The Film Heritage Foundation has completed a 4K restoration of Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (1972), starring Meena Kumari, with the restored film set to have its world premiere at Festival Lumière in Lyon, France, in October 2026. It will subsequently have its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, where it is scheduled for a gala screening at BFI IMAX.
The restoration was undertaken by the Film Heritage Foundation in association with the Amrohi family and took two years. It was carried out at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with Bilal Amrohi of Lionheart Cinema.
The original camera negative of Pakeezah does not survive. The restoration therefore used a 35mm interpositive preserved by the Film Heritage Foundation and a colour reversal intermediate preserved by NFDC-National Film Archive of India. According to FHF, the surviving elements had different levels of conservation and image quality. The restoration addressed colour fluctuations, mould, dirt, scratches and other defects while working to maintain visual consistency between the sources.
The sound has also been restored in 5.1, using the sound negative and a release print. The restored version runs 153 minutes, is in colour and Urdu with English subtitles, and is presented in 4K DCP with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
At the BFI London Film Festival, the film is listed as a 1972 Indian production directed and written by Kamal Amrohi, with Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar and Raaj Kumar in the principal cast. The BFI credits the presentation to the Film Heritage Foundation.
The Lyon premiere will precede the London screening, making the Festival Lumière presentation the restored version’s world premiere. The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from October 7 to 18, 2026.
