Meena Kumari's iconic 'Pakeezah' restored; to premiere in France
What's the story
The iconic Bollywood film Pakeezah (1972), starring Meena Kumari, is set to return to the silver screen in a 4K restored version. The restoration was done by the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) and took two years. The restored version will have its world premiere at Festival Lumiere in Lyon, France, in October, before heading to the BFI London Film Festival.
Restoration details
Original camera negative was almost melted
The FHF director, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, revealed that the original camera negative of Pakeezah was in a terrible condition when they started the restoration.
"When I went to inspect the original camera negative, I saw that it had almost melted."
"The other film elements we had to work with were not in good condition, with faded colors, scratches and mold... During our research, we discovered original film stills which helped a great deal," he said in a release.
Film history
'Pakeezah' had a troubled production history
Pakeezah, directed by Kamal Amrohi, had a troubled production history. It was conceptualized in the mid-1950s as a tribute to Kumari's beauty but took 15 years to complete.
The film was shot in black-and-white initially before switching to Eastmancolor in 1958 with acclaimed German cinematographer Josef Wirsching at the helm.
Shooting stopped in 1964 when Kumari and Amrohi split.
The production eventually lost its cinematographer Wirsching in 1967 and composer Ghulam Mohammed in 1968 during this long journey.
Festival screenings
Restored version will be presented by Amrohi's family
Kumari pushed through her liver cirrhosis diagnosis to finish the film and sadly died months after its release on February 4, 1972.
The restored version will be screened at London's BFI IMAX. The screening will be presented by Dungarpur, Amrohi's children-Tajdar and Rukhsaar-and grandson Bilal.
Over the past year, FHF has placed a restored classic at every major global film festival, including Berlin with In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, Cannes with Amma Ariyan, and Venice with English, August.