Kamal Amrohi Death Anniversary: Chalte Chalte…

There was so much more to Kamal Amrohi than _Pakeezah_ .The film industry and the government of India never gave Kamal Amrohi his due recognition. Amrohi never assisted anyone. At 17 he wrote Sohrab Modi’s Pukar and became a renowned writer in Hindi cinema. It was his elder brother who was 18 years his senior who was instrumental in instilling discipline in Kamal Amrohi who was very mischievous as a child. Kamal Amrohi was a pioneer and a trendsetter. In Mahal he brought the suspense genre to Indian cinema. The venus of Indian cinema Madhubala was given her legendary aura in Mahal. Bombay Talkies which was on verge of bankruptcy and who produced Mahal didn’t want to sign Madhubala. They wanted Suraiya who was a big heroine at that time. But Amrohi insisted on Madhubala . Daaera was the first arthouse film of India, even before Satyajit Ray made Pather Panchali. Amrohi’s last film as director Razia Sultan is the most talked-about flop in the history of Indian cinema. Even the most renowned poets who worked on Amrohi’s film allowed him to change words and lines of their lyrics . There is a false belief that Kamal Amrohi had divorced Meena Kumari. According to his son Tajdar they were never divorced. This was just a rumour spread by his ill-wishers. They only lived apart when they had differences. Kamal Amrohi and Meena Kumari’s love blossomed over the phone. His voice was so magnetic that she fell in love with him just be speaking to him. Amrohi never kept Meena Kumari in the dark about his first wife and three children. According to Kamal’s son Tajdar ,their main bone of contention was, not that Kamal took all her money, as is largely believed. But that she never touched a penny of her earnings no matter how urgently he needed funds. He reminded her, ‘Mere paise tumhare paise hain, lekin tumhare paise mere nahin hain. (my money is yours, but your money is not mine’). He also made it clear that he would never be seen on the roads in her car , nor would she be seen commuting with any of her male co-stars. Kamal Amrohi was a possessive husband. None of her co-stars was allowed in her makeup room and she had to be back home at 6 pm. According to Tajdar, K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam couldn’t have been possible without his father . Tajdar claims Kamal Amrohi wrote 90 percent of the dialogues in Mughal-e-Azam. Pakeezah took seventeen years to complete , and not only because Amrohi and Meena Kumari had differences. But also because it was an exorbitant film.This is the same film whose music today is considered among the best ever in a Hindi film.And yet, when the film was being made ,distributors insisted that the music of Pakeezah be changed. Amrohi refused arguing it would be injustice to the music composer Ghulam Mohamed who was dead. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram.