The eternal combination of music with films and stars, many a times their fate intertwined, with each giving a boost to the other, is considered a hallmark of Indian movies. This has been the tradition of almost all films produced in India – since the humble beginning made with “Raja Harishchandra” (1913) by the venerable Father of Indian Cinema, Dhundiraj Govind ‘Dadasaheb’ Phalke.

Among the sackful of musical blockbusters churned out by Bollywood, one of the front-rankers is K Asif’s National Award winner “Mughal-e-Azam” (1960) with a dozen unforgettable scores by the Master of the Baton, Naushad Ali. Surprisingly, this all-time megabuster did not see Dilip Kumar, the winsome Prince Salim, singing a single song on the silver screen.

All the 12 songs in “Mughal-e-Azam” were left to other characters such as the besotted Madhubala (Anarkali) and the jealous Bahar Begum (Nigar Sultana), a wandering soothsayer, or royal court musician Tansen, in the...