PAKEEZAH:

Pakeezah (Hindi: पाक़ीज़ा, Urdu: پاقیزا lit.Virgin, pure of heart) was an Urdu film (of Bollywood, Indian cinema) that was released in 1972, and is well remembered by generations of its admirers for its touching story of a courtesan, and for its lovely songs by Lata Mangeshkar. It was the magnum opus of the perfectionist director, Kamal Amrohi.

Pakeezah took nearly 14 years to shoot because of change in relationship between Meena Kumari and the director from warm to worse and then back to compromise one.

The heroine of the movie, Meena Kumari, gave probably the best performance of her career. When initially released in February 1972 the film opened to a lukewarm response and was supposed to be a flop. However after Meena Kumari's untimely death a month later, Pakeezah became a cult classic.

WILL TAKE AN INDEPTH LOOK INTO PAZEEZAH:

quote:

Originally posted by asj:
PAKEEZAH:

Pakeezah (Hindi: पाक़ीज़ा, Urdu: پاقیزا lit.Virgin, pure of heart) was an Urdu film (of Bollywood, Indian cinema) that was released in 1972, and is well remembered by generations of its admirers for its touching story of a courtesan, and for its lovely songs by Lata Mangeshkar. It was the magnum opus of the perfectionist director, Kamal Amrohi.

Pakeezah took nearly 14 years to shoot because of change in relationship between Meena Kumari and the director from warm to worse and then back to compromise one.

The heroine of the movie, Meena Kumari, gave probably the best performance of her career. When initially released in February 1972 the film opened to a lukewarm response and was supposed to be a flop. However after Meena Kumari's untimely death a month later, Pakeezah became a cult classic.

WILL TAKE AN INDEPTH LOOK INTO PAZEEZAH:

Our Jammat urge a boycott of the Film since it portrayed our dirty laundry, lol..I was told by my mother. I was too young.

The best

Some of best scenes from Pakeezah: the dance number..when she told the anjuman that they were the ones who removed her veil (her virginity).

Then that dramatic scene when Salim told her that "today" her shame will be removed forever. ON their way to the masjid which she was unaware of, she was humilated, and as they approached the masj id and the maulana began the nikkah,(up to that moment she had no name, she was nameless).Maulana as her what is her name, she had no answer, Salim said, "pakeezah" (the pure/virgin).... she did not want him to take this burden and ran off screaming... back to the patoorah Haveli.

Pakeezah was filmed over a long period and there was quite a long gap in between, in the movie Meena Kumar has grown old and face swollen from her abuse of alchol. She was hitting the booze big time.

http://redplanetblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/pakeezah.jpg

Bhaijan this item was very influential to our young student dancers. Directed by GHulam Mohammed.

Inhi Logo ne

Dance clip of Inhi logo ne

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Bhaijan this item was very influential to our young student dancers. Directed by GHulam Mohammed.

Inhi Logo ne

bai Meena Kumari tear ass in her days.. this mumber came back in Umrao Jaan, Razia Sultana, among many others. Berbice Melas had all them dancers doing this number....

good to have you back.

quote:

Originally posted by Jansher:

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Bhaijan this item was very influential to our young student dancers. Directed by GHulam Mohammed.

Inhi Logo ne

bai Meena Kumari tear ass in her days.. this mumber came back in Umrao Jaan, Razia Sultana, among many others. Berbice Melas had all them dancers doing this number....

good to have you back.

Thanks. Only yesterday, on our way back from NY we were listening and talking about this song. People were naming their daughters (Meena) after her too.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:

quote:

Originally posted by Jansher:

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Bhaijan this item was very influential to our young student dancers. Directed by GHulam Mohammed.

Inhi Logo ne

bai Meena Kumari tear ass in her days.. this mumber came back in Umrao Jaan, Razia Sultana, among many others. Berbice Melas had all them dancers doing this number....

good to have you back.

Thanks. Only yesterday, on our way back from NY we were listening and talking about this song. People were naming their daughters (Meena) after her too.

Big time they were naming them ghal Meena.

Well you missed the death of bollywood,

Please keep bollywood alive.

quote:

Originally posted by Jansher:



Big time they were naming them ghal Meena.

Well you missed the death of bollywood,

Please keep bollywood alive.

Certainly, I will do my best to keep it alive. It's distinct and I use to refer many of my friends to this forum especialy for songs and other topical items. I will not visit BET.

Another classical that I loved is Chalte Chalte (Walking, Walking).

Chalte Chalte

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Another classical that I loved is Chalte Chalte (Walking, Walking).

Chalte Chalte

i love allthe songs from pakeeza

chalo dildar chalo
mausam hai aashiqana
tharo rahiyo

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Another classical that I loved is Chalte Chalte (Walking, Walking).

Chalte Chalte

i love allthe songs from pakeeza

chalo dildar chalo
mausam hai aashiqana
tharo rahiyo

These songs are all beautiful. They also demonstrate the influence and the fusion of urdu and hindi. Ghulam Mohammed has carried out an extra ordinary task in directing the music.

I have said this many time, Pakeezah is my all time favorite movie. All the songs are classic

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:

quote:

Originally posted by Jansher:



Big time they were naming them ghal Meena.

Well you missed the death of bollywood,

Please keep bollywood alive.

Certainly, I will do my best to keep it alive. It's distinct and I use to refer many of my friends to this forum especialy for songs and other topical items. I will not visit BET.

Another classical that I loved is Chalte Chalte (Walking, Walking).

Chalte Chalte

waiting and waiting for my love to return... the night is ending, the oil lamp is extinguishing, he is not in sight... the train passes and meena sees no salim...

Hi Lynn this one for you.
The Season is amorous

quote:

Originally posted by Riya:
I have said this many time, Pakeezah is my all time favorite movie. All the songs are classic

Me hear u get three diffent copies and you watch them about ten times halready..

Nargis retires to the qabarstaan and sahib jaan is born there... the azaan is heard in the background...

quote:

Originally posted by Jansher:

Me hear u get three diffent copies and you watch them about ten times halready..

Nargis retires to the qabarstaan and sahib jaan is born there... the azaan is heard in the background...

Meh does alternate the 3 and done watch them more than 10 times

Something about the train whistle does get to me. I can actually feel her longing...

Hi Guys, thanks for keeping Bollywood alive, we hope that Admin sees the necessity on giving us back our "house"

Back to Pakeezah:

We know that Kamal Amrohi directs the film and it was his magnus opus, we are pleased to submit this piece from Amrohi's son.

"My father, Kamaal Amrohi, first started 'Pakeezah' in 1959. Since the film was in cinemascope and there was no equipment available in India, he leased an Anomorphic lens which could be attached to a 35 mm camera. On completion, the film had to be sent to a lab in London. My father was not satisfied with the results, insisting that it was out of focus. Twice the film was sent back to London and the lab assured him it was perfect, but he was not convinced. Finally a committee was formed in the USA to decide. The verdict...1/100th of a second out of focus! So impressed was 20th Century that they gifted my father the lens" (Tajdar Amrohi in B D Garg's 'So Many Cinemas')

More than a decade in the making, the film was eventually completed and released in 1970, the year in which Meena Kumari died, thus ensuring its runaway success. Amrohi brought the same fastidiousness to all his films. His next film 'Razia Sultan', made with a mammoth budget, took another decade to complete and when it was released in 1982, turned out to be a total disaster. Perhaps it is this which explains his extremely meagre output, a total of four films in more than fifty years' association with Hindi films.
Tajdar Amroh:

.

A betting me 1GY$ that this thread will be transferred to the other side before morning.

quote:

Originally posted by Riya:
I have said this many time, Pakeezah is my all time favorite movie. All the songs are classic

In 70's, We were not a visible minority (Indos and Pakistanis from wherever) in Montreal. We were just a few but we mixed well. One of the profs from Pakistan used the Mc Gill auditorium and showed this movie. I always remember this movie since it was done in tribute to Meena.

continues........

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................

.

quote:

Originally posted by T_P:
A betting me 1GY$ that this thread will be transferred to the other side before morning.

I don't doubt that.

asj should just start another one then

quote:

Originally posted by T_P:
A betting me 1GY$ that this thread will be transferred to the other side before morning.

TP, Resectfully, Amral is his own boss, he does not listen to anyone, I doubt that he will listen to what you are saying he will do, and transfer thread, but if he does, so be it.
.

quote:

Originally posted by T_P:
A betting me 1KGY$ that this thread will be transferred to the other side before morning.

You would be very rich if you bet like this every day. Hold on to the 999GY$, I just added to your bet. How you keeping?

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Hi Lynn this one for you.
The Season is amorous

simply awesome Mits Bhaiya..i have this on CD..all of pakeezah songs ie!

here is youtube..
i used to lie in hammock and close my eyes and listen to this song over and over on audio

Mausam Hai Aashiqana

Thade Rahiyo

lovely classical Mits/ ASJ!

'Pakeezah' became a milestone that it did because of Meena Kumari's presence and the pathos she effortlessly brought to her role. It was released at the beginning of the Seventies, a period when things rapidly began to change both within the film industry and the country at large. In a sense it marks a culmination of an earlier period of filmmaking where Urdu language and Muslim socials marked the apogee of refinement and grace and the audience lapped it up. For two decades between 1970 and 1990, the vast teeming masses were the strongest determinant of Hindi cinema and that whole period is personified by Amitabh Bachchan. With that the Muslim social also took its curtain call notwithstanding the freak success of an odd 'Nikaah' or 'Tawaaif' in the 80s. This was amply evident when 'Razia Sultan' was released.

The times had changed as they always do. One can lament that process but regret for things past is also a comment on what takes its place, and therefore on the taste of one's contemporaries. A dubious exercise, but nevertheless not an entirely useless one. 'Pakeezah' represents the passing of an era. And we must remember it for that as well. For those who do not remember their past are condemned to relive it.

More from Pakeezah:

.

here tune Mits Bhaiya...
Chal dildar chalo

Gems of yesterday..will never die!!

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:
here tune Mits Bhaiya...
Chal dildar chalo

Gems of yesterday..will never die!!

I am playing this song right now - or more so -- before I read this post.

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:
Thade Rahiyo

lovely classical Mits/ ASJ!

Sis Lynn, Mits,Ri,TP When this movie came out, I remember distinctly that I raided my Pulson Cup (a sardine tin that was nailed by my dad in the bedroom with a hole at the top to accomodate coins) I went to Mohamed's Record Bar where I got that LP; my dad fell in love with the tunes and he immediately give me back the money with a stern warning

Unbelievably I still have that LP

.

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:
here tune Mits Bhaiya...
Chal dildar chalo

Gems of yesterday..will never die!!

Waahowah.

--MALE--
Chalo dildaar chalo (lets go my darling lets go)

Chaand ke paar chalo (lets go beyond the moon)


--FEMALE--
Hum hai tayaar chalo (i'm ready let us go )

quote:

Originally posted by asj:

Sis Lynn, Mits,Ri,TP When this movie came out, I remember distinctly that I raided my Pulson Cup (a sardine tin that was nailed by my dad in the bedroom with a hole at the top to accomodate coins) I went to Mohamed's Record Bar where I got that LP; my dad fell in love with the tunes and he immediately give me back the money with a stern warning

Unbelievably I still have that LP

.

quote:

Originally posted by asj:

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:
Thade Rahiyo

lovely classical Mits/ ASJ!

Sis Lynn, Mits,Ri,TP When this movie came out, I remember distinctly that I raided my Pulson Cup (a sardine tin that was nailed by my dad in the bedroom with a hole at the top to accomodate coins) I went to Mohamed's Record Bar where I got that LP; my dad fell in love with the tunes and he immediately give me back the money with a stern warning

Unbelievably I still have that LP

.

Asj Bhaiya..i dont of anyone who didnt love the songs and this movie ..( & MEENA K in it)

btw
i know those "puzzling" cups made from sardine tins..had a few on our walls too!!

quote:

Originally posted by Demerara_Guy:

quote:

Originally posted by asj:

Sis Lynn, Mits,Ri,TP When this movie came out, I remember distinctly that I raided my Pulson Cup (a sardine tin that was nailed by my dad in the bedroom with a hole at the top to accomodate coins) I went to Mohamed's Record Bar where I got that LP; my dad fell in love with the tunes and he immediately give me back the money with a stern warning

Unbelievably I still have that LP

.

DG Thanks for the kind words on the BET, on Meena K; it is an effort by all our colleagues, my input is like say 10 percent, Sis Lynn can vouch for this.

.

quote:

Originally posted by asj:

Sis Lynn, Mits,Ri,TP When this movie came out, I remember distinctly that I raided my Pulson Cup (a sardine tin that was nailed by my dad in the bedroom with a hole at the top to accomodate coins) I went to Mohamed's Record Bar where I got that LP; my dad fell in love with the tunes and he immediately give me back the money with a stern warning

Unbelievably I still have that LP

.

quote:

Originally posted by Demerara_Guy:

quote:

Originally posted by asj:


DG Thanks for the kind words on the BET, on Meena K; it is an effort by all our colleagues, my input is like say 10 percent, Sis Lynn can vouch for this.

.

You and the group have dome a magnificent job and personally, the numerous articles have brought back fond memories of past movies, etc.

Coincidentally, just before I came on this thread i put on a cd with the songs from Pakeeza.

quote:

Originally posted by asj:
[
DG Thanks for the kind words on the BET, on Meena K; it is an effort by all our colleagues, my input is like say 10 percent, Sis Lynn can
vouch for this.

.

Sis Lynn nah guh lie bhaiya ASJ!..


Cuz DG
ASJ does 90% of all thw wrk on BF...
de ress of us do 10%
but me bhaiya too humble..he nah like fuh tek de praises for his hard wrk..

quote:

Originally posted by Demerara_Guy:
[

Coincidentally, just before I came on this thread i put on a cd with the songs from Pakeeza.

hmmm ...got to watch yuh Bhaiya!
like u lil psychic or what??

quote:

Originally posted by lynn:

hmmm ...got to watch yuh Bhaiya!
like u lil psychic or what??

Mayhaps, mayhaps, Lynn.

ah tell yuh this is wan real coolie forum

BACK TO PAKEEZAH: A REVIEW:

Synopsis

The dancer and courtesan Nargis (Meena Kumari) dreams of escaping her dishonourable life but she is rejected by the family of her husband Shahabuddin (Ashok Kumar). She dies in a graveyard, giving birth to a daughter Sahibjaan who also grows up to be a courtesan (Meena Kumari). Sahibjaan's guardian Nawabjaan (Veena), Nargis's sister, prevents Shahabuddin from seeing her and takes her away to another place. Sahibjaan falls in love with a mysterious, noble stranger who turns out to be her father's nephew, Salim (Raaj Kumar). Salim's father forbids the marriage. Sahibjaan dances at Salim's arranged wedding where Shahabuddin discovers her identity and claims her as his child. Finally, her desires are fulfilled and she marries Salim, leaving her past behind.

The film

Pakeezah is a stylized, larger than life mythicization of the familiar tale of the prostitute with the heart of gold. Perhaps Meena Kumari's best known film, the film had been planned by her and husband Amrohi since 1958. When the two of them separated in 1964, filming came to a halt. Initially Dharmendra was to have played the male lead but Raaj Kumar replaced him. After some years by which time Meena Kumari was suffering from alcoholism, she decided to complete the film before she died.

In the film Amrohi turns to the milieu and culture he is a product of - Uttar Pradesh's feudal elite, its life of ease and elegance, of romantic love, poetry and mujras. Its decadence is not without a touch of class and has sometimes resulted in much creative upsurge. Pakeezah inherits that legacy. There is grandeur in Amrohi's filmmaking - an epic magnitude of treatment. The evocative songs and the background music create the right period mood and Amrohi's eye for details brings great depth to the lavish sets. The dances are extremely well choreographed, cleverly hiding Meena Kumari's inability to dance (Just watch her walk and move ever so gracefully in the song Chalte Chalte even as two other nautch girls dance in the background). And the picturisation of the song Chalo Dildar Chalo across the wide expanse of sea and sky to the boat on which the lovers ride is romanticism at its best. In fact, the film's main merit in spite of its flaws, at times disjointed flow, its stock situations and an over stretched plot lies in its delirious romanticism.

Though the suffering courtesan occupies central stage, she is defined by male values and shaped by patriarchal parameters with the courtesan having to lead a life of emotional repression. The caged bird whose feathers are trimmed and the torn kite hanging in her courtyard operate as visual symbols for her imprisonment and curtailment of desire. The train or the patriarchal haveli are well-knit constructs in the fabric of the film. In fact, the whistle of the train is used like a leitmotif throughout the film.

Ghulam Mohammed's music is one of the all time great scores in Indian Cinema. Pakeezah reaffirms his great talent and it is sad he did not get his due in the Hindi Film Industry in spite of brilliant work in films like Mirza Ghalib (1954) and Shama (1961) besides Pakeezah. Sadly, he did not live to enjoy the efforts of his labour in Pakeezah and Naushad finally completed the music score. The other factor of course which lifts Pakeezah way above the ordinary is Meena Kumari's stunning performance in the dual role of Nargis and Sahibjaan in the film.

Pakeezah finally released in February 1972 and opened to just a lukewarm response but after the death of Meena Kumari on 31st March, 1972, the film went on to become a huge success at the box-office and has since acquired major cult status as well.