Mehboob Khan made ‘Mother India’ by taking loan from Nargis: Hollywood filmmakers had sent him an invitation, made fun of him for not knowing English

Today is the 60th death anniversary of producer-director Mehboob Khan who made a cult film like ‘Mother India’. This film was a remake of ‘Aurat’ made in 1940 under the direction of Mehboob Khan himself. Producing this film was no less than a challenge for Mehboob Khan. When Mehboob Khan was finalizing the star cast of ‘Mother India’, the first name in his mind was Dilip Kumar, but the film’s actress Nargis objected to it. When the film’s budget increased, Mehboob Khan took a loan from Nargis and completed the shooting. This film showed the way to Oscar, but it lost by just one vote. Mehboob Khan was not very educated. Therefore, he was very weak in English. After ‘Mother India’, once he got an invitation from America that some big Hollywood filmmakers wanted to meet him. He became nervous at the mention of going to America. He asked Dilip Kumar to accompany him. Some big Hollywood directors came to meet Mehboob Khan in America. They would ask questions to Mehboob and Dilip Kumar would answer them. After a while, Mehboob Khan started feeling that these English people were not taking him seriously and were making fun of him. He got angry and immediately left from there taking Dilip Kumar with him. After this, he decided that he would never work with the Hollywood people. At the age of 16, he ran away from home to Mumbai (Bombay) to become a hero. Born on 9 September 1907 in Bilimora, Gujarat, Mehboob Khan’s real name was Ramzan Khan. Mehboob was fond of becoming an actor since childhood, but his father was strongly against it. He was so fond of films that at the age of 16, he ran away from home to Mumbai (Bombay) to become a hero. His father brought him back from Mumbai to Bilimora and got him married, so that he could give up his dream of becoming a hero and settle down, but something else was written in his fate. After coming to Mumbai, he got the job of nailing horseshoes in a stable. After marriage, when Mehboob Khan came back to Mumbai, he got the job of nailing horseshoes in a stable, but he had not given up his dream of becoming an actor yet. One day, Mehboob Khan went to the shooting of a South Indian film to fix horseshoes. There, he talked to the film’s director Chandrashekhar about acting. Chandrashekhar gave Mehboob a small job in Bombay Film Studio. After doing a few small jobs, Mehboob also got a chance to assist in films during the silent film era. Played the role of one of the forty thieves in ‘Alibaba and Forty Thieves’. During the days when Mehboob Khan was struggling for acting, for the first time he played the role of one of the forty thieves in the film ‘Alibaba and Forty Thieves’. This film was released in 1927. Mehboob Khan was selected to play the hero in ‘Alam Ara’ In 1931, Mehboob Khan was selected to play the hero in Indian cinema’s first talking film ‘Alam Ara’, but the film’s producer-director Ardeshir Irani thought that for the film’s success, it would be better to give this role to an established actor instead of giving a chance to a new artist. He gave Master Vithal the opportunity to work in this film instead of Mehboob Khan. After this, Mehboob Khan joined Sagar Movietone and played small roles in many films, but did not succeed in acting. When Mehboob Khan’s career did not work out in acting, he thought of trying his luck in direction. In those days, he was also working as an assistant director in films. Mehboob Khan got the opportunity to direct independently in 1935 in the film ‘Al Hilal’ (Judgement of Allah). This film was based on the background of the war between Arabia and Rome, this film was liked by the audience a lot. Success from ‘Ek Hi Raasta’ After ‘Al Hilal’, Mehboob Khan directed films like ‘Manmohan’, ‘Jagirdar’, but these films were not very successful. After this, in 1939, Mehboob Khan directed the film ‘Ek Hi Raasta’. This film was made on a social background, the audience liked this film very much. After the success of this film, Mehboob Khan succeeded in making his place as a director in Hindi cinema, but in 1939, due to the Second World War, the film industry had to face a lot of financial loss, due to which the financial condition of Sagar Movietone also became very weak and the studio had to be closed. Established ‘Mehboob Khan Production Limited’ After Sagar Movietone, Mehboob Khan directed excellent films of National Studio like ‘Aurat’ in 1940, ‘Behan’ in 1941 and ‘Roti’ in 1942, but Mehboob Khan did not like this studio for long and he established his own production ‘Mehboob Khan Production Limited’. Under his production banner, he produced films like Nazma, Taqdeer in 1943 and Humayun in 1945. The film ‘Anmol Ghadi’ released in 1946 proved to be a superhit film. In the 1949 film ‘Andaz’, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis worked together for the first and last time. After this, after films like ‘Aan’ and ‘Amar’, Mehboob made ‘Mother India’ in 1957 and this film proved to be a milestone. Mehboob Khan established Mehboob Studio in 1954. ‘Mother India’ was shot here. This studio is one of the most popular studios in Mumbai. Nargis refused to work with Dilip Kumar When Mehboob Khan was finalizing the star cast of ‘Mother India’, the first name in his mind was Dilip Kumar, but the film’s actress Nargis objected to it. She said that she had played Dilip Kumar’s lover in so many films that people would not be able to accept her in the role of his mother. Mehboob Khan understood this and cast Sunil Dutt in place of Dilip Kumar. The film was completed by taking a loan from Nargis The budget of the film ‘Mother India’ was initially 25 lakh rupees at that time, but gradually its budget started increasing and the funds available with Mehboob Khan started running out. Then he asked Nargis for help to complete the film. Nargis had become a big actress by that time and she was also in a position to help Mehboob Khan. Mother India, the first Indian film to pave the way for Oscars, was a blockbuster after its release. This film is considered a cult film of its time. At that time, a special show of this film was held in Rashtrapati Bhavan for President Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and many other leaders. This film received two National Awards. This was the first film to be sent from India for the Oscar Awards. The film ‘Mother India’ did not get the Oscar Award due to one vote The film ‘Mother India’ lost the Oscar Awards by just one vote. At the Oscars, it had a close competition with the Hollywood movie ‘Nights of Cabiria’ which emerged as the winner. Actually, nobody made it clear to the selectors how much an Indian woman is devoted to her sindoor. The film was devoted to the centuries-old ideals of India. To win the Oscars, a publicity department should have been appointed to make the cultural background of the film clear, but the government and the film industry were not aware of how much effort other countries make to make the cultural background of their films clear. The last film was not successful After the great success of Mother India, Mehboob Khan made Son of India in 1962. This film had Mehboob Khan’s son Sajid Khan, Kamaljeet, Simi Garewal in the lead roles. This film proved to be the biggest flop. After this film, Mehboob was preparing for his next film, but he died of a heart attack on 28 May 1964.

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