Rajkumar (1996)

RAJKUMAR is a dramatic costume drama mounted on a very big scale. For quite some time no costume drama films have been made because they are very expensive to make as it involves making's very expennsive sets and costumes because of the period look. This is one of the many areas in which RAJKUMAR is different from the other films. 

Moreover, in RAJKUMAR, each and every set is created and erected to make it look visually different and hence no fort or palace has been used which has been exposed on the screen. To achieve the promise and commitment, to make it look totally new visually a huge set was erected at Film City in an open area of nearly 3½ acres of land where nearly 400 workers worked for 3 months day and night to erect the set of the palace under the supervision and the guidance of our Art Director Mr. Nitish Roy who is the best in his field and has got 3 National Awards to prove it. This historic set of the palace was publicized in the media as the 1 crore set, infact it was part of the Doordarshan news broadcast which stated that after 48 years of K. Asif's Mughal-E-Azam's set another set has been put up of that stature and standard for the movie RAJKUMAR. Inspite of putting up such an expensive set, it is on the screen for not more than 12-15 minutes. 

The costumes of Madhuri Dixit, who plays a Princess in the movie are very expensive and brilliantly designed by more than fashion and trend conscious Anna Singh. There are over 40 costumes of Madhuri in the film and extra care has been taken that these fantastic costumes not only look periodical but also trendy. 

A lot of planning and hard work has been put into designing Anil Kapoor's dresses who plays the RAJKUM'AR in exile in the movie and the costume selected for him is the one designed by Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya. Similarly the costumes of all the other artists such as Naseeruddin Shah and Danny have also been hand picked. 

This is the first time that Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit are doing a costume drama. They have done a lot of films together such as Ram Lakhan, Tezaab, Beta, etc. but never a period film hence the chemistry between them works brilliantly as the total atmosphere around them is totally new. 

Naseeruddin Shah who as everyone is aware is a brilliant actor but in RAJKUMAR he has excelled himself. In this film, he plays a double role, one the main negative force who loves the Princess Madhuri and wants to usurp her kingdom by marrying her and second the jester who is slight retarded. Naseer has played these characters to such perfection that it is difficult to believe that both the characters are played by the same person. 

RAJKUMAR is first in many areas one of which being Direction of Pankuj Parashar, who has in the past done trend setting movies like Jalwa and Chalbaaz. He has in the past always given a new modem dimension by his direction and the same he has achieved in RAJKUMAR. Producer Tutu Sharma and Director Pankuj Parashar have joined hands to bring forth a classical costume drama to the screen and this team promises to bring to the silver screen many more extravaganzas in the near future.

(From the official press booklet)