The first that the world heard about Pakeezah - then untitled-was in Screen magazine's 9 August 1957 issue. Meena Kumari was to be the female lead; the story and dialogue would be Kamal Amrohi's. By the time the film was released a decade-and-a-half later, in 1972, the story, cast and crew had all undergone dramatic changes. By then, two of its stalwarts, composer Ghulam Mohammed And cinematographer Josef Wirsching, were no more. The film opened to tepid critical and commercial response in February 1972. But Meena Kumari’s death soon after catapulted the film to box office glory. Few today would argue with the fact that it is a bona fide classic of Hindi cinema.
Meghnad Desai tracks the film's tortuous journey and reveals fascinating, little-known aspects of it. He foregrounds the craftsmanship, perseverance and perfectionism of its maker Kamal Amrohi, who would wait weeks for the perfect sunset. The director even took on MGM, because the CinemaScope lenses they supplied were out of focus by 1/1000 mm.
Desai sees the film as a 'Muslim social' set in a 'Lucknow of the Muslim imagination'; as a woman-centric film with a dancing heroine at a time when they were a rarity; and above all, as a film that harked back to an era of 'nawabi culture with its exquisite tehzeeb', a world that is lost forever.
Pakeezah: An Ode to a Bygone World is a fitting tribute to a film that Meghnad Desai calls 'a monument to the golden age of Hindustani films'.
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