Razia Sultan (film)

{{About|the film|the monarch|Razia Sultana|the 2015 television series |Razia Sultan (serial)}}

{{short description|1983 Indian Hindi-Urdu film directed by Kamal Amrohi}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Razia Sultan

| image = Razia Sultan film.jpeg

| director = Kamal Amrohi

| writer = Kamal Amrohi

| producer = A.K. Misra

| cinematography = R. D. Mathur

| editing = B. S. Glaad

| starring = Hema Malini
Dharmendra
Parveen Babi

| music = Khayyam
Kaifi Azmi (lyrics)

| language = Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu )

| released = {{Film date|1983|09|16|df=yes}}

| budget = {{INR|7{{ndash}}10 crore}}{{cite news |last=Jha |first=Lata |title=Ten big-budget Bollywood box-office disasters |url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/j0uwEr1EQbbKoB83ASpASK/Ten-bigbudget-Bollywood-boxoffice-disasters.html |work=Mint (newspaper) |date=28 September 2015 |access-date=10 October 2023}}

| gross = {{INR|2 crore}}

}}

Razia Sultan is a 1983 Indian period biographical film, written and directed by Kamal Amrohi, and starring Hema Malini, Parveen Babi and Dharmendra in lead roles. Upon release, it was a box office disaster, mainly due to its high production value.{{cite web |url=https://thereel.scroll.in/856809/picture-the-song-is-that-really-a-lesbian-moment-in-khwab-bankar-koi-aayega-from-razia-sultan |title=Picture the song: Is that really a lesbian moment in 'Khwab Bankar Koi Aayega' from 'Razia Sultan'? |author=Nandini Ramnath |date=6 November 2017 |website=scroll.in website |access-date=10 October 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.citwf.com/film289053.htm |title=Razia Sultan (1983 film)|website= Complete Index To World Film (CITWF) website|access-date=10 October 2023|archive-date=16 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316074141/http://www.citwf.com/film289053.htm |url-status=dead}} It was the most expensive Indian film{{Broken anchor|date=2025-01-17|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=List of most expensive Indian films#Historical timeline|reason= The anchor (Historical timeline) has been deleted.}} made until then.

N.B. Kulkarni won the Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction, the only win for the film. Khayyam received a Filmfare nomination for Best Music Director. Lyrics were by Jan Nisar Akhtar and two songs picturized on Dharmendra as Yakut Jamaluddin, Abyssinian slave by Nida Fazli; one song by Kaifi Azmi; both walked into the project when Akhtar died. Some songs were sung by Lata Mangeshkar, including "Aye Dil-e Nadaan". Kamal Amrohi shot some scenes of Razia Sultan in Tonk between 1981-82.

Plot

The film is based on the life of Razia Sultan (1205–1240), the only female Sultan of Delhi (1236–1240) and her speculated love affair with the Abyssinian slave, Jamal-ud-Din Yakut.

Cast

Hema Malini as Razia Sultan
Dharmendra as Yakut Jamaluddin, Abyssinian slave
Vijayendra Ghatge as Amil Altunia
Parveen Babi as Khakun
Pradeep Kumar as Sultan Altamash
Ajit as Amil Balban
Veena as Empress Shah Turkhan
Sohrab Modi as Vazir-e-Azam
Dolly Jena

Soundtrack

It was the second time that Khayyam worked for a Kamal Amrohi's film. Earlier he had given music for Shankar Hussain, a movie produced by Amrohi. There is a story as to how Kamal got liking for Khayyam's music. Once Kamal Amrohi and his wife Meena Kumari liked a song that they had listened to on the radio. The song was "Parbaton Ke Pedon Par" and was sung by Mohammed Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur. Later on, they learned that this song was composed by Khayyam for a movie called Shagoon (1964). However, by the time Razia Sultan went on the shooting floors, Laxmikant–Pyarelal became the most-sought-after music director duo. So, Kamal Amrohi signed them. But, he did not like one fast-paced tune composed by the duo for the film and told them to compose a new tune instead. When Kamal went to the duo's place to listen to their new tune, he was asked to wait as the music directors were in a meeting. Feeling insulted that he was asked to wait by someone so junior to him, Kamal Amrohi replaced them with Khayyam.

class="wikitable"

! Sl.No !! Title !! Singer(s)

| "Khwaab Ban Kar Koi Aayega"

| rowspan="3"|Lata Mangeshkar

| "Jalta Hai Badan"

| "Aye Dil-E-Nadaan"

| "Tera Hijr Mera Naseeb Hai"

| rowspan="2"| Kabban Mirza

| "Aayee Zanjeer Ki Jhaankar"

| "Aye Khuda Shukr Tera"

| Mahendra Kapoor, Bhupinder Singh

| "Shubh Ghadi Aayee Re"

| Parveen Sultana, Jagjit Kaur, Sulakshana Pandit Ustad Fayyaz Ahmed Khan, Niyaz Ahmed Khan, Mohammed Dilshad Khan

| "Hariyala Banna Aaya Re"

| Jagjit Kaur, Asha Bhosle, Chorus

Box office

Being director Kamal Amrohi's dream project, it was made in a very grand way. The film had an estimated budget of {{INR|7{{ndash}}10 crore|link=yes}} in 1983, with production spanning over 7 years. When released, the film made barely {{INR|2 crore}}, becoming a box office disaster. {{Cite web |title=Kamal Amrohi's dream film Razia Sultan bombs at the box-office |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/19831015-kamal-amrohi-dream-film-razia-sultan-bombs-at-the-box-office-771082-2013-07-17 |last=Kapoor |first=Sunil Sethi Coomi |website=India Today |date=17 July 2013 |access-date=21 May 2020}}