Love And God review :
After the all time great classic Mughal-E-Azam (1960), legendary director K Asif started his next ambitious venture titled Love and God with Guru Dutt and Nimmi in lead roles. A retelling of the Laila Majnu saga, Love And God was jinxed project right from the start.
K Asif filmed a few sequences from 1963 until Guru Dutt's untimely death in 1964. The film was shelved for some time after this before Asif Saahab revived it in late 60s with young Sanjeev Kumar replacing Guru Dutt as Qais Majnu and Nimmi retained as Laila.
Jayant and Nasir Hussain played their warring fathers while Pran played the prince who marries Laila only to be spurned by her. Interestingly, Amjad Khan played a small role of an African slave which would've been his debut before Sholay (1975). Simi Garewal too appeared in a cameo towards the end.
Asif Saahab completed about 80% of the film before he passed away in 1971. The film lay in the cans after that till mid 80s when producer KC Bokadia showed interest in reviving it. He collaborated with Asif's widow Akhtar and the salvaged portion of the film was edited and dubbed. Sanjeev Kumar was approached to complete some portions and dubbing but he too died in 1985 and then Sudesh Bhosle completed his dubbing.
After 23 years in production (a record in itself!!), Love And God released in its incomplete form without a proper climax at the same Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai where Asif Saahab's Mughal-E-Azam had premiered and ran successfully for two long years. Unfortunately, it couldn't replicate the success of its predecessor and was a box office disaster.
Despite being incomplete, Love And God bears Asif Saahab's stamp all over it and certain portions are sheer magic. Its a pity that a film on the immortal tragic love of Laila Majnu itself had such a troubled and tragic story of its own.
Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.
After the all time great classic Mughal-E-Azam (1960), legendary director K Asif started his next ambitious venture titled Love and God with Guru Dutt and Nimmi in lead roles. A retelling of the Laila Majnu saga, Love And God was jinxed project right from the start.
K Asif filmed a few sequences from 1963 until Guru Dutt's untimely death in 1964. The film was shelved for some time after this before Asif Saahab revived it in late 60s with young Sanjeev Kumar replacing Guru Dutt as Qais Majnu and Nimmi retained as Laila.
Jayant and Nasir Hussain played their warring fathers while Pran played the prince who marries Laila only to be spurned by her. Interestingly, Amjad Khan played a small role of an African slave which would've been his debut before Sholay (1975). Simi Garewal too appeared in a cameo towards the end.
Asif Saahab completed about 80% of the film before he passed away in 1971. The film lay in the cans after that till mid 80s when producer KC Bokadia showed interest in reviving it. He collaborated with Asif's widow Akhtar and the salvaged portion of the film was edited and dubbed. Sanjeev Kumar was approached to complete some portions and dubbing but he too died in 1985 and then Sudesh Bhosle completed his dubbing.
After 23 years in production (a record in itself!!), Love And God released in its incomplete form without a proper climax at the same Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai where Asif Saahab's Mughal-E-Azam had premiered and ran successfully for two long years. Unfortunately, it couldn't replicate the success of its predecessor and was a box office disaster.
Despite being incomplete, Love And God bears Asif Saahab's stamp all over it and certain portions are sheer magic. Its a pity that a film on the immortal tragic love of Laila Majnu itself had such a troubled and tragic story of its own.
Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.