Director K. Asif's epic "Mughal-e-Azam", which gained a fresh lease of life after it was restored in colour last year, is set to get a US premiere at a film festival next month.

The film will be premiered at the Writers Guild of America theatre in Beverly Hills during the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles March 17, the event's organisers said.

"The grandeur of the film can now be seen in true colours, wide-screen format with the classical music in true digital surround sound," the organisers said in a statement.

The new colour version of "Mughal-e-Azam" received favourable reviews on its release in India last year and has done good business, completing 100 days in 14 cinemas across India.

During the period it was being made -- 1951-60 -- colour film technology arrived in India. Director Asif then decided to shoot one reel in colour.

Impressed with the results, he re-shot the last three reels in colour and was so excited with the colour portions that he wanted to re-shoot the whole film in colour.

But this was not possible and the film was released in 1960, 85 percent in black and white and 15 percent in colour.

The original production company, Sterling Investment Corporation, undertook the task of restoring the film and colourising it.

The original music composer, Naushad Ali, was retained to recreate the background score and songs using original Hindustani classical musicians.

The film, starring Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraj Kapoor and Durga Khote, now has a seven-track score but its aesthetics have been untouched.