Entertainment Desk: The Mughal-e-Azam movie was released 64 years ago, i.e., in 1960. The dialogues, songs, and sets of this movie are still unmatched in the history of Bollywood. According to many trade experts, ‘Mogul-e-Azam’ remains the highest-grossing film of all time in Hindi film history even today, adjusted for inflation.
The rebellion of Shahzada Selim and the incomparable beauty of Anarkali made the film a ripe place in history. It is the most expensive Indian movie of that time. The movie starred Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote. One of the popular songs of this Mughal-e-Azam movie is ‘Peer Kiya To Dorna Kiya’. Even today, the appeal of the song Masterpiece has not faded at all. There is a very interesting story behind the creation of this song.
The song ‘Peer Kiya To Dorna Kiya’ was shot at Mohan Studios. The musical set was modeled after the Sheesh Mahal of the Lahore Fort. The huge set was 150 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 35 feet high. It took two years to make this set of songs. And the song cost more than 1 crore rupees. At that time, a Hindi movie could be made at a lower cost than this.
The director and composer of the film were so serious about the song that after many edits, the song got its final form. Composer Naushad finally liked the lyric after lyricist Shakil Badayuni cut it about 105 times. Naushad chose legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar to sing the iconic song.
Naushad wanted an ‘echo effect’ in the song. But at the time there weren’t enough sound effects to add echoes in post-production. However, later composer Naushad came up with an idea. He arranged for Lata Mangeshkar to sing the song in the bathroom of the studio, creating an echo. All this effort was not in vain. After its release, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ became a blockbuster and won a place in the hearts of the audience forever.
