India's costliest film premieres this Friday Wednesday November 16 2005 15:52 IST
IANS
MUMBAI: Akbar Khan's extravagant take on the Shahjahan-Mumtaz Mahal romance, "Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story", hits the screen this Friday with model-actor Zulfikar Sayed and legendary singer Noorjehan's granddaughter Sonya Jehan in the lead roles.
Khan takes on the difficult task of illustrating one of history's most talked about romances on the silver screen in a movie said to be the costliest Indian film ever made.
His "Taj Mahal" is not just the story of a mausoleum; it also shows the trials and tribulations of a royal family lusting after power. Quite a few attempts were made to translate the epic romance on screen, but only Pradeep Kumar starrer "Taj Mahal" (1963) could hit bull's eye.
Set in the 17th century, the film revolves around Mughal emperor Shahjahan and his family driven by overpowering passion of love and hate.
Amidst burning ambitions, a power struggle and a dark conspiracy, the budding romance of the two teenagers blossoms as Prince Khurram goes on to ascend the throne as Emperor Shahjahan. The relationship between Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan lasted 19 long years, until 1631 when she passed away giving birth to her fourteenth child.
Deeply struck by this tragedy, Shahjahan devoted 22 years to perpetuate her memory with an elaborate marble mausoleum called the Taj Mahal. When he died, his body was interred alongside hers.
Kabir Bedi plays the aged Shahjehan and Manisha Koirala etches the role of his devoted daughter, Jehan Ara. Arbaaz Khan plays the ruthless Aurangzeb who kills his own brothers and imprisons his father to acquire the throne.
Besides them, Pooja Batra will be seen as Noor Jehan, the clever empress who is Shahjahan's stepmother. Kim Sharma plays her daughter in the film.
Music, of course, plays a crucial role. And to strike the right chord, the director has teamed up with Naushad, one of the greatest music directors of Indian cinema to score the music for this classic love story. Naushad has churned out some great hits like "Anmol Ghadi" (1946), "Baiju Bawra" (1952), "Mother India" (1957) and "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960).
One hopes that Akbar Khan succeeds in portraying the outrageous opulence of Mughal empire that witnessed the greatest love story of all times.
So far no historical romance has been able to match the phenomenal success of K. Asif's magnum opus Mughal-E-Azam. The coloured version of the film was re-released last year to great acclaim.
Let's see if "Taj Mahal" can repeat the magic.