Society is not only a collection of human bodies; it’s also a consortium of human dreams, whims, fancies and ambitions – not all of which can ever be realized and not all of which are entirely ethical. Hence, by nature itself, Society is a collection of mortals who have different ambitions, different values and different paths of realizing the same.
Despite this, every Society lives by its own rules. Unfortunately, its law is the law of the privileged… It’s rule, the democracy of coercion… It’s ethics the final roll call of hypocritical morality… A sham from which no dissidence is allowed and no divergence of opinion left unscathed. Society, being all-powerful, its but obvious that all who dare to oppose it’s dictum will be relegated to the sidelines, never to be allowed a second go at life.
This then is the end of those who dare to challenge the unwritten writ – those who dare to question the social fabric of the arrangement that we call Society. Those who dare to challenge the institutions of society are never forgiven – they suffer silently and sometimes fatally for their audacity in challenging the system.
This is the background on which one of the most beautiful films of Indian Cinema – Pakeezah - is based.
On the face of it, Pakeezah is the story of a courtesan and her instruction in the ways of ‘moral’ life outside her ‘kotha’. If you look at it closely, it however is the story of a society that refuses to accept its own faults and would gladly give away its sweet flowers to preserve a morality that is decadent at best.
Meena Kumari as the courtesan (she reprised the role of the mother Nargis as well as the daughter Sahibjan), as usual, is brilliant. The movie was in the making for more than 2 decades; still Meena retains the same expression, the same continuity as if the movie was preserved in some cryogenic engine for all the period. The actress proves her billing as the most versatile actress ever in the history of Indian Cinema by a quiver of a voice, a sudden fall of her tresses, a look that mesmerizes and a stare that penetrates. Nothing is more potent than her expression, while she observes a bird trying to desperately fly from a cage where it has been imprisoned – never before and never after has the feeling of a loss of freedom been better expressed than that one scene which despite the absence of dialogues speaks more eloquently than Shakespeare. This was the tragedienne’s last major performance and her command over the public is evident that she managed to retain the interest of the public more than 20 years after her first major movie.
Her performance is like a ‘tear left on the cheeks of eternity’ never to be forgotten and never to be performed again.
Ashok Kumar as the father and husband who failed in his duties both as a father and a husband is impressive. His is a role of a person who is not strong enough to stand up for his rights and who can compromise his happiness for the approval of his peers at the altar of Society, but still cannot forget his loss or make amends with his present. His past haunts him and he spends his time trying to extricate his future from a past that never lets him live in peace. Any normal actor would have failed in portraying this character, since it has few scenes but many emotions but then Ashok was Ashok. The impotency of a weak character as well as the guilt of a deserter and the depression of a loser is all well portrayed in whatever little screen presence he has in the movie. I especially like the scene where Sapru ridicules him and he bows his head, unable to stand upto the insult but equally unable to fight back. To be frank, his Shahabuddin can be seen in the face of every man who walked away from a love due to social pressures.
Raaj Kumar on the other hand as Salim impresses in his performance as a young man who refuses to bow down to the dictates of Society. A finely chiseled performance, Raaj is still remembered for his searing delivery of the romantic line “ Aapke Paon Dekhe; Bahut Haseen Hain – Inhe Zameen Pe Naa Utariyega…. Maile Ho Jayenge.” As a man, who has both the guts and the gumptions to stand up for the woman he loves, Raaj is simply unbeatable. This is a performance, which is very low-key as compared to the ones he was doing in those days still it registers in the mind of the viewer with a ferocity rarely seen in Hindi Cinema.
Veena as Meena’s guardian performs brilliantly in a short cameo role. Sapru also impresses as the old-timer with rigid notions of vice and virtue. Kamal Kapoor as an extravagant nawab also performs well. However, Nadira is wasted in a role of no consequence.
Ghulam Mohammed, a great but unlucky performer, proves his capability by composing some of the most beautiful melodies of all time. Incidentally, Pakeezah contains some of the best songs by the immortal Lata Mangeshkar – “Inhi Logon ne”, “Thade Rahiyo”, “Chalte Chalte” and Mausam Hai Ashiqana”, all of which are acclaimed classics in their own right, and the Lata Mangeshkar – Mohammed Rafi duet “Chalo Dildaar Chalo”, known for the use of echo sounds.
The director, Kamal Amrohi is a man in a class by his own. It’s to the credit of this great writer, producer and director that each and every movie directed by him (there are 4 in all) enjoy the status of cult in their own styles. While Mahal was the first movie on reincarnation and Daera, the first feminist film of India; Pakeezah can be considered the first film that challenges the concept of a fallen woman. The vibrancy of ancient Awadh and Lucknow and the culture of a fast-dying Muslim elite is well captured and very few movies can claim to hold a candle to this movie as far as the depiction of the period is concerned.
As a director, Kamal succeeds in portraying all the three principal characters in a very highly coherent frame. The use of metaphors and the play of light is well depicted and so is the story well developed by the entry of every frame. Not a single shot is out of place.
Pakeezah boasts of some of the best cinematography of its times. Also, the editing and continuity of the film are first rate.
In short, a crash course reminder of an elite past and a firm revolutionary statement of an ambitious future.