K Asif

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From Tailor to Assistant Filmmaker

K.Asif came from a generation of tailors and he practiced the family business but being creatively gifted he decided to come to Bombay and work with his maternal uncle Nazir Ahmed Khan, who was a producer, director and actor.

He began as an assistant director and Nazir was impressed by his creative brilliance which was on lines of genius filmmaker Sohrab Modi. So Nazir gave him the offer to direct his upcoming film Society.

Asif did a great job at direction but during the film’s direction K.Asif got involved in romancing with her aunty Sitara Devi , famous Kathak Dancer and actress  ((Nazir’s wife). This angered uncle Nasir but Asif eloped with Sitara and got married.

K Asif was a romantic by heart

In his short span of life (48 years)  K.Asif married thrice. He was famous as a romantic person and had the infamous reputation of romancing one of his film crew female artists while making a film.

During the making of the film Society produced by his uncle Nazir Ahmed Khan, he eloped with Khan’s wife and heroine Sitara Devi.

 Secondly when he was making his first film Phool, staring Dilip Kumar, he fell in love with Dilip Kumar’s sister Akhtar and married her much against the displeasure of Dilip Kumar.

 While making Mughal-E-Azam, he fell in love with film’s vamp Bahar (Nigar Sultana) and married her.

K Asif makes his first hit film Phool

In 1944 K.Asif proved his mettle as a genius by making Phool, a Muslim social drama with exceptional music by Ghulam Haider and a power packed script by legendary writer Kamal Amrohi.

The highlight of the movie was that it was a huge multi starrer featuring top stars of that era Prithviraj Kapoor, Durga Khote, Veena and Suraiya, Mazhar Khan, Sitara Devi, Yaqoob, Agha.

The movie was a smash hit and was the fourth blockbuster of the mid 40’s.

After the huge success of Phool, K.Asif turned producer and made a film Hulchul (1951). The film was directed S K Ojha.

As usual K.Asif once again brought top stars together in the film. The film had Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Balraj Sahni, Yakub, Jeevan, and K.N. Singh. The movie was an average hit.

K Asif’s Magnum Opus ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ shelved!

With Phool and Hulchul K.Asif had given indications that he was born to make something epic which he ultimately did with his Magnum Opus Mughal-E-Azam. But few are aware that it took 14 long years for K.Asif to accomplish his cherished dream.

Readers may be surprised to know that after 8 reels of the film being complete the movie had to be shelved?

 Why? What happened???

Well to start the film was planned way back in the early 40’s by K.Asif as his most ambitious film.

After 2 to 3 years of work on the script he finally announced Mughal-E-Azam, a love story between Mughal Prince Salim and Anarkali (Court dancer) which is discarded by Mughal Emperor Akbar and it leads to rebel between father and son! 

The initial cast included mega star of 40’s Chandramohan as Akbar, top heroine Nargis as Anarkali and top star Sapru as Prince Salim.

The movie was lunched with much pomp and spectacle as the Greatest Epic of Indian Cinema. However when 8 reels of the film was ready the lead actor playing Akbar Chandramohan died.

When all attempts to search a proper actor to play Akbar failed K.Asif shelved the movie!

K Asif’s revives ‘Mughal-E-Azam’;

but the movie faces another set-back!

Since a lot of money had been drained in publicity and on the filming of 8 reels the film financer kept pestering Asif to revive the film.

Finally K.Asif noticed actor Prithviraj Kapoor and offered him the role of Akbar. But Prithviraj Kapoor in those days was a fit and sturdy person and to look like Akbar he had to gain weight.

Thus he was put on fatty food and made to gain weight up to 120 kg. After 1 year tough schedule when Prithviraj Kapoor was ready in the guise of King Akbar and everything was in place another tragedy stuck.

 The country was divided due to Indo-Pak partition and the film financer went to Pakistan!

K.Asif was left shattered!!!

K Asif starts Mughal-E-Azam afresh with new financer

Since Mughal-E-Azam was Asif’s most ambitious film hence he hunted for a financer and eventually got Shapurji Palanji, an ardent fan of King Akbar, who committed to finance the film.

Thus Asif began the film with a new cast Dilip Kumar as Prince Salim, Madhubala as Anarkali and Prithviraj Kapoor as Emperor Akbar.

 In addition Asif shot the film in new Cinemascope Technology and also shot few important scenes in Technicolor.

Thus now the film was more dazzling, more gigantic and a real Magnum Opus.

Asif left no stone unturned to make the film as superior and as authentic as possible. It is said he was in no hurry and shot every single shot with utmost dedication and perfection.

K Asif last film Love and God

After the mega success of Mughal-E-Azam, Asif made Love and God depicting the spiritual love story of Laila and Majnu.

 He first began the film with Guru Dutt as hero but he expired and then he took Sanjeev Kumar and made the film but before he could shoot the climax he died.

Even the incomplete film was superb hence filmmaker K.C.Bokadia decided to release the film with assistance from Asif’s widow Akhtar Asif.

 The film was released on 27 May 1986 and was widely appreciated for its songs and content.

Awards

President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi - Mughal-E-Azam (1960)

Filmfare Best Movie Award - Mughal-E-Azam (As producer)

Milestones

K Asif made Mughal-E-Azam milestone

 thanks to his eye for perfection

What made Mughal-E-Azam a milestone was K.Asif’s eye for perfection and for that he compromised on nothing and spent money like water.

He had several arguments with financer Shapurji Palanji but after he showed him the canned shot, Shapurji Palanji would applaud him and open his cash reserves. 

Among the many things that deserve mention of his penchant for perfection include pure gold shoes for Prince Salim.

For the war scene he used 56th Regiment of the Jaipur Cavalry, and assembled a battalion of 2,000 soldiers. An Indian army soldier lost his life as did a jawan (foot soldier) in the war sequence shooting.

 Madhubala was chained in original iron chains this despite she was a heart patient.

Asif hired the best of the best craftsman be it the Tailors, goldsmiths etc. In fact he called Rajasthan ironsmiths to design weapons and footwear was ordered from Agra.

The Shesh Mahal was erected at Mumbai’s Mohan Studios and took 2 years to be built. During this time Asif did not went home for a single day. He would sleep on a mat and monitor the details and nuances of each frame of the set. He had called artisans from Firozabad and glass was imported from Belgium.

He hired legendary dancer Pandit Lachchu Maharaj for the dance choreography for the songs Mohe panghat pe Nandlal chhed gao re… and  Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan for the two songs sung by Tansen. For both the artists Asif paid them four times more than their prevailing rate as they did not performed for movies!!!

In nut shell he completed the film in 10 years at a whopping budget of Rs. 1.5 crores (400 crores in present terms).

The movie was biggest office blockbuster and run for 200 weeks at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir Cinema.

Death

He died on 9 March 1971.