One of the most romantic lines in Hindi cinema were uttered in Amrohi's next venture 'Pakeezah'. At a desolate railway station sometime late in the night Raaj Kumar enters a train compartment to find a sleeping Meena Kumari with her face covered. Virtually, the very next shot is a close up of her feet as she wakes in the morning. There is a note stuck to it with the following message. "Aap ke paanv dekhe. Bahut khoobsurat hain. Khudaaraa inhein zameen par naa utaariyega varna yeh maile ho jaayenge."
The story of a courtesan's love affar with an aristocratic young man and the social obstacles which come their way, 'Pakeezah' was marred by the long time it took to be made, and the stereotypical plot. Meena Kumari aged desperately in the Sixties as her personal life turned from tragedy to a self-sufficient and self-indulgent pathos and the film contained glaring inconsistencies of look. Ashok Kumar succumbs to family pressures and fails to keep his pledge to marry a courtesan. Their daughter is brought up as a courtesan, and when she grows up Raaj Kumar, who is Ashok's nephew, falls in love with her. Melodrama, stock situations and tacky sets further pulled down the threadbare plot which was only uplifted by Ghulam Mohammad's soulful music.
That train and the whistles................
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