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There was much more to filmmaker Kamal Amrohi than Pakeezah. Daaera, which Amrohi directed a decade before Pakeezah, was the story of a very young woman married to a man old enough to be her father. And before Daaera, there was Mahal, Indian cinema’s first ghost story to attain blockbuster status.

Kamal Amrohi’s proud son, Tajdar Amrohi, feels injustice has been done to his father’s memory. “It pains me to say this. Both the film industry and the government of India never gave him his due recognition. My father learnt to write from his mother’s womb.Iss aadmi ne likhna apni maa ki doodh peekar sikha. He never assisted anyone. At age 17, he wrote Pukar and became a big-name writer in Hindi cinema.”

Adding, “My father was a pioneer and a trendsetter. In Mahal, he brought the suspense genre to Indian cinema. And if in Mahal...

In this special feature, Subhash K Jha takes a look at the Iifa nominations and shares his thoughts on who was snubbed and who should take home the prize.

Was Ravi Kishan really a supporting actor in Laapata Ladies? And were Sparsh Shrivastav and Nitanshi Goel the lead actor and actresses in Kiran Rao’s gem on ditzy spousal swaps?

Laapata Ladies would have worked just as well with any two new eager beavers.

Not nominating Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi for Sirsha Guha Thakurta’s wonderful Do Aur Do Pyar, or for that matter not nominating Applause Entertainment’s Do Aur Do Pyar for any of the major categories reminds me of the time when the music and songs of Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah composed by Ghulam Mohammed, lost the Filmfare award to Shankar-Jaikishan’s Beimaan in 1972. Errrr, does anyone remember a single song from Beimaaan today?

Ignore tomorrow...

Hyderabad, Jan 8 (Ians) Madrasa-i-Aliya, the alma mater of the nobility of Hyderabad and which later churned out cricketers like Ghulam Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, Abbas Ali Baig, Mohammed Azharuddin and former Indian football captain Shabbir Ali, has completed 150 years.

Azharuddin, Shabbir Ali and other eminent alumni of the institution gathered for a reunion.

Nearly 250 alumni of Madrasa-i-Aliya, now known as Aliya Government School, came for an evening of nostalgia.

Established in 1872 by the Sixth Nizam Nawab Mir Mehboob Ali Khan, the institution’s sesquicentennial celebrations took place at the 138-year old Nizam Club, another historic institution of the Nizam era.

The reunion event was organized by a group of Aliyans whose efforts brought together students from the 1949 batch to the 1980s. Many Aliyans were posthumously remembered on the occasion.

The alumni revisited the remarkable history and legacy of the institution in a short documentary produced by Media Plus Foundation.

Zahid Ali Khan,...

The 1972 film had music by Ghulam Mohammed and Naushad while lyrics were penned by Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kamal Amrohi and Kaif Bhopali. Pakeezah had some iconic songs like Inhi Logon Ne, Chalo Dildar Chalo and Chalte Chalte Yun Hi...

Directed by notable filmmaker Kamal Amrohi, Pakeezah (1972) contains everything one would envisage in a typical Bollywood film. This includes drama, romance, suspense, astounding cinematography, as well as exquisite song and dance sequences. It is a film which surely anyone infatuated with Indian cinema will love. It is also remembered for being one of the last great films to have starred the legendary actress Meena Kumari. She has been dubbed the ‘tragedy queen’ of Indian Cinema and also set the foundation when it comes to intense method acting. The film began production in the late 1950s, but took 14 years to complete. Due to a rift between Amrohi and Kumari (who were married to each other), filming came to a halt and it was in 1972 that the audience finally saw the beauty that is Pakeezah. These 14 years were no doubt worth the wait!

Set in the backdrop of Lucknow, Pakeezah is about...

Mumbai, Feb 19: Legendary music composer Khayyam, who turned 86 recently, recalled how he was scared while composing music for one of his biggest hits "Umrao Jaan" after the super success of film "Pakeezah".

Both the films had a similar theme, as the stories revolved around a Lucknow courtesan. While "Pakeezah" released 1972, Muzaffar Ali's "Umrao Jaan" released 1981. The music of both the films is celebrated till today.

"'Umrao Jaan' was a subject which already had 'Pakeezah' in front of it, a big hit. Maker Kamal Amrohi saab, Meena Kumari as heroine, Ashok Kumar and Rajkumar saab, music by Ghulam Mohammad was super duper hit..