bnanno

This film is a little off the main run of Hindi movies. The storyline is a bit different, yet will be instantly recognisable to millions of Indians living in joint families much influenced by their elders! And also about pride, and resentment and ultimately regret and forgiveness.

Music is good and well-integrated into the film; in fact a turning point of the plot is during one of the songs. Dialogue is characteristically Bedi, who spurned the more melodramatic tendencies of a lot of films and Phagun has characters talking in his direct and down-to-earth, realistic conversational style.

It is certainly good family entertainment and recommended to all who like our Hindi films to be a little less absurd. Director Rajinder Singh Bedi contributed to some quality writing in Indian cinema through films like Madhumati or Abhimaan. If you like this, also watch his other directorial venture, Dastak.

I switched off the moment "Gandhi" was portrayed as an "unknown" just returned from South Africa...in 1938????????? Couldn't Ms Mehta have picked up a child's history of India and read something? By 1938 Gandhi had gone from Jallianwalla Bagh (1917)-leader of Congress, the biggest Indian party (1921), also start of Civil Disobedience movement, and the Satyagrah and Swadeshi movments, Salt March (1929)...point is, that by 1938, Gandhi was more than a household name even in remotest India.

Couldn't see the point of this total historical inaccuracy except to make Indians sound even more backward and dependent. Also by this time there were a lot of Hindu Reform movements were already very active in the late 1800s.

Although child marriage with older men was there, a vast majority of child marriages were betrothals between children of a similar age (my own 2 sets of grandparents who had a couple of years difference), which did not actually result in marriage as living together. This did not happen until they were of a more "suitable" age, when the bridegroom would formally come to fetch his bride, which is called, e.g. "muklava" in Punjabi.

So despite the beautiful photograph, the setting was clearly identifiable as somewhere in South India right a the beginning (I learnt it was Sri Lanka at the end), but was meant to be Varanasi or thereabouts, I found it very dull, flat film after the strong beginning. John Abraham's character was a washout, one doesn't really understand what is he waiting around doing nothing and why does he let her go and why doesn't he go for her immediately knowing the situation, etc. etc.

A let-down.

This film opened to poor showings in the first few weeks. Then Meena Kumari died and it just brought the crowds rolling in. Songs on All India Radio, especially Inhi LogoN ne were played so often that I was sick of them at the time, despite recognising their beauty!

Yes, it did take all those years to make. This was because the marriage was a very unhappy one and Kamal Amrohi also had difficulty finding the money to make the film; looking at the sumptous sets and costumes, not surprising!! Not only does Meena Kumari age and fall ill but listen carefully to Lata's voice. Inhi logoN ne has her 50's younger voice while songs that were re-recorded like Chalo dildar chalo show clear development. I only wish someone would find the Ghulam Mohammad songs that weren't included in the film, because of changing fashions that called for fewer though slightly songs and publish them. Lata in a recent interview (2007) rated Ghulam Mohammad as one of the best composers she had ever worked with, apart from Madan Mohan (a great personal friend). Notice also that you hardly see the actors at all in the Chalo dildar songs, very unusual. There is only a brief shot of Raj Kumar from the middle distance and you only see the back of the supposed Meena Kumari. Kamal Amrohi made a virtue out of necessity and focused on the stars and moon. Any other film, this song would have had close-ups of both of them.

As for this being the finest film ever, I would beg to differ. It means you have missed a lot of Indian cinema, in no particular order, films like Barsaat (old), Devdas (older versions), Bandini, Do Bigha Zameen, Garam Hava, Dastak, Guddi, Aan, Pyasa, Kagaz ke Phool, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam, Kabuliwallah, Abhimaan, Guide, Sujatha, Bombay ka Babu, Daag, Parineeta (old), Umrao Jaan, etc. etc. And if you valued music more than story the list would simply grow with beautiful scores from Barsat Ki Raat to Naya Daur, Teesri Manzil, Mahal, Aag, Jugnu, Anand, Mera Naam Joker: the list is really endless!

So enjoy Pakeezah but don't miss out on any of the above...