A 4K restored version of Meena Kumari’s 1972 classic Pakeezah will have its world premiere at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, France, before being screened at the BFI London Film Festival. The restoration of Kamal Amrohi’s iconic film was undertaken by the non-profit Film Heritage Foundation, which spent two years painstakingly working to restore the movie to its original splendour.
The Lyon premiere will be led by Cannes and Lumière chief Thierry Frémaux. The restored film will then travel to London for a gala screening at the BFI IMAX. The event will be presented by Film Heritage Foundation director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, along with Amrohi’s children Tajdar and Rukhsaar and grandson Bilal Amrohi, according to Hindustan Times.
Late film critic Derek Malcolm once described Pakeezah as “one of the most extraordinary musical melodramas ever made”. The film has also become synonymous with a troubled production journey that reflected much of the intense drama and emotional anguish portrayed on screen.
The film was conceived in the mid-1950s as a tribute to the beauty of Amrohi’s wife and muse, Meena Kumari. The project went through an arduous 15-year production period. Shooting began in black-and-white in 1956 before the production transitioned to Eastmancolor in 1958, with acclaimed German cinematographer Josef Wirsching serving as director of photography.
During its restoration research, the Film Heritage Foundation team unearthed original film stills that proved valuable to the process. Dungarpur also sought insights from Kamal Amrohi’s children, Tajdar and Rukhsaar, who had visited the sets during production and preserved vivid memories of the film’s making, Hindustan Times reported.
The restoration was carried out by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the Amrohi family. It also marks another major milestone in the foundation’s growing presence at international film festivals.
Over the past year, FHF has showcased a restored Indian classic at several leading global festivals, including In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones in Berlin, Amma Ariyan in Cannes and English, August in Venice. With its upcoming Lyon and London screenings, the newly restored Pakeezah will further extend that remarkable festival run.
