Mughal-E-Azam

I genuinely love the movie "Mughal-E-Azam" - I appreciate that some might regard it as the American movie critic Manny Farber used to call "a water buffalo film," but I would strongly disagree with such a position.  This is, in so many ways, a big film that treats a grand topic grandly, as it were.  This movie depicts the story of the love between Prince Salim and a young woman named Ararkali, a lower-class girl/a dancing girl/a courtesan(as the box would have it)/whatever.  As the British rock song goes, ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't've fallen in love with?  The results of this love for both people are catastrophic with the state itself shaking with the reverberations of their passion.  The actor playing Prince Salim is fine with his best moment acting when he is just back from the wars as a young man.  In that scene, he projects someone who has seen and done too much and has been tempered in a pool of blood, so to speak.  For me, the greatest performance is that of the actress playing Anarkali.  Even under the worst of circumstances, she looks positively radiant and capable of causing all the fuss she causes, in effect.  An underestimated performance is that of the gentleman playing the role of Emperor Akbar - a performance full of grand gestures, affronted dignity, imperial outrage and yet genuine parental tenderness.  He really is splendid here. When father and son face off on the battleground, the effect seems positively Oedipal, if you'll forgive my putting it that way.  The battle scenes are magnificent.  The supporting performances are often just as good as the leads.  I know these days there is a prejudice against 'big' movies, but there is something to be said, I think, for someone who goes for broke.  The copy of this movie I saw was colourized.  Frankly, I would just have soon seen it in its original format.   To be sure, the colourization has been handled sensitively and tastefully.  Is this what the original director would have wanted, as we're assured by the movie company?  Who knows?  Regardless, one should see this film.  If the colourized version is the only one you can get, I'd still go for it.  I've only recently started immersing myself in the world of Indian cinema.  I hope I haven't said anything too giggle-provoking for you Bollywood hardcores out there.  This is a deliberate attempt at a blockbuster.  If you recoil from the very idea, you'll probably be turned off.  But if you watch this with an open eye, there is a lot, I think, to reward you.  That is my take, anyway...Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada