Remembering director Kamal Amrohi 1918-93

Source:wikipedia
Syed Amir Haider Kamal Naqvi, popularly known as Kamal Amrohi (17 January 1918 – 11 February 1993) was an Indian film director and screenwriter. He was an Urdu and Hindi poet. He is famous for his Hindi films such as Mahal (1949), Pakeezah (1972) and Razia Sultan (1983). He established Kamal Pictures (Mahal Films) in 1953 and Kamalistan Studio in Bombay in 1958.
Kamal Amrohi was born in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh in India and later took on the name Kamal Amrohi (or Amrohvi). In 1938, he left Amroha to study in Lahore, now part of Pakistan, where singer K. L. Saigal discovered him and took him to Mumbai (Bombay) to work for Sohrab Modi's Minerva Movietoon film company, where he started his career working on films like Jailor (1938), Pukar (1939), Bharosa (1940), A.R.Kardar's film (Shahjehan 1946). He made his debut as a director in 1949, with Mahal, starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar, which was a musical hit, with songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Rajkumari Dubey.
He directed only four films; of these were Mahal (1949) for Bombay Talkies, Daera 1953 with Meena Kumari and Nasir Khan, Pakeezah, which was conceived in 1958 but was not brought to the screen until 1972. He also wrote the screenplay, lyrics and produced the latter. This was followed by Razia Sultan (1983), his last film. Though, he started a film, Majnoon with Rajesh Khanna and Rakhee as leads, however the film got shelved.
 He wrote scripts for the movies made by Sohrab Modi, Abdul Rashid Kardar and K. Asif. He was one of the four dialogue writers for the latter's famous 1960 movie, Mughal-e-Azam, for which he won the Filmfare Award. As a director, he developed a style that combined a stylised direction with minimalist performances. This style was different from the one with expressive acting that was common in Indian cinema of his period. In 1958, he started Kamaal Studios for his banner Mahal Films, though it closed down after three years and later changed hands to become Natraj Studios.

Amrohi married three times: His first wife was Bano (who was a maid to Nargis's mother, Jaddan Bai. His second wife was Mehmoodie. He met Meena Kumari during the filming of Tamasha. They fell in love and married on 14 February 1952, on Valentine's Day in a much private ceremony. By the 60s, Meena Kumari was at the peak of her career which caused tensions between the couple & ultimately led to a mutual separation in March 1964. Pakeezah got shelved. In March 1969, the film was revived with an ill Meena Kumari, (due to her alcoholism) in the lead. Raaj Kumar was roped in as by that time Ashok Kumar-the original lead was too old to portray 'Salim Ahmed Khan', the hero of the film. Pakeezah released on 4th February 1972, 16 years after it first began. Unfortunately, it was considered as a weak film by the critics & audience & was declared a flop but it was Meena Kumari's untimely death on 31st March 1972 which acted as a push for the movie & made it one among the top grossers of that year. Amrohi died on 11 February 1993 in Mumbai, twenty years after his wife's death  & ten years after making his last film, Razia Sultan (1983). He was buried next to Meena Kumari in Rehmatabad Qabristan, an Iranian graveyard in Mumbai.