A Bollywood fan can never get enough of Mughal-e-Azam (English: The Great Mughal) , may it be in any form. The original movie featuring Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhu Bala got released in 1960. This period drama showed Salim (Dilip Kumar), emperor Akbar`s son, falling in love with a beautiful courtesan, Anarkali (Madhu Bala). He is determined to be with her, even if it means waging a hopeless war against his father, Akabr (Prithvi Raj Kapoor).

This K. Asif movie took 16 years to see the light of the day after its initial conception. It was plagued by increasing budgets, financial constraints and delays. Mughal-e-Azam had the widest release of any Indian film up to that time, and patrons often queued all day for tickets. Released on 5 August 1960, it broke box office records in India and became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, a distinction it held for 15 years.

Apart from very high production values, this movie is also very popular for its beautiful music by Naushad. It boosts of 12 songs, each one a hit in its own right. The voive for these songs was lent by playback singers including Lata Mangeshkar and classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, and is often cited among the finest in Bollywood cinematic history.

The accolades awarded to the film include one National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards at the 8th Filmfare Awards.

The movie was produced by a business house, Shapoorji Pallonji. And they keep experimenting with this theme at all times. After the Black & White hit, Mughal-e-Azam was the first black-and-white Hindi film to be digitally coloured, and the first in any language to be given a theatrical re-release. The colour version, released in November 2004, was a commercial success.

Now they have come out with a Broadway kind of musical by the same name. It had long been a dream of Feroz Abbas Khan to direct a musical production of Mughal-e-Azam. "I thought this idea would only remain a fantasy," he says.

aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vZW1iZWQvbENSb0NKeHhEYW8= "Even the thought of doing such a thing seemed audacious (since) everyone has such strong memories attached to the 1960 film (starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala). But then I saw the colourised version of the film in 2004, and realised that the entire structure of the film had a very theatrical element to it. I researched and found that the original story had been written as a play, and the film was based on that." With the glamour of Manish Malhotra costumes, technical expertise from Broadway and original hit songs such as Pyar kiya to darna kya and Teri mehfil mein kismet aazma kar, the production promises to be an exhilarating experience.

It came alive on September 16th at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, and it`s appreciated by the stalwarts of the movie industry. The ticket priced from Rs 500 - 10k is being shown till September 24 at New Delhi. Watch audience`s reaction and a few excerpts from this musical.