“Aawaz de kahahe......”, “Duniya meri jawahe....,” the evergreen superhit songs of Anmol Ghadi were the first and greatest works of Tanveer Naqvi, the Urdu poet. The songs of this film was widely accepted at that time and Mehboob Khan was the producer of that film.
Aan, the first Indian film to use technicolor was another hit from Mehboob which created an indelible mark in the history of Indian cinema. After 64-years, still this cinema exists in the mind of viewers. Mother India, the film in which three new faces were introduced, was yet another turning point in the history of Indian cinema and the great producer Mehboob Khan.
Mehboob Khan was one of the pioneer directors and producers of Indian cinema. He was mainly known as the producer director of Mother India produced in 1957. He introduced and helped establish the careers of many actors who went onto become big stars in the 1950s and 1960s such as Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Surendra, Surayya, Noorjahan, Nargis, Nimmi and Nadira. He also introduced Tanwar Naqvi who was lyricist in Almul Ghadi. He wrote eight famous songs in it.
At first he searched for jobs in Hindi studios in Mumbai. He started his career in the silent era as an assistant in the Imperial Film company of Ardeshir Irani.
He directed his first film Judgement of Allah in 1935. After that he directed Aurat in Sagar Movietone productions. The first technicolor film in Hindi was Aan which was processed in London.
The second technicolor film Mother India was directed by him. Andas, Anmol Ghadi, Aan and Mother India were the box office hits of that time. He searched for many new faces and introduced them in his movies and all the outings were highly successful
Aan was released in the year 1952 in technicolor and was immensely successful in India, Londan and was also dubbed in French. Shot against the backdrop of mountains and lakes, a massive operation was undertaken. Thousands of extras and horsemen took part in the film. Animals like lions and tiger were part of the cast of the monumental Roman-like costume drama. It was also the first film of actress Nadira who was introduced by Mehboob Khan.
With its share of dances and songs the film looked like a Rajput fairytale in which the actors cruised around in a cadillac. The cruel queen was dressed Jodhpuri costume. With armies, battle and treachery, the film was a visual treat.
One of his most famous films was Andaz (1949). This film starred Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis, the top three stars of that era.
His earlier works were in Urdu, but his later flicks, including Mother India, were in Hindi although many say he used ‘Hindustani’, a softer version of Hindi and Urdu. Throughout his career, Khan produced and directed many blockbuster films, most notable being the romantic drama Andaz (1949), The Swashbuckling Aan(1951), The Dramatic Amar(1954) and the social epic Mother India(1957).
The last movie was a cult classic and had won the Film Fare awards for best film and best director and was a nominee for the Academy award for best foreign language film. He was born in 1907 and died in 1964 at the age of 57.