‘Mughal-e-Azam’s genesis is in theatre’: Feroz Abbas Khan on the grand spectacle’s return to Delhi

As Mughal-e-Azam returns to charm the Capital for one last time, director Feroz Abbas Khan lays bare the emotional and aesthetic nuts and bolts of the grand spectacle

The biggest challenge in performing arts is to reimagine a classic without alienating any section of the audience or actors that drive the story. By freeing the spirit of Anarkali from the iron grip of K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, director Feroz Abbas Khan has achieved the impossible. As India’s first Broadway-style musical returns to Delhi this Valentine’s week to complete a triple century, Khan says he didn’t fall for the “corporate cliches of monetising a film” but sought to “bring the tale back to the stage it belonged with a modern sensibility.

“For me, Mughal-e-Azam’s genesis is in theatre,” avers the master storyteller. 

Inspired by Imtiaz Ali Taj’s play Anarkali, Mughal-e-Azam tells the legend of the beautiful courtesan who falls in love with Prince Salim only to be chained by Akbar, the emperor-father. Khan says that Asif chose to see the story from Akbar’s point of view because he had to sell the idea to a big producer who could bankroll his magnum opus. “The route to find finance for art can lead to fine creative choices. It is said that producer Shapoorji Mistry was a great fan of the emperor and the Persian language. So, Asif sahab told him he would make a film on Akbar. Hence the title, but he found ways to give Salim and Anarkali a voice.”

Khan has given it shape to suit the sensibilities of a new generation, which he feels, connects with the subject in a different way. “While the film is masculine in its tenor, the play is very feminine in its approach. Be it Anarkali, Jodha, or Bahar, the female voice resonates as they don’t hold themselves back. In the film, Jodha is more perfunctory; here it is hard to forget her part. She doesn’t plead, she talks to Akbar. That is why our female fan base is bigger.”

As the 1960 film has become fodder for memes, another challenge for Khan was to turn its declamatory style of performances into a more intimate one. “I conducted a two-week workshop to ‘de-Mughal-e-Azam-ise’ the actors to prevent them from putting imitation of Prithviraj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar on stage.” Written in the form of Parsi theatre, Khan says, it was not easy to take away “the over-the-top-ness” but still retain the “intensity and power” of the spoken word. “Razzmatazz cannot make a show last this long unless the actors and audience are not attached to the story,” he muses.

For Khan, the play’s success reinforces his belief that if you give something of value and quality, people accept it. “It answers those who say the audience has changed. The language is not easy and the play is a bit languid for things don’t explode from the start. Still, audiences have been able to appreciate its beauty and aesthetics.”

Excerpts from an interview: