Shahjehan 1946

Shahjehan is a 1946 Indian Bollywood historical film released on 1946. The film is directed by A. R. Kardar, produced by A. R. Kardar under banner named Kardar Productions.

This is the story of about Shahjahan, the Mughal emperor & his beloved wife Mumtaz. Sardar Jwala Singh, who was very loyal to his emperor Shahjahan, came to him with a problem one day. His daughter Ruhi (Ragini) was very beautiful and was very famous all over the place. Each & every youngster wanted to marry Ruhi. Whenever he tried to marry her, someone or the other created a chaos and caused the grooms entourage to return. Many lives were lost in this chaos. Finally Shahjahan decided that Ruhi will be kept in his custody & he will find a suitable boy for her & took all the responsibility of her marriage. He decided to announce a condition that only that boy can marry Ruhi who will make a heaven-like house for her. Only one boy, Sohail (K.L.Saigal) accepted this condition. Shahjahan (Rehman) gave him one year Sohail made that wonderful heaven like house for Ruhi. Shahjahan was happy & promised Sohail that Ruhi will get married to him. On the other side, one sculptor Shiraz (P Jairaj) visits Shahjahan for some work. He decides to test him before giving him any work. During the progress of the test, Ruhi falls in love with Shiraz. Shahjahan comes to know this, he was in a great dilemma now. On one side he does not want to break his promise & on other side he also wants that Ruhi should get her love. As the days pass, this mystery was not getting solved. So he decided to stay away from his love Mumtaz (Nasreen) until it is solved. As a result of him staying away from his love, Mumtaz got ill & was on the last stage of her death. On hearing this Sohail requested Shahjahan to let Ruhi marry the man she loved. The mystery was solved but by the time Mumtaz was no more & in her last words she said to her love that her sleeping suite would be the most memorable & remarkable symbol of love in this universe. So Shahjahan decided to make a monument that would become the symbol of love in the whole world. That work was given to the famous sculptor Shiraz and the creation was the famous symbol of love “The Taj Mahal”.

Kardars costume drama set in Mughal Emperor Shah Jehans court is Saigals last film and the debut of new-generation set designer M.R. Achrekar (later associated mainly with Raj Kapoor) and lyricist Sultanpuri. The melodrama stresses the two motifs usually associated with Shah Jehan: his commitment to justice and the Taj Mahal, which he built as a monument of love for his wife Mumtaz. The poet Sohail (Saigal) writes a love song (Mere sapnon ki rani)k in praise of the beauteous Ruhi, daughter of Rajput genral Jwala Singh. The song become so popular that it seriously inconveniences its subject: some lovelorn youths disrupt her wedding procession and fiver fo her brothers are killed. Shah Jehan adopts Ruhi into the royal court and offers her in marriage to the one who can create a work of art that replicates heaven on earth. Sohail wins the contest with the song Kr lijiye chal kar meri jannat ke nazare but she is in love with the Persian sculptor Shiraz (Jairaj). The dilemma causes a split between Shah Jehan and his wife, only resolved when Mumtaz, on her deathbed, asks the emperor to build a monument reflecting their love. Shiraz is to build the monument, but he must first experience a loss analogos to Shah Jahans loss of Mumtaz. And so, Ruhis father kills Ruhi: the distraught Shiraz then builds the Taj Mahal. Later, it is revealed that Ruhi is still alive as Sohail sacrificed his life to save her. Although Mughal historicals generally fetishe legends about royal masculinity (Tansen. 1943; Anarkali. 1928, 1935, 1953) this one goes further, genedering the segregation between perosanal and political spaces while contrasting declamatory dialogues and large-scale sets with a staccato, documentary narrative. The film includes Saigals famous song Jab dil hi tut gaya. [Source: Encycl] Check out this page for more updates on Shahjehan.