One of the most expensive films of the Indian film industry was “Mughal-E-Azam.” Normally, Hindi films are made with a budget that the producer/s work out to be commensurate with the “selling” of the film in various “territories” and music revenue, etc. But “Mughal-E-Azam” was made for a sum three times that the film at that time could earn before release because the writer, director and producer was K. Asif, who had a vision for the subject and made it with expensive sets of “Sheesh Mahal” and other sets of king’s royal chandeliers and dresses unheard of. Luckily, he had got a financier, the great tycoon Shapoorji & Pallonji, who believed in K. Asif’s dream and spent money like water.
There is a very famous incident that shows why Shapoorji Pallonji took the risk with K. Asif. During the making of the film, one of the most expensive sets of the film, “Sheesh Mahal,” was destroyed in a fire, and the film was stalled for some time, as the financier rightly refused to spend a fortune on the making of “Sheesh Mahal.”
So, after a year or so, Dilip Kumar told Shapoorji that in 2 days it is K. Asif’s birthday, let’s go and make peace with him and start the film. So, Shapoorji Pallonji made two actresses dress up in “Kaneez” and went with a huge round thali filled with precious gems, fruits and a car as a gift and wished K. Asif birthday wishes.
But K. Asif embraced Shapoorji and said, “Take back everything, just give me a birthday gift I need — ‘Sheesh Mahal.’”
So, Shapoorji saw the passion and devotion of the man and thus the great “Mughal-E-Azam” was completed.
The film was a huge success and, if calculated as per today’s revenue, the 3.5 crores it earned initially would translate to 1300 crores for the first 3 months.
After “Mughal-E-Azam,” K. Asif had another ambitious project, “Love and God,” starring Guru Dutt and Nimmi in 1963, but sadly, in 1964, Guru Dutt died and shooting stopped. He recast Sanjeev Kumar and started the film, but due to financial problems, the film had to be stopped.
In the late 60s and early 70s, there was a very successful film financier who was instrumental in completing many big-budget films. His name was G. N. Shah. When he learned that the great K. Asif was looking for finances, he approached Sanjeev Kumar and set up a drinks and dinner to meet with the legend.
Now, G. N. Shah was just tasting success and wanted to impress the legendary K. Asif. In those days, there was a bottle of whisky of 5 litres, and it was mounted on a trolley, and the mouth of the bottle had a “Peg Measure.” So, G. N. Shah asked his staff to bring in the trolley and measure pegs in 3 glasses and offer K. Asif.
As soon as the peg was poured, K. Asif got up and told Sanjeev Kumar, “Let’s go.” Sanjeev Kumar and G. N. Shah were shocked, as they both knew how desperately K. Asif needed the funds, and asked him, “Sir, have a drink, and then talk business.”
K. Asif replied:
“Jo aadmi sharab bhi maap ke pilata hai, woh K. Asif ki picture kya finance karega.”
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