Actually it is not as simple, by turning down the colors on your display you lose a lot more than just the colors. You lose contrast and grey shades, resulting in a very poor quality b&w image.


Very well said. In my opinion there is no other way to watch this film but to watch the original. The cropping and cutting (editing) of the film was a crime in my opinion that only someone as stupid as the Bollywood guys could have done. The entire cinematography of the film was screwed up due to the cropping and the entire framing of scenes looked bad and some scenes looked outrightly atrocious. To think that this so called 'restored' version will be the only exposure that some from the west will have of an Indian clsssic, I am sure they will have a good laugh at our expense thinking that this is how all Indian cinematography is. Hollywood has done numerous restorations and even colorizations but never have they cropped and edited the film. If anyone were to to even attempt such a thing with a classic of the standing of Mughal-E-Azam, there would be such a hue and cry. But in India, not a word about this was said by a single person from the industry or the media. In fact, in Hollywood restorations generally involve adding previously unseen scenes, while Bollywood goes and chops of parts of Mughal-E-Azam. It is like over ruling the final cut by K. Asif as if these so called restorers know more about the film than K. Asif's vision for the film. For me the most sorry part of this whole thing is that K. Asif's own son was involved in mutiliating his father's crowning glory.

I personally don't have any objections to colorizing of films, although I feel in the case Mughal-E-Azam the colorizing was horrible. The colors were simply put, garish and gaudy. They even ended up screwing the original color portions in an attempt to match it with their sorry effort. Why they did not do it the other way around, is something I fail to understand. I also don't have a problem with the new 'Surround Sound' mix of the soundtrack, not that it made much difference anyhow. How I wish they had simply taken the original b&w version and just restored that without any cropping and editing.

Same message!! consistent with my views!!

Before Video arrived:
I have seen B/W prints of color films in the past. B/W prints of originally color films were really unwatchable, where as, B/W prints of B/W films were just fine. (B/W film prints used to be 1/4 the price of a color film in those days).

Eros cover and disc;





..nicked from the usual place

Also got an spam type email from Shemaroo about their version of the DVD which is also out;



http://shemaroo.com/online/product.asp? ... 140&sent=2

Ali

Yes Khuda nigheban..is not listed but is there towards climax!

Picture pretty blurry at times, shaky too!! plus some and lot other anomalies!

Now I saw the whole film!!

Imho, Film belongs to Anarkali and Akbar e azam!! Fantastic performances by Pritvi Rajkapoor and Madhubala!!

Noticed it just now - no award for Naushad now that is LAME

I have not listened to Dil Apna Preet Parayee ..., but i cant see how it can surpass the music of MEA.

Yeah, but it's a pretty bad quality DVD nonetheless.

Indeed thats the bottom line!

Are you referring to the old B/W Shemaroo Mughl-e-Azam DVD or the new Shemaroo DVD or the EROS DVD??

It'll be interesting to see how Shemaroo DVD turns out. Potenetial for excellent DVD from Digital restored PC version is there but is Shemaroo competent to make use of that?? At least, their publicity department is not. Shemaroo is claiming 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio. WHY?? Prestigeous to claim rightly or wrongly 2.35:1??
http://www.shemaroo.com/online/product. ... &sent=DVDS

Mughal E Azam – COLOUR - DVD Special Features:
This consist of 2 DVD discs

DVD 1 - The Film

Subtitles in English, Gujrati, Tamil, Telugu & Bengali.
16 x 9 Anamorphic Widescreen DVD (2.35: 1 Aspect Ratio)
5.1 Dolby Digital Sound
Digitally Mastered from the Original Film
All regions DVD
Interactive Menus of Scenes & Songs for easy access
DVD 2 – Bonus Features
The Grand Premiere - When the New Mughal E Azam was unveiled
Stars Speak – Eminent personalities speak about this epic saga
How It Happened – Colourisation Process – The technology behind the making of a dream.
Deleted Song – Humhe Kaash Tumse
Theatrical Trailer


http://www.indiafm.com/scoop/05/jun/2706mea/index.shtml
Royal messenger delivers Mughal-e-Azam DVD

By IndiaFM News Bureau, June 27th 2005 - 1700 hrs IST


During the Mughal era the royal messages were sent through the kingdom's messengers in the form of 'shahi paigaam' i.e. a scroll of royal paper where the Emperor's message was inscribed. Even as Shemaroo releases the color version of Mughal-E-Azam DVDs and VCDs it adapts the same royal approach of the Mughal era in presenting the DVD and VCD.

Shemaroo sends a Royal Messenger with the regal splendor of the Mughal era to present the magnificent DVD of Mughal-E-Azam to a select few. The messenger dressed as a soldier from the Mughal era reads out a shahi paigaam in Urdu handing out the DVD. We at IndiaFM were one of the few privileged ones to receive a DVD from Shemaroo in such a regal way.

The Mughal-E-Azam DVD comes in a special collector's item twin CD pack. While the first DVD is on the film, the second comprises of additional bonus features like a Deleted song, Star Speak on the movie, Premiere of the film and a Behind the Scenes look.

It looks like the special features are the same in the Eros and Shamaroo DVDs (looking at the specs). I wonder if disc one is also the same?

The colorizing process also require changes to the contrast and brightness.



In the 1960s there was a 70mm cropped re-release of Gone with the Wind, and I believe that a few old 1.37:1 films here and there were shown with some masking. But they would never do that nowadays. India is at least 40 years behind in this mindset. And colorization is not popular anymore in HW. Let a film be of its time. No need to "enhance" it other than restoring the original quality.

I think it will be same like Baghban, eros vs shemaroo..that i personaly still prefered zeros version!

The old black and white DVD.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0054098/dvd
How is the Eros DVD? From the digital masters or telecine from a print?

crap from original crap, remastered crap

I browsed through extras, that seems to be better quality than movie it self(ironic).

Song, Hamaen Kash tum se, is included and it looks FABULOUS!! Colors and prints(not garish).

BTW! Can some one confirm that towards climax, at flower sniffing scene, the dancer is LACHHU JI MAHARAJ him self!! Jalva Afroz hotte haen