MUMBAI: The Film Heritage Foundation’s 4K restoration of Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 Indian cinematic landmark ‘Pakeezah’ is set to make its world premiere at France’s Festival Lumière in Lyon and the BFI London Film Festival.
The world premiere in Lyon will be helmed by Cannes and Lumière chief Thierry Frémaux. From France, the film will travel to London for a gala screening at the BFI IMAX, which will be presented by FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur alongside Kamal Amrohi’s children, Tajdar and Rukhsaar and grandson Bilal Amrohi.
Hailed by the late film critic Derek Malcolm, ‘Pakeezah’ boasts a legendary, production-plagued history that mirrors the high drama and heartbreak of its onscreen narrative.
A post shared by Film Heritage Foundation (@filmheritagefoundation) Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation, states, “Restoring Pakeezah has been a long-held dream, and I am so grateful to Bilal Amrohi for being the moving spirit and encouraging the family to support the restoration and bring the film back to life. Pakeezah is a film that has been etched in my memory since I was a child when I watched it for the first time with my grandmother in a darkened cinema in Dumraon, Bihar.”
He added that the restoration of Pakeezah took two years. It has been one of the most exciting yet one of the most challenging restorations he has worked on.
“When I went to inspect the original camera negative and saw that it had almost melted, my heart sank. And the other film elements we had to work with were not in good condition, with faded colours, scratches and mould. In my mind’s eye, I could see each frame like a painting saturated with colours, the opulent sets and the luminous beauty of Meena Kumari and the songs of Ghulam Mohammed were ringing in my ears as if it was yesterday, but not a single cast or crew member survived from the film and I wondered how I would be able to restore Kamal Amrohi’s original vision with what I had to work with.”
Tajdar Amrohi, son of Kamal Amrohi, further added, “I was at the grand premiere of Pakeezah in 1972 with my father and Choti Ammi (Meena Kumari), and the film cans arrived at Maratha Mandir in a palanquin. I never imagined that I would be presenting the restored film with my family at the gala premiere in London fifty-four years later.”
Released in 1972, ‘Pakeezah’ features Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Veena, Sapru, Kamal Kapoor, Vijay Laxmi, Jagdish Kanwali, and Nadira. It is set against the courtly backdrop of Lucknow’s twilight era of nawabs, unfolding as a poetically exquisite classic defined by painterly, colour-saturated frames, opulent production design, and a haunting score. At its centre is a luminous, career-defining performance by Meena Kumari as the tragic courtesan Sahibjaan.
The generational melodrama begins when the courtesan Nargis is brutally rejected by the aristocratic family of her husband, Shahabuddin. Nargis dies in a graveyard giving birth to her daughter, Sahibjaan, who is subsequently raised in a brothel and grows up to become the most renowned courtesan of her era. (ANI)
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