

Looks like the topic is active again.
Here is my 2 cents:

I compared this shot to exact same shot from old B&W Shemaroo DVD. Zulm screen shot and Power DVD frame are exact same size. Color version has top and bottom of picture out of the B&W picture cut off, as MEA restorers had claimed. There is no difference in the picture coverage on the sides.

So, people who saw restored MEA in 2.35:1 saw it 45% cut off from top/ bottom. Those who saw in 1.85:1 saw it about 30% cut off from top/ bottom or 30% squished vertically.
Recall, I said in one of earlier posts that the theatrical version that I saw had vertically squished picture and was 1.85:1. Looks like North American prints fitted 1.6:1 picture on sostware to 1.85:1 frame instead of cutting top/ bottom.

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Even though EROS DVD PQ is bad, it's orders of magnitude better than the theatrical print that I saw. Perhaps, they blew up DVD low resolution image on to 35 mm film and also framed it improperly.

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EROS DVD is PAL to NTSC (or 25 to 60 converted) converted Field Averaged. Coloring process was done on computers and done frame by frame. It must have been better than 640x480 resolution. Whatever info was created by computer, could have given an excellent DVD (may be even an HD-DVD) if done properly.

Well, rana!! Whatever!!!!!

This film of this magnitude and the way RESTORATION/RECOLORATION hype was created!!

It came out as a POOR DISAPPOINTMENT in the incompetent hands of Indian Technology gurus!!


So why to waste to restore!

I think, problem was in North American prints only and not in India. Coloring is fine. I'm sure MEA theatrical showings in India were excellent. Or else every one is blind?? I did not hear a single negative comment from Indian reviewers.

And it continues:

http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/0 ... ilip~Kumar

ROYAL MESSENGER visits Dilip Kumar
By Nitin Sethi, Bollywood Trade News Bureau
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Dilip Kumar & Saira BanuDuring the Mughal era, the 'Shashi Paigaam' or the 'Royal Message' was sent with pomp to deliver a message from the Emperor himself. Over four decades after the release of the historic Mughal-E-Azam, the one and only prince Salim i.e. Dilip sahab was once again presented with a 'Farmaan'. This time the occasion was the release of the colour Mughal-E-Azam DVD and VCD by Shemaroo Video. In an innovative presentation, Shemaroo's 'Royal Messenger' visited Dilip Kumar at his residence, read out a 'Farmaan' in Urdu announcing the release of the Mughal-E-Azam DVD and took the honours in presenting a copy to Dilip sahab.

For a movie that has been so widely written about and appreciated, Shemaroo Video decided to execute a clutter-breaking idea that was both innovative and novel in its presentation.

Notably happy on receiving the colour Mughal-E-Azam DVD copy, Dilip sahab and Saira Banu relived the nostalgia of the movie's black-and-white and colour premieres and how times had changed since.

Dilip Kumar & Saira BanuMughal-E-Azam has been one of most talk and written about films of our times yet the facts never cease to fascinate. Here are some interesting bits on Mughal-E-Azam.

- Mughal-E-Azam was made with a budget of USD 3,000,000 in 1960. The cost of average Indian film in 1960 was USD 200,000.

- The 'sheeshmahal' song 'Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya' cost Rs.1.5 million (when a film would be made for less than a million) this song is considered as one of the best picturised song in Indian cinema.

- In the shooting of war scenes 2000 camel, 4000 horses and 8000 jawans of the Indian army took part. In the war scenes real soldiers, horses, cavalry from the Indian army was used. This was obviously to create a real-war effect. Such a thing is rare in today's films. The above was arranged through a special permission from the ministry of defense. The Jaipur regiment of the Indian army was used for this purpose.

Dilip Kumar- In 1976, the first telecast on Amritsar Doordarshan result in all flights from Karachi to Lahore booked for 15 days (Lahore could receive signal from Amritsar). All TV shops in Lahore were out of stock.

- One week before the film was to be released when the window were opened for advanced booking, there were an estimated 100,000 people at Maratha Mandir before the first public show in Mumbai the film was booked advance for seven weeks. On august 5, 1960, Mumbai, Maratha Mandir cinema witnessed one of most exotic film releases ever staged in India. For the 9pm premier the foyer was decked out to resemble a Mughal palace, the invitation were designed to look like royal scroll, and the cans of film were brought to the theatre atop a caparisoned elephant. The 1,100-seat hall was packed with the cream of the Hindi film industry. Simultaneously released in 150 theatres across India. Mughal-E-Azam was the costliest film ever made in India until then and went on to become the most successful longest running film.

- 1981-2001: various people including artists of the approach to colourize the film.

Dilip Kumar & Saira Banu- In 2002, Shapoorji Pallonji engaged Indian academy of art and animation to develope execute colorization technology, for 35 mm and to suit the complexities of Mughal-E-Azam. The task was completed in 2003. The colourized version hit the theatre in 2004.

- The coloured of the costumes in the song 'Mohe Panghat Pe...' have been inspired from Geet Govindam of Jaidev and Kangra paintings.

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Has India gone blind and deaf or we got faulty prints and DVDs here in North America??