23 july 2013 madhubala biography

Hindi films from Bollywood are often deemed lowbrow and vulgar. For decades, young middle-class movie buffs in India have been brought up on this truism. Just as they have been led to believe that there can be no decent romance in languages other than the Queen’s English, or that only the Punjabis get it mostly right in matters of food, mounting of gala weddings and defying families in matters of heart.

It is therefore time to go against the tide of public opinion.

Calendar july 2013

For starters, let us look at the very concept of vulgarity. The term ‘vulgar’ comes from the Biblical fold and it literally means ‘of the people’ — hence the term Vulgate’s Bible.

So if Mughal-i-Azam is vulgar, then so be it.

Why should we hesitate from asserting that the romantic musical still remains shamefully close to many Indians across generations. Mughal-i-Azam, a timeless musical from the 1950s, a romantic veritable Midsummer Night’s Dream, took K.A.

Asif a decade to make and has been on every Indian movie love