Revisiting Naya Daur's purana memories
MADHUBALA, who was cast opposite DILIP KUMAR in BR CHOPRA's iconic film, shot a few sequences before pulling out of the project; now, film-maker RAVI CHOPRA will release a book containing those unpublished stills
Prithwish Ganguly
g_prithwish@dnaindia.net
On the occasion of film-maker BR Chopra's 95th birth anniversary in April 2010, his son Ravi Chopra will release a book containing a few unpublished photographs of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. However, the clincher is that the photographs are from the film Naya Daur. So now you may be wondering that what Madhubala has got to do with Naya Daur; the film starred Vyaijayantimala opposite Dilip Kumar!
But fact is that Madhubala was the original choice to play the lead role opposite Dilip Kumar in the iconic film. The reported lovers had even filmed portions of the song Maang Ke Saath Tumhara together. However, post that Madhubala pulled out of the project because her father Ataullah Khan objected to the film. That's when Vyaijayantimala got on board. BR Chopra even sued Madhubala for the cash advance she had received from him. This soured relations between Dilip Kumar and Madhubala. Dilip Kumar even testified against her as Chopra won the lawsuit. This incident formally ended their much talked five-year-old relationship.
Ravi Chopra said, "This limited-edition book will release next year. It will be distributed to people in the film industry and will also be available to those outside the fraternity. The book will have unpublished records that my father wrote in his diary while making his movies and how he perceived and went about filming particular projects. Many unreleased pictures from his films will also be a part of this book."
He added, "The surprise element of the book is definitely his anecdotes from Naya Daur. The movie caught the imagination of the people and media when it brought Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, who were supposedly seeing each other at that time, to work together. Then, it created more attention when Madhubala had a fall-out with my dad and he took her to court. Dilip Kumar and Madhubala had only filmed for a couple of days in which they shot for the song Maang Ke Saath Tumhara. We have visuals of this song and I will have these never-released pictures in the book for the world to see how Dilip and Madhubala looked together in that movie. The movie went on to become a great hit but sadly Madhubala wasn't a part of it anymore and Vyjayanthimala did a superb job. My father's accounts while making this movie will be put beside these photos."
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Dilip+Madhu love life
Dilip first met Madhubala on the sets of Jwar Bhata (1944) and worked again in the incomplete Har Singaar (1949). It was Tarana (1951) that saw their relationship take off In 1955, their public show of association as Madhubala walked in with Dilip for the premier of his film Insaniyat (1955) made headlines. The movie in which they scorched the silver screen was K. Asif's epic romanceMughal-e-Azam.