Meenaxi : A Tale of Three Cities (2004-movie) : Bollywood Hindi Film :

Meenaxi : A Tale of Three Cities (2004) Movie :

Meenaxi : A Tale of Three Cities is a 2004 Hindi film.directer Is M.F. Husain and starring Tabu, Kunal Kapoor and Raghuvir Yadav. The film centrs on Hyderabad novelist Nawab Yadav who is suffering from writer’s block. After five years and no stories, Nawab comes across an unconventional muse, Meenaxi Tabu.The three cities referred to in the title are Hyderabad, Jaisalmer and Prague. The film features an acclaimed score and soundtrack by A.R.Rahman.

It is semi-autobiographical in some respects. There are allusions to Husain’s own experiences with his muse, Madhuri Dixit, with whom he made his previous film, Gaja Gamini (2000). The film was screened in the Marché du Film section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

• Directer : M.F. Husain
• Producer : Reima Husain
• Writter : Owais Husain,M.F. Husain
• Starring : Tabu,Kunal Kapoor,Raghuvir Yadav
• Music : A. R. Rahman
• Cinematography : Santosh Sivan
• Edited : Sreekar Prasad
• Art Direction : Sharmishta Roy
• Costume Design : Raisa Husain,Reima Husain,Ashley Rebello
• Production Management : Michael Rogers
• Genres : Drama,Musical,Romance
• Release date : 2 April 2004
• Country : India
• Language : Hindi,Urdu

Meenaxi Movie Trailer :

Star Cast Of The Film :

• Tabu … Meenaxi
• Raghuvir Yadav … Nawab
• Nadira Babbar … Khala / Masi
• Kunal Kapoor … Kameshwar Mathur
• Sadiya Turabi … Naghma
• Zafar Ansari … Publisher
• Zainab Ravdjee … Naghma’s friend
• Pawan Sughand … Qawwali main singer
• Madhu Gopinath … Kalaripallu performer
• Vakkom Sajeev … Kalaripallu performer
• Bunty Sharma … Boy with kite
• Chettan Motiwalla … Man on motorcycle (as Chetan Motiwalla)
• Raisa Husain … ‘Rang’ exotic dancer
• Sharmishta Roy … ‘Rang’ exotic dancer
• Ghanteshwar T. Guru… Man at Jaisalmer station / Photographer
• Sharat Saxena … Maharawal
• Bharat Kapoor … Masa
• Sagar Ishan Arya … Karanveer
• Prem Singh Thakur … Kanji / Mali
• Radhika Relia … Maya
• Sandhya Shetty … Meenakshi’s friend Kutti
• Remo D’Souza … Kunal’s friend (as Remo)
• Rashaana Shah … Andhra song dancer (as Rachna Shah)
• Mamta Jhaveri

Story Of The Film :

A well-known Nawab, who is an author as well as a poet in Hyderabad, India, is approached by a beautiful young woman, with a heavy Hyderabadi accent named Meenaxi, to write a story on her, which the Nawab agrees to do so. When the Nawab’s antique car breaks down, he takes it to a motor mechanic, and thus a story is formed in the Nawab’s mind. The story takes place in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, where his lead actress is the maternal niece of the local Raja Bijendra Singh, and the motor mechanic is Kameshwar Mathur, the only son of a multi-millionaire. Kameshwar and Meenaxi meet and are instantly attracted to each other. The second scenario the Nawab creates takes place in Prague, the Czech republic, where Meenaxi is portrayed as a young woman living in a Nunnery by the name of Maria Gulcova, who has been assigned to do some research on India and it’s culture. In order to do this, she meets with a young man from India, Kameshwar, and both are attracted to each other. The Nawab takes both …

Meenaxi Movie Songs / Music :

A.R. Rahman has composed the music on lyrics written Rahat Indori, M. F. Husain, and Sukhwinder Singh. The music for Meenaxi was released on 24 January 2004 creating great controversies regarding the song “Noor-Un-Ala” which had lyrics directly adapted from the Quran.The soundtrack of the movie got high appreciations from the critics. Rahman composed some of his career best songs for it.The background score was also composed by Rahman. Rahman goes completely into Qawwali rhythms for Hyderabad, a rustic, earthy, Arabic rhythms for Jaisalmer and a rich lavish strings for Prague and brings out the essence and cultures of the three cities through his enticing scores.

The initial lines of “Chinnamma Chilakamma” give a feel of Telugu peppy number, but as Sukhwinder Singh picks up his lines, a Hyderabadi accent is revealed. The lyrics are penned by Sukhwinder Singh. “Rang Hai” is like a rustic mysterious cry of a woman. Alka Yagnik is the main vocalist whilst Lebanese singer Dallinda provided additional vocals. “Dhuan Dhuan” is a sultry and seductive number sung by Asha Bhosle. Additional vocals is by Kunal and percussions by Rahman’s usual associate Sivamani. A.R. Rahman said about recording of this song at the filmfare: “For one song, we started with no tune and no lyrics either. One afternoon I bumped into Lataji and Ashaji in London. I asked Ashaji if she’d do a song with me the next day. She had to go to Scotland the next day. But she returned in a few days and we finished the track “Dhuan Dhuan” in four hours in London. “Yeh Rishta” is a melody sung by Reena Bhardwaj who has previously worked with Rahman in a chartbuster song for the Tamil movie Baba. It was later reused by Rahman in the Tamil movie Sakkarakatti as “Naan Epodhu” with the same singer which then became a chartbuster. It was picturised as Tabu’s solo entrance piece in the film. “Do Kadam” is highly regarded as one of Rahman’s best compositions.This song is sung by Sonu Nigam with lyrics provided by Rahat Indori. Planetbollywood referred to this song as the best from Sonu Nigam.The controversial song “Noor-Un-Ala-Noor” is a Sufi style song sung by Murtaza Khan and Qadir Khan, together called Khan brothers. Lyrics for the song was by M. F. Hussain which slightly adapted the Quranic verses honourung Allah to honour the lead character Meenaxi. M. F. Hussain wrote in The Hindu about this song, “There is a qawwali written by me and sung by classical musicians Ustad Ghulam Mustafa and his son for which Rahman has tuned unusual music. The film opens with this qawwali, the picturisation of which is a major highlight…The qawwali is exultant about the presence of the light and what a light it is! It is a Sufi thought, a thought that keep us going even when there is pitch darkness.”

“Cyclist’s Rhythm” and “Potter’s Village” were instrumentals composed by A. R. Rahman with percussions by Sivamani and flute by Navin Kumar in the former and percussions by Hossam Ramzy and strings by John Themis in the latter.

• “Yeh Rishta” – Reena Bhardwaj Rahat Indori
• “Naan Eppodhu”
• “Chinnamma Chilakkamma”- Sukhwinder Singh
• “Do Kadam” – Sonu Nigam
• “Dhuan Dhuan”- Asha Bhosle
• “Rang Hai” – Alka Yagnik
• “Noor-Un-Ala-Noor” – Murtuza Khan, Qadir Khan
• “Cyclist’s Rhythm” – Instrumental
• “Potter’s Village” – Instrumental

“Noor-Un-Ala-Noor” Full Video Song :

• Song Name – Noor-Un-Ala-Noor
• Singer – Murtuza Khan
• Music Composer – A.R. Rahman
• Lyricist – M.F. Husain

“Chinnamma Chilakkamma” Full Video Song :

• Song Name – Chinnamma Chilakkamma
• Singer – Sukhwinder Singh
• Music Composer – A.R.Rahman
• Lyricists – Sukhwinder Singh
• Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

Awards :

• 2003: National Film Awards: Best Production Design: Sharmishta Roy
• 2005: Screen Awards
• Best Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
• 2005: Zee Cine Awards
• Best Art Direction: Sharmishta Roy
• Best Cinematography: Santosh Sivan

Meenaxi Movie Review :

This film review are Mostly Positive from Critics, IMDB Public Reviewing site give 6.2 Star Out Of 10 Star with Reviewers are 284.

I thought Meenaxi was a self indulgent waste of time. The movie was poorly edited and artistic for the sake of being artistic rather being incorporated into the plot. Apart from the main protagonist, the quality of acting was mediocre and dialog was pithy. One of the two bright sparks was the choreography of the musical pieces, which were acrobatic and classical. Most importantly, they were a refreshing change from the usual bollywood crass belly gyrations. The other, positive (which is no reflection on the film makers) are the locations. It is hard to miss the beauty of cities like Jaisalmer and Prague. Overall, for some visual appeal and a cloudy plot-line, Meenaxi is watchable. But I would recommend getting on with household chores instead!

Critics Rating by Sapna , from Justdial give 4.5 star out of 5 Star.

Meenaxi Movie Box Office Collection :

INDIA

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