National Film Archive lands making-of-Pakeezah footage on Meena Kumari’s death anniversary

Just four days after the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) acquired 89 rare Marathi and Hindi films, some of which were thought to have been lost, the organization has succeeded in laying its hands on rare footage of the making of Kamal Amrohi’s classic Pakeezah (1972).

The discovery of the reels coincides with the 49th death anniversary of the film’s main lead Meena Kumari today.

The news was shared by NFAI director Prakash Magdum on Facebook. “Here is an exciting news of discovery of a rare 16-mm reel on the making of Pakeezah as film lovers remember renowned actress Meena Kumari today on her death anniversary!” he said. 

Sharing details of the discovery, he said, “The visuals have rare black and white footage of the iconic song ‘Inhi Logon Ne’ where a young Meena Kumari is seen dancing to a differently choreographed sequence which was not part of the released film. The clapper board shows the date as 16th July 1956! It also has a rare Mohammed Rafi qawwali number ‘Jaye To Jaye Kahan’ with visuals that were not included in the film.”

About the quality of the footage, Magdum added, “A preliminary inspection reveals the footage to be colour faded and heavily scratched and we will try our best to salvage the material.” 

Pakeezah also starred Ashok Kumar and Raaj Kumar in pivotal roles.