A restored version of Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 classic Pakeezah, presented in 4K by the Film Heritage Foundation, drew a packed audience at its UK debut at the BFI London Film Festival, with tickets for the gala screening selling out within a day of bookings opening.
The film was screened on Sunday as the festival’s closing gala at BFI IMAX, the UK’s largest cinema screen. The screening marked a significant moment for the restoration of the celebrated Hindi film, whose surviving material was in poor condition.
The evening began with an introduction by Film Heritage Foundation director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, alongside Tajdar Amrohi and Rukhsaar Amrohi, the son and daughter of the filmmaker. The conversation was moderated by Arike Oke, executive director of knowledge and collections at the British Film Institute (BFI). Kamal Amrohi’s grandson, Bilal Amrohi, who worked closely with the foundation on the restoration, was also present.
Fourteen members of the Amrohi family travelled from India to attend the screening.
Dungarpur said restoring Pakeezah had been a long-held dream since he established the Film Heritage Foundation in 2014. He recalled watching the film as a three-year-old with his grandmother, saying it remained closely tied to his memories of her.
Without the original camera negative and with the surviving material in exceptionally poor condition, the restoration took two years of painstaking work. Dungarpur said the audio posed a particular challenge, adding that he was determined to do justice to Amrohi’s vision.
He thanked the BFI for providing a prestigious international platform for the restoration.
Tajdar Amrohi, in an emotional address, compared the restoration of the film to bringing something back to life. He paid tribute to his stepmother, actor Meena Kumari, who died in March 1972, about a month after the film’s release.
“My Choti Ammi, Meena Kumari, was in a coma before she passed away. In many ways, the negative of 'Pakeezah' was also in a coma and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur has brought it back to life,” he said.
Tajdar said he felt his father’s presence at the screening and expressed gratitude to Dungarpur and the foundation for their dedication to preserving the film.
Rukhsaar Amrohi described Pakeezah as a remarkable work that ensured her father’s legacy would endure. She thanked Dungarpur for the commitment that made the screening possible, saying she was overwhelmed by the occasion.
The London premiere comes in a notable year for the Film Heritage Foundation, which has presented restorations at several major international film festivals. Its programme began with Pradip Krishen and Arundhati Roy’s In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989) at the Berlin International Film Festival, followed by John Abraham’s Malayalam film Amma Ariyan (1986) at Cannes and Dev Benegal’s English, August (1994) at the Venice International Film Festival.
(With inputs from PTI)