Pakeezah is that rare film whose making is as much of a story as the actual plot

When you hear the name of some actors, you immediately think of just one movie, and most people think of the same movie. And in this case, it’s not because the actor only had a small number of roles. Instead, it’s because that one film is so famous and well-known that it’s become part of the actor’s identity. And Pakeezah is without a doubt that movie for Meena Kumari.

When the movie came out on February 4, 1972, it did not do well right away. That’s understandable, since Pakeezah wasn’t made for the 1970s audience, which was used to the fluffy romances of the 1960s and getting ready to embrace kitschy masala films and the Angry Young Man trope. Since the mid-1950s, when life was slower and more graceful, Pakeezah had been in the works.

But while the storyline about a courtesan and her forbidden love may be out of date now, the movie’s main message about love and wanting to be accepted for who you are is timeless. Pakeezah also helps because it is beautifully made. Meena Kumari herself designed the beautiful costumes, and the sets and music are also lovely.

Significantly more than its plot

The movie opens with Nargis (Meena Kumari), a courtesan who lives in a kotha operated by her sister Nawabjaan (Veena Sapru), having ran away with her boyfriend, Shahabuddin (Ashok Kumar) (Ashok Kumar). But his father, Hakim Saab (D.K. Sapru), would not tolerate the arrival of a tawaif into their respectable household, and as he berates his son and insults Nargis, she flees and seeks sanctuary in a cemetery. Shahabuddin tries everywhere but is unable to locate her, while she lives out the remainder of her days in the graveyard and gives birth to their daughter.

She passes away shortly thereafter, but not before writing a note to Shahabuddin. However, the letter does not reach him until 17 years later, by which time Nawabjaan had arrived and taken the child with her.

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Years later, Nargis’s daughter, Sahibjaan (also portrayed by Meena Kumari), is the centre of attention at the kotha as she sings Inhi Logon Ne Le Liya Dupatta Mera, courtesans in mujras whirling in the background. Shahabuddin attempts to meet her, but Nawabjaan deflects him and instructs him to return the next day. When he does, she has taken Sahibjaan to a different city because she doesn’t want to give her up, whether out of filial love or for financial gain.

While Sahibjaan is sleeping on the train, Salim (Raaj Kumar), a young forest officer, enters her cabin. He falls instantly in love with her sleeping figure (or, well, with her feet) and writes her a message to this effect. His few words become her lifeline over the following several days, as she, too, falls in love with him. She is unaware of who he is, but fate leads her directly to his tent, where she discovers he is the man she has been dreaming about.

However, history has a tendency of repeating itself, and it turns out that Salim is the nephew of Shahabuddin and the grandson of Hakim Saab. Once more, Hakim Saab attempts to exert his arrogant control. Before a resolution is reached, high drama and tragedy occur.

But to be honest, the storyline is rarely the focus of Pakeezah. The film is significantly more than its convoluted storyline, and this has as much to do with its emotional depth as with its extraordinary production history.

How Pakeezah was made could be its own movie.

Kamal Amrohi, who was also married to rising star Meena Kumari, wanted to make a movie that would do her justice. In his book Pakeezah: An Ode to a Bygone World, Meghnad Desai says that he had the idea for Pakeezah ready in the mid-1950s and that the film’s muhurat was set for January 1957. However, he spent the next few years looking for locations, choosing a lead actor, writing and rewriting different parts of the film, and doing many other things.

By 1964, the movie still hadn’t been made, but Meena Kumari was a big star thanks to movies like Kohinoor (1960) and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), among many others. That was also the year that she and Kamal Amrohi broke up, which set back their already very late dream production even more. During the next five years, she got very sick and struggled with alcoholism. As a result, her career graph slowed down.

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Josef Wirsching, the film’s cinematographer, died in 1967, and about a dozen other people helped out when they had time between other projects. Shooting was very hard because colour technologies like CinemaScope, Eastman, and Technicolor were now in use, and it was very hard to keep the same look and feel without the cinematographer who had worked on the movie from the beginning.

The next year, Ghulam Mohammed, who was in charge of the music for Pakeezah, also died. He left behind a beautiful soundtrack with songs like “Chalte Chalte,” “Thaade Rahiyo,” and “Mausam Hai Aashiqana,” but an unfinished score. Then Naushad came in to finish the background music and title music.

Meena Kumari didn’t get better from her illness until 1969. She was weak, but she was still determined to finish filming. She was also very kind, and her ex-husband only gave her a small amount of money for her work.

Meena Kumari died on March 31, 1972, a little more than a month after this masterpiece finally came out. Not only did her death bring more people to the theatre, but it also made her famous as Pakeezah.