Fifty years of Pakeezah: Meena Kumari's swansong endures as visually stunning and poetically devastating

Pakeezah derives its melodrama from its atmospheric quality and the visuals that come out of it. When Sahibjaan finds herself stranded after her boat is attacked by a herd of elephants, Amrohi stages an exquisite sequence set to ‘Mausam Hai Aashiqana,’ with Meena Kumari strolling through the lush fields and succumbing to the romance that nature offers her, awaiting Salim’s [Raaj Kumar> return. There are many sequences where Amrohi maneuvered around the limitations of his ailing lead actress, which led to some amazing results, like the song ‘Chalo Dildar Chalo,’ which is built around the visuals of two lovers on a boat on a moonlit night — Amrohi shot the entire song keeping the sky and the boat in focus, which lends an abstract charm to the song. By the time Amrohi and Kumari decided to put their differences away for the sake of this film and Amrohi came close to finishing the project, Kumari’s health had seriously deteriorated. Our reading of the film assumes a whole new level of melancholy when we realise how a character like Sahibjaan ended up as Meena Kumari’s final onscreen image, acting as the most appropriate swansong for a glorious career built on searing portrayals of a strong yet suffering woman who struggled to find true acceptance despite having all the love in the world to give — and a life that had tragically come to resemble her reel image in her final years, and ended way too soon.