“Dilip Saab was very supportive and among prime reasons that we took up this effort ” - Deepesh Salgia 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, December 11, 2004 - 02:48 IST
Three odd weeks after Mughal-e-Azam struck gold at the box-office and project-controller Deepesh Salgia is a proud man. This IIT alumni is now basking in the stupendous success that the classic has cut. IndiaFM does a post-release take on this Madhubala-Dilip Kumar story of doomed love where the astute Salgia reflects on the mountain challenges that he braved, the roadblocks in colorization and on why decided to swim the tide…
With Mughal-E-Azam you have created history. The first B&W film to be colorized for a big screen release, how does it feel looking back?
Shapoorji Pallonji group has always felt that K. Asif's great work of art was an unfinished agenda and our endeavor was to complete it. While I was in IIT Madras, colorizing technology had arrived in Hollywood. I had then thought to myself that if there were one film that I would want to colorize, Mughal-e-Azam would have to be.
As fate would have it, I joined Shapoorji Pallonji and was asked to manage Mughal-e-Azam copyrights and then the project happened. While Hollywood is still talking of colorizing films only for a TV/DVD quality output. Mughal-E-Azam, the biggest film of Indian cinema had to be seen in color on big screen and so the project that I was planning three years back, was never undertaken ever in the world. It now gives me a great feeling and no doubt an achievement for lifetime. People say that sometimes dreams turn into reality, for me it was a thought that became reality
The film was a huge risk that Sterling took. How does it feel now that the box-office is smiling?
Indeed it was a huge risk! For starters, we were working on a technology that was being tried for the first time in the world. The financial risk was not that big because we at Shapoorji Pallonji looked at Mughal-e-Azam as a capital investment that would yield returns for many years. But the biggest challenge to me was to ensure that the brand equity of Mughal-e-Azam doesn't dilute.
With cynics sniggering about leaving the masterpiece untouched, did skepticism ever seep into you?
Mr. Dilip Kumar, Mr. Shashi Kapoor and Mr Naushad supported me all through with this idea. In fact, Mr. Dilip Kumar's persuasion and insistence was one of the biggest reasons for our foray. Also, everyone knows that it was Mr. K Asif's dream to see this film in colour.
With the original creators and artists of the film wanting to see the film colour and the fact that the whole project being executed by the original production company, Sterling Investment Corp Pvt. Ltd and the original music composer Mr. Naushad Ali, there is no reason why a third party should have a problem with this achievement.
A huge responsibility, was there any moment when you were tempted to bunk the plan?
I am so passionate about Mughal-e-Azam that there was definitely no way I could run away from the dream project. But I must also candidly admit that had I known all the problems beforehand, it was possible I may not have started the project. Once I took the dip I knew I had two options, either to swim or sink, I chose to swim.
A common complaint was that a couple of scenes and songs were chopped. You have now re-added them, but why did the omission happen in the first place?
When Mr. K Asif had launched the film, he too did not launch the film with all the songs (though the songs were already recorded and shot before the release of the film). The songs were later added when the film was accepted by the public. We just followed his strategy.
1˝ years to create the technology and another 10 months to complete the process. What are the hurdles that you faced during this period?
Anginat! (Read many). Colorizing Mughal-E-Azam means adding close-to-original hues to grand sets, rich costumes, exquisite jewelry, intricate zari work and fine mughal embroidery, which is a Herculean task. The biggest task was to get studios for the variety of tasks involved i.e. restoration, colorization and final color balancing and all in India, preferably Mumbai and the same with sound too.
Coordinating with all of them for common standards was also a big challenge. But what helped me was that all of them shared the same passion that I had for the project. And this is just the tip of an iceberg…
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