The date that epitomised love with ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ and ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’

August 5, 1960, the day that changed the dynamics of Indian Cinema. The day when we witnessed the most iconic film ever produced by Bollywood. ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ made it to the theatres on this day. The eternal love story of Salim and Anarkali got embossed on the hearts forever. Emperor Akbar became the ultimate enemy of love, and the film went on to become the most appreciated piece of cinema, till date.

Prithviraj Kapoor essayed the role of Emperor Akbar while Dilip Kumar made up for Salim. Beautiful Madhubala immortalised the character of Anarkali with her utmost grace and talent. Directed by K Asif, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ witnessed the hardest of times. The film took almost 16 years to make, with riots and India-Pakistan partition bringing a halt in the shooting of the film. Later, with a completely new cast and producer, K Asif started the shooting of the film once again in 1950. This film proved to be a milestone in every star’s filmy career. It gave much-needed boost to Madhubala’s Bollywood journey while it also established Dilip Kumar’s strong hold in films. From the cast to the music to historic drama, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ proved to be a game changer in various ways. Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan brought this film to life with their songs and four highly learned Urdu writers wrote dialogues for this film. ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, indeed was a cinematic landmark that had its glory registered for years to come.

Talking about glory, another iconic film released on August 5 and that was Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit’s ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’, in the year 1994. The love saga between the dashing Salman and pretty Madhuri tickled the every chord of our hearts. The family drama had best of cast, best of music and best of box office collection. One of the highest-grossing movies of all time, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’ was a remake of Rajshri’s own movie ‘Nadiya Ke Paar’. The movie brought fresh air in the form of family drama and romance and was loved by all and sundry.

It has been 23 years that this film released, but even today, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!’ is the love story that every individual would want to have.

Nikita Thakkar

A strongly opinionated, free-spirited, budding Bollywood journalist, she likes to write anything in her own quirky style. When not running around to get assigned tasks completed, you will find her either painting, indulging in photography or dreaming in the la la land.