Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story (2005)

Director:

Akbar Khan

Writers:

Mohafiz Hyder (dialogue)
Akbar Khan (written by)

Release Date:

18 November 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

An eternal love story

Plot:

The story of Shah Jahan...the love of his life...the life of his love...and his monument to love, the Taj Mahal.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Death | King | Indo Pak | Mausoleum

Cast

Zulfi Sayed	...	Shah Jahan - young
Sonia	...	Mumtaaj mahal
Kabir Bedi	...	Shah Jahan - old
Arbaaz Khan	...	Aurangzeb
Pooja Batra	...	Noor Jahan
Milind Gunaji
Vaquar Sheikh	...	Darashiko
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sonya Jehan	...	Arjumand Bano / Mumtaz Mahal
Arbaaz Ali Khan	...	Emperor Jahangir (as Arbaaz Ali)
Negar Khan	...	Princess Kandahari
Manisha Koirala	...	Princess Jahan Ara
Kim Sharma	...	Laadli Begum

Runtime:

164 min

Country:

USA | India | Pakistan

Language:

Hindi | Urdu

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | DTS

Certification:

UK:12A

Company:

Mashreq Communications Limited

Trivia:

For the sequences where Shah Jahan kept looking at the Taj Mahal from his chamber, a miniature model of the Taj was created to get the right perspective for the actor and the cameramen. The difficult part was calculating the distance between the Agra fort and the Taj, as that would determine the Taj's size as seen by Shah Jahan. There was an idea to use the original Taj Mahal, but the idea was scrapped due to the difficulty of finding locations. Besides, in the film the Taj is newly built and shining white, whereas currently the Taj, due to age and acid rain, has a distinct yellowish hue.

Soundtrack:

Taj Mahal

Naushad's Brilliant Score Makes Taj Mahal Great

I saw Taj Mahal on opening night here(Nov. 18) at the Naz8 in Lakewood,California.The film had many flaws in the writing and in some of the performances.Akbar Khan did not present it in dynamic, powerful,cinematic terms.He treated it a though he was making an expensive TVserial.But what makes it eminently watchable even as cinema are the two actors who play the lead roles.Sonya Jehan and Zulfikar Sayed have lived up to expectations.Here credit must be given to Akbar Khan who has taken this bold step of introducing new talent in lead roles.But the greatest credit Akbar deserves is for bringing back India'greatest composer the legendary Naushad.His music(both in the songs and the background music) is superb.I intend to see this movie again and again just because of its music.And that is why I have given it a 10.Naushad's earlier hits like Anmol Ghadi, Baiju Bawra, Mother India,Uran Khatola and Mughal-E-Azam(to name just a few) had twelve songs each. I wish Taj Mahal had the same number.If Akbar had done this TajMahal, with all its flaws, would have been the biggest hit of all times.Even now numbers like Ajnabi Thero Zara,Mumtaz Tujhe Dekha and ApniZulfen will carry Taj Mahal far.