Pakeezah (1972)

The story of a prostitute, with a pure heart (PAKEEZAH), and grand dreams...

Director:

Kamal Amrohi

Writers:

Aman, Kamal Amrohi

Stars:

Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ashok Kumar	...	Shahabuddin
Meena Kumari	...	Nargis / Sahibjaan
Raaj Kumar	...	Salim Ahmed Khan
Veena	...	Nawabjaan
D.K. Sapru	...	Hakim Saab (as Sapru)
Kamal Kapoor	...	Nawab Zafar Ali Khan
Vijay Laxmi
Jagdish Kanwal
Nadira	...	Madame Gauhar Jaan
Pratima Devi	...	Salim's Badi Amma
Prakash Gill	...	Hashim Khan (Guy on the Horse)
Altaf
Praveen Paul	...	(as Parveen Paul)
Lotan
Chanda	...	(as Chanda Bai)

Storyline

A girl, whose mother dies of sorrow from her husband's family's rejection, grows up singing and dancing like her mother. She works as a dancing girl and is courted by a prince, but can think only of a man she has never met, who left her a message on the train. She dreams of him and cannot dance, becomes frightened and runs into the night

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Plot Keywords:

dance | brothel | train | prostitute | forbidden love | 

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Genres:

Musical | Romance | Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Urdu

Release Date:

4 February 1972 (India)

Also Known As:

Pure Heart

Filming Locations:

Kamal Amrohi Studios, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mahal Pictures Pvt. Ltd., Sangeeta Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min 126 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In between the making of Pakeezah, Kamal Amrohi had produced and released Dil Apna Preet Parai with the same stars, this film was directed by Kishore Sahu.

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Quotes

Hakim Saab: Jo log doodh se jal jate hain woh chhas bhi phoonk phoonk kar peete hain.
[Those who get burnt by milk blow into buttermilk too before drinking it]
Salim Ahmed Khan: Afsos, log doodh se bhi jal jate hain.
[Alas, people get burnt by milk too]

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Connections

Referenced in Mohra (1994)

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Soundtracks

Nazar kaa waar thaa-najaria ki maari mari mori goinyaan
Sung by Rajkumari

User Reviews

Meena's Monument

At last - I've finally got round to it and managed to see a "clean" copy of Pakeezah! Up until now I've only had a mangled scratchy jerky version taped off Dubai TV sometime in the '90's, with quirky English subtitles, dizzying widescreen coverage and a fluid colour with a mind of its own. Having thought the world of such a poor (and short) copy I find the decent one was well worth the wait and the full 140 minutes even more of a pleasure than I thought possible.

This was the lovely Meena Kumari's film from start to finish, and I believe was planned by her from 1958 on, finally realising it in 1971. What a shame it was that chronic alcoholism finally killed her soon afterwards, and in fact that she was too ill to perform in some of the scenes in Pakeezah, necessitating a body double. In some scenes the strain definitely shows in her face.

The story of Purity versus Adversity I can only treat as fiction having no experience of anything remotely close to it, but I'm led to understand that it faithfully depicts a world now gone that must have been common at one time in India. It's a sparkling and colourful film with a simple relentless epic message, an intense romantic tragedy which is somehow simultaneously feelgood too. But to me it's the peerless golden music by Ghulam Mohammed as sung by the incomparable Lata Mangeshkar - especially Thare Rahiyo - and its part in the unfolding of the story that makes this film so outstanding. I've seldom heard such serious, beautiful, poetic, wondrously sung and played songs on any movie soundtrack. Singin' In The Rain may be my favourite musical film but Pakeezah has my favourite music - yet Lata said that the songs themselves meant nothing special to her. The only pity is that the also unique Mohammed Rafi only had the one song in here, albeit a classic duet with Lata.

Because of all this but not blind to its faults, Pakeezah is my favourite Indian movie, filmed at a time when the Westernisation of India was gathering pace and watched now when Western values seem to be state sponsored and de rigueur. At the very least watch Pakeezah for a taste of what Indian "pop" music had to offer the world before it was all jettisoned for drum machines, the Bollywood Beat and bhangra.