Razia Sultan (film)

Raziya Sultan, also known as Razia Sultan, is 1983 Indian period biographical film, written and directed by Kamal Amrohi, and starring Hema Malini, Parveen Babi and Dharmendra in lead roles.[4][1]

N.B. Kulkarni won the Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction, the only win for the film. Khayyam received a Filmfare nomination for Best Music Director. Lyrics were by Jan Nisar Akhtar and two songs by Nida Fazli who walked into the project when Akhtar died. Some songs were sung by Lata Mangeshkar, including “Aye Dil-e Nadaan”.

It was the second time that Khayyam worked for a Kamal Amrohi movie. Earlier he had given music for Shankar Hussain, a movie produced by Amrohi. There is a story as to how Kamal got liking for Khayyam’s music. Once Kamal Amrohi and his wife Meena Kumari liked a song that they had listened to on the radio. The song was “Parbaton Ke Pedon Par” and was sung by Mohammed Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur. Later on, they learned that this song was composed by Khayyam for a movie called Shagoon (1964). However, by the time Razia Sultan went on the shooting floors, Laxmikant–Pyarelal became the most-sought-after music director duo. So, Kamal Amrohi signed them. But, he did not like one fast-paced tune composed by the duo for the film and told them to compose a new tune instead. When Kamal went to the duo’s place to listen to their new tune, he was asked to wait as the music directors were in a meeting. Feeling insulted that he was asked to wait by someone so junior to him, Kamal Amrohi replaced them with Khayyam.

According to some Indian news media reports, this film was made in a grand way over 7 years with a budget of ₹4–10 crore by writer/director Kamal Amrohi. The film, when released, made barely ₹2 crore.[3][6]