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:
.