Restored Meena Kumari-starrer 'Pakeezah' to premiere in France, UK

A 4K restored version of the 1972 Indian classic Pakeezah starring Meena Kumari is set to have its world premiere at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, France, followed by a gala screening at the BFI London Film Festival.

The restoration of the Kamal Amrohi-directed film was spearheaded by not-for-profit Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), which spent two years bringing the classic back to its original glory.

The world premiere in Lyon will be led by Cannes and Lumière chief Thierry Frémaux. From France, the film will travel to London for a gala screening at the BFI IMAX, presented by FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur alongside Amrohi’s children Tajdar and Rukhsaar and grandson Bilal Amrohi.

The late film critic Derek Malcolm hailed Pakeezah as one of the most extraordinary musical melodramas ever made. The film also has a legendary, production-plagued history that mirrors the high drama and heartbreak of its onscreen narrative.

Dungarpur said restoring Pakeezah had been a long-held dream since he first watched the film as a child with his grandmother in a theatre in Dumraon, Bihar. He thanked Bilal for being the "moving spirit" behind the restoration.

'The restoration of Pakeezah took two years. It has been one of the most exciting yet one of the most challenging restorations I have 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... I wondered how I would be able to restore Kamal Amrohi’s original vision with what I had to work with,' Dungarpur said in a statement.

During their research, the FHF team discovered original film stills that helped with the restoration. Dungarpur also consulted Tajdar and Rukhsaar, who had visited the sets and retained vivid memories of the film’s making.

"I couldn’t have asked for a better showcase for the restored Pakeezah than the Festival Lumière in Lyon, the birthplace of cinema, followed by a gala screening at the London Film Festival," Dungarpur said.

The restoration, undertaken by FHF in association with the Amrohi family, caps a landmark year for the foundation on the international festival circuit. FHF has achieved the rare feat of placing a restored classic at every major global film festival over the past 12 months, including Berlin (In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones), Cannes (Amma Ariyan) and Venice (English, August).

Tajdar Amrohi recalled attending the film’s grand premiere in 1972 with his father and 'chhoti ammi' (Kumari), when 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. I would like to thank Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and Film Heritage Foundation for restoring the film with so much passion and meticulous care and for bringing my father and his greatest work back to life so that new generations will see the unforgettable Meena Kumari and enjoy the beauty of the film.

'I remember when I was a child, my father was deep into the making of Pakeezah. Everything in our lives revolved around Pakeezah. My father had put in everything he had in the film and whenever we asked him for anything as children, his response would always be, “After Pakeezah.”Pakeezah was his life’s mission,' Tajdar said in a statement, recalling his visits to the sets on floor no. 3 at Filmistan, where most of the film was shot.

Rukhsaar Amrohi said Pakeezah was her father’s "obsession, dream, oxygen" that gave meaning to his life. "No one else could have played the role of Pakeezah, but Choti Ammi (Meena Kumari). She was Pakeezah. My father nurtured the film for over fifteen years like a child..."

Conceptualised in the mid-1950s as a tribute to Amrohi’s wife and muse Meena Kumari, Pakeezah spent 15 gruelling years in production. Filming began in black and white in 1956 before shifting to Eastmancolor in 1958, with acclaimed German cinematographer Josef Wirsching behind the camera.

Set during the twilight era of the nawabs of Lucknow, the film starred Meena Kumari in dual roles as courtesan Nargis and her daughter Sahibjaan.

Production was repeatedly disrupted by casting changes, script revisions and Amrohi’s obsessive perfectionism. A studio fire also destroyed part of the original black-and-white negatives, according to the FHF release.

Work on the film stalled completely in 1964, when Amrohi and Kumari separated over personal differences. Kumari subsequently descended into severe alcoholism and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 1968.

The film was revived after Sunil Dutt and Nargis saw footage in 1969 and convinced Kumari, who was ill at the time, to complete what would become her life’s work. Pakeezah finally released on 4 February 1972. Kumari, still battling liver cirrhosis, died on 31 March 1972, aged 38.

Propelled by Kumari’s tragic death and overwhelming critical acclaim, the film became a box-office sensation. Also featuring Ashok Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Veena, Sapru and Kamal Kapoor, Pakeezah is now regarded as a cinematic masterpiece, with songs such as 'Mausam Hai Ashiqana', 'Chalte Chalte', 'Inhi Logon Ne' and 'Thade Rahiyo' still etched in public memory.

With PTI inputs