Films Set in the Mughal Era

Many Anarkalis, only one Mughal-e-Azam

An age-old, decidedly protean legend of an illicit love affair between Prince Salim (who ascended the throne as Jahangir) and a courtesan named Anarkali took its most recognizable form in the 1922 Urdu-language stage play Anarkali by Imtiaz Ali Taj. That seminal work inspired a number of movie adaptations, starting in 1928 with two separate silent films: Rajmahal Ni Ramni (Loves of Mughal Prince), starring Seeta Devi, and Anarkali, in which Ruby Myers (known by the stage name Sulochana) played the titular character. Myers reprised the role in a Hindustani-language talkie remake in 1935, and she played Salim’s mother in a 1953 version that was memorable for the musical brilliance of composer C. Ramchandra and singer Lata Mangeshkar, with Bina Rai in the leading role. A Telugu-language film followed in 1955, featuring A. Nageshwar Rao as Prince Salim and Anjali Devi as Anarkali. A Pakistani version was released in 1958, starring the celebrated singer Noor Jehan as the titular courtesan, and a Malayalam-language adaptation of the 1953 version was made in 1966.

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The sheer pomp and scale of 1960’s Mughal-e-Azam, however, towered over all other big-screen outings of the tragic tawaif, elevating the courtly romance to new heights and making it the definitive version of the story, bejeweled with an unforgettable soundtrack by Naushad. Director K. Asif’s decade-and-a-half-long odyssey to make the film—plagued by the partition of India, the death of a lead actor, budget blowouts, and personal bitterness between its leads—is as fabled as the tale itself. Madhubala and Dilip Kumar delivered iconic performances as Anarkali and Salim, respectively, and Prithviraj Kapoor assumed the august image and booming voice of the emperor Akbar, whose disapproval of his son’s relationship leads to war.

The first of the Mughals: Babar and Humayun

A historical drama based on the reign of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, was released in 1944 and titled Shahenshah Babar (“Emperor Babur”), directed by Wajahat Mirza. In 1960 Hemen Gupta directed Babar, another interpretation of Babur’s life and death and his relationship with his son and successor, Humayun. The film’s major highlight is its music, composed by Roshan and with lyrics by the legendary Sahir Ludhianvi. One of the movie’s standout songs, “Agar Hum Na Hote” (“If I Did Not Exist”), brought together a medley of iconic singers, including Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey, Asha Bhosle, and Sudha Malhotra.

Before Mehboob Khan directed the landmark Mother India, he brought the character of Humayun to the screen in 1945. Humayun starred Ashok Kumar as Humayun, Chandramohan as Rajkumar Randhir, and Nargis as Humayun’s eventual wife, Hamida Bano (Akbar’s mother). The film offers a fictionalized account of the emperor’s rise to the throne after Babur’s death, conflict and alliances with the Rajputs, and his defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri. The movie was well received for its performances, lighting, grand sets, and battle scenes.

Timeless love: Jodhaa Akbar

Starring Hrithik Roshan as Akbar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as his Rajput wife, Jodha Bai (though most historians agree that she was not known by that name), the sweeping romance Jodhaa Akbar (2008) is director Ashutosh Gowariker’s interpretation of history and legend before the events of Mughal-e-Azam. Like K. Asif’s classic, Jodhaa Akbar splurged on its dazzling sets, period-specific costumes and jewelry, and even real elephants. The film’s music, composed by A.R. Rahman, won many accolades and continues to enthrall audiences. Film scholars and critics have often praised the film’s foregrounding of Akbar’s religious tolerance and secular ideals.

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Jahangir’s conundrum: Pukar and Adl-e-Jahangir

Jahangir, who was put into the mold of rebellious lover in Mughal-e-Azam, is also the subject of another popular legend, encapsulated in a poem titled “Adl-e-Jahangiri” (“The Justice of Jahangir”) by the poet and historian Shibli Nomani. It tells of the dilemma Jahangir is put in when his wife, Nur Jahan, shoots and kills a commoner whose gaze she views as disrespectful. Pukar (1939), directed by Sohrab Modi, written by Kamal Amrohi (who also penned Mughal-e-Azam), and starring Chandramohan, dramatizes the trial of the queen and engages with themes of love and justice. The G.P. Sippy-directed Adl-e-Jahangir (1955) incorporates the same central theme into another existing legend, forcing Jahangir to decide the victor in a love triangle involving the young prince Khurram (who later ascended the throne as Shah Jahan). Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, and Talat Mahmood provided vocals for the music of the latter film.

Tales of Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal

Shah Jahan’s legacy is inextricable from that of the Taj Mahal—a testament of his love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Filmed by German filmmaker Franz Osten, the 1928 silent film Shiraz: A Romance of India constructs a powerful—though entirely imaginary—account of how Shah Jahan built his great mausoleum of affection based on designs by Shiraz, a rival for Mumtaz’s love. A variation of this fiction forms the plot of a 1946 film titled Shahjehan, written by Kamal Amrohi. Taj Mahal (1963) spins a tale of the empress Noor Jahan’s (Veena) attempts to keep Shah Jahan (Pradeep Kumar) from marrying the woman who would come to be called Mumtaz (Bina Rai). The duo Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi lent their voices for the soundtrack, composed by Roshan, with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi. A year later Prithviraj Kapoor appeared as another Mughal emperor, playing Shah Jahan in Jahan Ara (1964). The film’s central role, that of the eponymous princess (Shah Jahan’s eldest surviving daughter), was essayed by Mala Sinha. She was paired with Bharat Bhushan, who played a poet whose love for the princess is doomed from the start. Mangeshkar, Rafi, Talat Mahmood, and Asha Bhosle were once again the primary playback singers for the film’s soundtrack, composed by Madan Mohan.

Marathas in film: Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chhaava

The reign of Aurangzeb, the last major Mughal ruler, was characterized by the rebellions of the Rajputs and Sikhs and, most significantly, prolonged resistance from the Marathas. A Marathi-language biographical film, Chhatrapati Shivaji, was made on the life of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire, in 1952. His exploits continue to garner interest from filmmakers in Marathi- and Hindi-language cinema, with a new film, Raja Shivaji, directed by and starring Riteish Deshmukh, set to come out in 2026.

In Bajirao Mastani (2015), based on N.S. Inamdar’s Marathi novel Rau, Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali relates the tragic love story of the peshwa Baji Rao I (Ranveer Singh) and his second wife Mastani (Deepika Padukone) in painterly frames. The Hindi-language Panipat (2019), starring Arjun Kapoor, and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020), headlined by Ajay Devgn, also focus on leaders in the Maratha armies from different time periods. Filmmaker Digpal Lanjekar’s eight-part Marathi-language Shri Shivraj Ashtak film series, which started in 2018, depicts dramatic episodes from the history of the Maratha empire. The 2025 Hindi-language Chhaava, based on the life of Shivaji’s son and heir, Sambhaji, was a breakout commercial success. It starred Vicky Kaushal as Sambhaji and Akshaye Khanna as Aurangzeb.

Musicians, poets, saints, and tawaifs

Beyond royal bloodlines, films set in the Mughal era have often focused on characters of artistic or cultural significance. For example, the figure of Tansen, one of the navaratnas (Hindi: “nine gems”) of Akbar’s court and a foundational figure in the history of Hindustani classical music, has inspired at least two films. One is Tansen (1943), headlined by K.L. Saigal and Khursheed Bano, who sang the film’s songs themselves. The other is Sangeet Samrat Tansen (1962; “Emperor of Music, Tansen”), starring Bharat Bhushan. Bhushan also played the legendary rival of Tansen in Baiju Bawra (1952), in which two virtuosic musicians go head-to-head in a competition as Bawra seeks retribution for his father’s death. Its songs were crafted by the composer-lyricist duo of Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni, who also created the timeless music of Mughal-e-Azam. The life of the famed Mirza Ghalib, a poet and letter writer in the Mughal court during its final days, is retold and romanticized in the Sohrab Modi-directed Mirza Ghalib (1954). Another historical figure who has received the cinematic treatment on at least two occasions is the Rajput poet-mystic and Krishna devotee Mira Bai: The commercially successful Tamil-language Meera (1945) cast M.S. Subbulakshmi as its lead, and the renowned lyricist and screenwriter Gulzar directed another film with the same title in 1979 that starred Hema Malini.

Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s 1899 Urdu-language novel Umrao Jaan Ada, which paints a heartrending portrait of a graceful tawaif in the final days of the Mughal Empire, was adapted to the screen as Umrao Jaan (1981), in which Rekha delivered an iconic, award-winning lead performance. She was ably supported by a stellar cast that includes Farooq Shaikh and Naseeruddin Shah. The film’s music, directed by Khayyam, is widely regarded as exemplary and features several evocative songs by Asha Bhosle, including “Dil Cheez Kya Hai” (“What Is the Heart”) and “In Ankhon Ki Masti Ke” (“The Allure of These Eyes…”). The story was retold in a 2006 film of the same name, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.