Kamal Amrohi charged Rs 10,000 per scene as writer of ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ and later earned Rs 2 lakh for the film, reveals his son opens up about his fight with K Asif |

Mughal-E-Azam remains one of the most famous films in Indian cinema, renowned for its spectacular scale, lavish sets and memorable dialogues. Directed by K Asif, the period epic was also among the most expensive Indian productions of its time and was reportedly made on a budget of around Rs 1.5 crore. Adjusted for inflation, that would be equivalent to more than 150 million rupees today.However, decades after its release, questions about the film’s writing credits continue to attract attention. Tajdar Amrohi, son of filmmaker and writer Kamal Amrohi, has claimed that his father played a much larger role in shaping the film’s dialogue than the official credits suggest.Tajdar said that Kamal Amrohi wrote the dialogues for virtually all the films he worked on, including Pakeezah, Mahal and Razia Sultan. He maintained that Mughal-E-Azam was not an exception.“Every dialogue in Pakeezah was written by my father. No one else could write dialogues in my father’s films. Be it Pakeezah, Mahal, Razia Sultan… even the dialogues in Mughal-E-Azam. With all due respect to K Asif, I didn’t want Kamal Amrohi to get all the credit,” Tajdar said in an interview with Vickey Lalwani.When asked why Asif supposedly chose to share writing credit, Tajdar suggested that giving sole credit to Amrohi could have led audiences to believe that he had written the entire film.“Then people would think that Kamal Amrohi has written the entire film. The film also featured Aman Khan and Vajahat Mirza, who are not credited in any film other than Mughal-E-Azam as screenwriters. However, Kamal Amrohi has proven time and again that he is a writer. He is a great writer.”Tajdar also portrayed his father as a figure who helped raise the status of screenwriters in Hindi cinema. He recalled a period when writers were commonly called “munshis” and paid comparatively modest sums.“Earlier, writers were called Munshis, those who had a pencil in their ear. People who wrote dialogues and stories for films were widely known as munshis in the industry. None of them ever charged more than Rs 2,000. Kamal Amrohi was the only man who charged Rs 10,000 per scene in Mughal-E-Azam.”According to Tajdar, the unusually high fee came after Amrohi had a falling out with Asif and initially walked away from the project. He claimed that Asif subsequently realized that he was struggling to find someone who could replace Amrohi’s writings.Tajdar recalled a meeting at Amrohi’s residence, where Amanullah Khan, Zeenat Aman’s father, allegedly acted as an intermediary between the two men.“He accompanied Zeenat Aman’s father Amanullah Khan and came to our house. Baba came out. But none of them spoke. They used Aman as a mediator. While sitting in the same room, Asif told Aman to inform Amrohi that he had to complete his film Mughal-E-Azam. A confused Aman sahab looked towards my father, who said, ‘Tell him I can’t write it.’”The confrontation, according to Tajdar, continued until Asif finally expressed how much he wanted Amrohi to return.“Finally Asif Sahab stood up from his place, shouted at Baba and hugged him. You will have to complete my film Amrohi, no one’s writings impress me.”Tajdar said Asif then asked, through Amanullah Khan, what it would take for Amrohi to resume work on the film. Still angry over the dispute, Amrohi allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 for each scene.“My father, angry, said, ‘Tell him I would charge him Rs 10,000 per scene.’ Asif Sahab quickly agreed.”Tajdar claimed that this eventually resulted in Amrohi earning approximately Rs 2 lakh for his work on Mughal-E-Azam, a substantial amount by the standards of the time. He compared the figure with the Rs 200 to Rs 4,000 that writers were generally said to earn at that time.“At a time when people were charging between Rs 200 and Rs 4,000, Kamal Amrohi was earning around Rs 2 lakh for Mughal-E-Azam. When the producer expressed his concern, Asif stood firm and said, ‘I can’t let anyone else write the script.'”Despite this, Tajdar claimed that Amrohi was unhappy when the film was released because the writing credit was shared with Vajahat Mirza, Amanullah Khan and another writer.“Asif sahab split the credit. My father was too hurt. He was so hurt that he confronted Asif and asked him to remove his name completely from the film. When Asif said that he would reduce the value of the film, my father said, “let me warn you that these three writers will not get any work because the script is completely mine. They won’t be able to recreate it. Even Choti Ammi (Meena Kumari) noticed that it was my father’s script.“Tajdar further emphasized his father’s distinctive writing style, stating that even legendary actor Prithviraj Kapoor admired his work.“My father’s writing style was extremely unique. Prithviraj Kapoor was a great admirer of my father.”According to Tajdar, the earnings of Rs 2 lakh reported by Kamal Amrohi in Mughal-E-Azam would be worth approximately Rs 2 crore today after adjusting for inflation. His account presents Amrohi not simply as a collaborator in the film’s writing, but as one of the key figures behind its celebrated dialogue and a writer who commanded unusually high fees in an era when screenwriters were rarely valued at comparable levels.