Tuesday, July 19, 2005

The great Mughal

"Lekin teer calate vakt tu khamosh kyu rahi?"

"Kaneez dekhna cahati thi ki afsaane hakeekat me kaise badalte hain."


("Why were you silent when the arrow was shot?"
"A humble maid servant, I wanted to see how fantasy is transformed in to reality")


After seeing Mughal-e-azam innumerable times in black and white, I finally saw the digitally colorized version last night. Fantasy had finally become real for me, and I loved what I saw in color. It was not what I had imagined it to be, it was better!

And who can forget the music, Naushad's pinnacle of achievement? The only time Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan would ever sing for Hindi cinema.

I'm going to spend the day listening to the soundtrack again. You can listen to it as well, here.

I wish the rerelease that came to cinemas in Seattle for a week, a couple of months ago (when I was buried in work) had come at another time.


"Parda nahin jub koye khudah se, bando se pardaa karna kya?
Jab pyar kiya to darna kya"

7 comments:

Jabberwock said...

My purist rant on the topic is here:

http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2004/10/colour-con.html

Having said which, 1) I still haven't seen the computer-colorised version, so strictly speaking I shouldn't be passing judgement, and 2) I concede that there is a case for colorisation if the director of the film originally wanted to shoot it in colour but didn't have the option of doing so.
But generally speaking I'm still very squeamish about computer-colorisation.

Michael Higgins said...

Hi Sunil
The issue of computer colorisation is controversial because in general, the studios picked costumes and sets so they would look good in black and white, and colorisation produces some odd colors.

The movie above looks interesting. I wonder if my wife ever saw it.

Anonymous said...

Sunil, to me the idea of digital colorization is the visual equivalent of remixing songs. what more can I say?!

Sunil said...

Well......I know must purists would hate the idea of recolorization, but I tried to watch it like a new movie (pretending that I hadn't seen it a thousand times), and I loved it. It hadn't lost any of the grandeur (to me).

But I'm always an eager and early technology adopter.....so......:-)

Suhail said...

I had the pleasure of catching up the colour version with one of my best friend at Eros(Bombay). And one thing was confirmed: The term, 'bewitching smile/beauty' fits like a T on Madhu Bala. Btw, after hearing them umpteen times, the jugalbandi of "Teri Mehfil Mein Qismat"...wins over "Pyar kiya tau darna kiya" (Sigh! ..ducking for cover)

And guess what, I've still not watched the B&W in full :(

Sunil said...

Totally Suhail......the jugalbandi rocks...

"kanto ko uljhane ka khauf nahi hota"

Sunil said...

that should be kanto ko murjhane....