Dilip Kumar and Madhubala fell deeply in love when they first met each other on the set of the 1951 film Tarana. Soon afterwards, director K Asif cast them as Salim and Anarkali in his film Mughal-E-Azam, but Dilip felt that Asif’s intentions were not all that honourable during the making of the film. In his autobiography, Dilip spoke about the announcement of the film and how Asif was “ecstatic” with all the noise that Mughal-E-Azam was making from day one. He also shared that Asif interfered in his relationship with Madhubala, and even advised her on how she could get Dilip to make a commitment.
In ‘Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow’, Dilip wrote that there were many rumours about his and Madhubala’s relationship in the early 1950s, which is perhaps why the film’s announcement made “sensational news.” “It was not anticipated or planned that it would be in production for such a long period as it was and Asif was aware of Madhu’s feelings for me because she had confided in him during one of their intimate talks. And, he was equally aware of my nature as a man who made no haste in taking critical personal or professional decisions,” Dilip wrote, and added that Asif started encouraging Madhubala to get him to make a commitment. “He took it upon himself to act as the catalyst and went to the extent of encouraging her in vain to pin me down somehow. He went on to advise her that the best way to draw a commitment from an honourable and principled Pathan, brought up on old-world values, was to draw him into physical intimacy,” he wrote.
In hindsight, Dilip understood that Asif was doing the same thing that any other director would have done after he had cast two actors who were known to be emotionally involved with each other. “I feel he did what any selfish director would have done for his own gain of creating riveting screen chemistry between actors who are known to be emotionally involved,” he wrote and added that Asif even tried to “mend the situation” after Dilip and Madhubala’s relationship started to fall apart.
Dilip also revealed that Asif did not want to cast him as Prince Salim at first because he wanted someone who looked a little older. Dilip shared that Asif had first started working on this project in 1948, and recalled, “He said he liked everything about me but he felt I was rather too young to play Prince Salim at that juncture. He remarked: ‘You have the royal bearing of a prince but I want an older look.’ I told him he was right.” DK Sapru was cast instead, but that version was shut down due to financial crisis.
A few years later, when Dilip was a bigger star, Asif approached him again. This time, Dilip knew that he could not expect anyone’s help to work on the character, not even his director. “To cut the story short, I think I more or less succeeded in approximating my get-up and screen persona of Prince Salim to the picture I had formed in my mind. I knew at the very start of the project that I was not going to get much help from Asif. He had numerous concerns to deal with as the director and in his typical manner he laughed away my worries saying: ‘Just be yourself. You are Prince Yousuf’,” he wrote.
Mughal-E-Azam is still remembered as one of the most celebrated films of Hindi cinema. During the filming of Mughal-E-Azam, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala broke up.
