Pakeezah (1971)

Here is the magnum opus made by Kamal Amrohi. This was the last movie acted by fabulous Meena Kumari. Making of this movie could make a great motion picture in itself. Recently I have been reading a book on "Making of Pakeezah" and it gives some insights I didn't know before. I will share them with you.

After the thundering success of "Mahal" made in late 40's with Madhubala and Ashok Kumar, Kamal Amrohi made the movie "Daera" with great expectations. This was a resounding failure. Meena Kumari, who started in movies as a child actress, fell in love with Amrohi and married him. At this juncture, Amrohi wanted to make a movie that people will remember Meena Kumari as a great actress forever. Beginnings of the idea for "Pakeezah" culminated in a script he wrote in 1960. He signed Ghulam Mohammed to compose music. Ghulam Mohammed was not widely known. He was assistant to Naushadji and was also an actor playing small roles. The progress on the movie was slow because Meena Kumari was not readily available. because of her other commitments Another reason is that Amrohi was a perfectionist, much like Asif of Mughal-E-Azam fame. He took lot of time preparing sets and selcting costumes. By 1964, Amrohi's relationship with Meena Kumari soured and they were separated. The making of "Pakeezah" came to a standstill because of Meena Kumari's refusal to act in it.

By 1968 Amrohi's financial situation was not good. Some of the movie "Pakeezah" was already made and he was looking for Meena Kumari to complete the movie. He wrote a letter pleading her to complete the movie. By this time Meena Kumari's roles as an actress dwindled. She decided to go ahead with the project. She reported back on the sets of "Pakeezah" after 5+ years.

By this time several folks associated with the movie died. Ghulam Mohammed was one of them. He died in poverty and poor health. He did compose 12 songs for "Pakeezah." Financiers were not coming forward and asked to change music for the movie. Amrohi signed Naushadji to finish the movie. In the released version of the movie, only six of the 12 compositios of Ghulam Mohammed Saab were included. Naushadji also scored the background music. He composed several songs for the movie. Three of the songs composed by Nusadji were also not included inthmovie. These were: "ban Ban Bole Koyaliya" by Parveen ultana, "Mori Baali Umariya Mein" by Rajkumari, and "Ab Ki Na Jaa Bides", also by Rajkmari.

Dharmendra ws signed to play the role eventually played by Raaj Kumar. The main reason for this was that Meena Kumari and Dharmendra were romatically linked after they played together in the hit movie "Phool Aur Patthar." Amrohi, even though was divorced to Meena Kumari by this time, didn't needed any more distractions.

Irrespective of the hardships faced in making this movie, the movie is a tribute to several people including Meena Kumari and Ghulam Mohammed. They left us a lasting legacy with their work in this movie.

My source for the songs is a CD I have and others were from various online resources. Now for details of the songs and songs themselves ...

Now for the next seven songs of "Pakeezah (1971)" ...

Now for the lat two songs of "Pakeezh (1971)" ...

Swarpriya, this is one of your latest and best presentations on HF. Heartiest congratulations and sincere thanks on your great efforts in bringing up one after another classic albums.

The film Pakeezah and its songs were sometime back discussed in details on another thread on SKS forum. Saksham had put a lot of efforts to begin with and then as usual many members contributed to complete the songs and participated in discussions. Here is the link to that thread :

http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?showtopic=53975

Cheers
Parag

Parag,

I didn't realize that Saksham ji has already put in lot of efforts to bring these songs. If only I knew it I would have skipped. I went back and saw what Saksham wrote, and the book I read reinforces what he described. Sakshamji, my apologies if tried to steal your thunder. That was not my intent. My only intent was to share what I learned. I had no idea at that time that you already have put together all the information in your upload.

Thanks Parag for pointing this out.

Swarapriya

Swarapriya,

Thanks a lot for the Pakeezah album. I was missing a few songs.
Two of your uploaded audio files, 'Gir Gayi Re...zip' and 'Hatkar_Tere_Kadmon.zip' are expanding to same song 'Gir Gayi re'. Would you please recheck the 'Hatkar' audio upload. Thanks,

Exon

Exonji,

Thanks for pointing my error. I have corrected the problem. "Hatkar Tere Kadmon" should be the correct one. Sorry if this caused you any grief.

Swarapriya

Swarapriya,

No grief at all. Please don't think in those terms.
Thanks for your quick response and for your generous uploads of all these albums.

Exon

Swarapriya

The idea of giving the link of Saksham's thread here was just to have a cross-reference to another thread on the same topic. We all know that your only intention is to share great music with all of us.
Please do not worry about such things and please do not skip any albums even if they are posted earlier. All the members love your presentation and quality of songs.



Warmest Regards
Parag

Dear Swarapriya ji

First of all, no need to say sorry for such trivial things! It wasnt a mistake, for you to feel that way! And no stealing of thunder, you've added to it! You have been sharing great music with music lovers like us and are a highly respected member of the forum. I, being a newbie, have a lot of things to learn from you. So, thanks to you for all your wonderful wonderful uploads...we are fortunate to have people like you around who not only have a great collection of music, but are willing to share. God bless!

Sincerest Regards
Saksham

PS- No jis or any other appellate while addressing me please! I'm just a teenager!

Saksham,

You've put my conscience at ease. I know it shouldn't but I must say this was bothering me. Thank you for taking your time to express your feelings. I was impressed with your magnificent upload of Mughal-E-Azam. You've something there for sure to share with all of us. I for myself was so overwhelmed with that write up that I did respond to you right away. It is hard to imagine that you are just a teenager. Your treatise on Mughal-E-Azam showed a mature side. But music has no language, age or relegeous barriers. It transcends everything it touches.

Again, thank you very much for taking time to drop such nice words.

Cheers,
Swarapriya

Dear Ma'am

You have just found a new fan in me!
Thanks a lot for your kind admiration of my work! I really have been very busy with exams and all and have lost touch (well...almost) with the forum. Thats why, in the past 2 months, I seldomly posted. I was unaware of your post till that day!
But even when I did get to know of it, it never evoked any sort of ill-feelings for you! I mean, there was nothing to which I could take offence. So thank God your relieved now.
As for the Mughal-e-Azam post, thanks again for your appreciation! Mughal-e-Azam is my favorite movie, and I just LOVE the music! Ditto for Pakeezah. So I really HAD to do them nicely. And I read your comments and the intresting 'tid-bid' that you provided...a thanks for that as well! I had specially taken time off b/w exams to do the post, and I grateful to fellow members that they liked it.
True that music knows no barrier of age, religion or language, and that I really am 18!

Keep in touch.
Sincerest Regards
Saksham

PS- I dont know why, but my account got deleted on its own! I'm replying from a different name, my new account.

Le Ke Angrai-Verse 00:32
Meena Kumari

MP3/128KBPS

Click to view attachment

I just have the verse, the song

Gir Gayi Re More Maathe Ki Bindiya in not playing.

Tanhai Sunaya Karti Hai is also showing-Not A Valid Format

same with Pyare Babul

swarapriya, Can you please re-upload the song and make sure its in MP3 format.

Thanks

Will do. Thanks. -S

Thanks

Harshji,

Here are the songs you're having trouble with. By the way I reheard all of them. They sounded fine. Also, they all are in MP3 format. Here are the three songs you requested for a reupload:

Thanks swarapriya, The songs are showing MP3 extension but are not playing on WMP, its working on iTunes. I tried to burn a CD didn't work.

I appreciate the efforts.

Keep Rocking

Harshji,

Can you suggest any other method that is not too cumbersome to use which may help you?

Swarapriya

Swarapriya,

Please don't bother, i will try doing it in a differeny way.I think i know the solution.

.

Swarapriya Jee,

Fabulous upload of PAKEEZAH Tracks.

Thanks a TON.

Kamala Mohanty

Thank you very much Kamala ji. You've been very encouraging.

Swarapriya

Swarapriya Ji,


A very very beautiful Upload. Thanks a lot.


Regards,
Shishma.

Could You please check the "Bandhan Baandho" song. It is not playing. Thanks in advance.

Hello Shishma,

I just checked to see whether there is any problem with this song. It plays fine for me. 27 other members downloaded this song and nobody said a word about not playing. I don't know what to tell you. I suggest try downloading the song again. Just in case, I am uploading that song here for you. Hope it works this time around.

Good luck!
Swarapriya

Thanks a ton, Swarapriya Ji. It is working now.

Regards,
Shishma.