Pakeezah

Meghnad Desai tracks the film's tortuous journey and reveals fascinating, little-known aspects of it. He foregrounds the craftsmanship, perseverance and perfectionism of its maker, Kamal Amrohi, who would wait weeks for the perfect sunset. Desai sees the film as a 'Muslim social' set in a 'Lucknow of the Muslim imagination', as a woman-centric film with a dancing heroine at a time when they were a rarity and above all, as a film that harkes back to an era of 'nawabi culture with its exquisi...