Fact-O-Meter: Did You Know? Mughal-E-Azam Was A Trilingual Film But Its English Version Was Never Released

Whenever we talk about milestones in Indian cinema history, the first name comes to our mind is of Mughal-E-Azam. Featuring Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar, the film is still considered as the best in the period drama genre.

Directed by K. Asif, Mughal-E-Azam was released in 1960. Surprising it may sound, but the work on the magnum opus was started in 1944, 16 years ago its release. The film faced too many hurdles but finally made it to the big screen, to become a cult classic. Right from the dialogues to the songs, every aspect of this epic still has a special place in the hearts of film lovers. The film also has some interesting facts and most of them are very well known. But today we’ll be taking a look at one fact, which is not known to many.

Unknown to many, Mughal-E-Azam was shot in three languages- Hindi, Tamil and English, making it a Bollywood’s first trilingual film. Unfortunately, unlike the Hindi version, Tamil version flopped miserably at the box office. Such an unexpected failure prompted the makers to drop the idea of releasing the English version. Also, there was a plan of releasing the film’s dubbed version by roping in the British actors, which too eventually went on a backburner.

It is learnt that the print of the English version of Mughal-E-Azam doesn’t exist anymore.

Speaking about original Hindi version, Mughal-E-Azam ended up collecting 6 crores in India. The film enjoyed a theatrical run of 3 years at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir.

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