Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities

Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (or Meenaxi) is a 2004 Hindi film directed by M.F. Husain and starring Tabu, Kunal Kapoor and Raghuvir Yadav. The film centers on Hyderabad novelist Nawab, (Yadav), who is suffering from writers block. After five years and no stories, Nawab comes across an unconventional muse, Meenaxi (Tabu). The three cities referred to in the title of the film 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 Hindu, 21 March 2004.

Synopsis

Nawab, a popular Hyderabadi novelist, is suffering from a classic case of writer's block. Five years have passed, and stories of substance seem to have dried up. Then, almost providentially, Nawab comes across a young woman named Meenaxi. She's enigmatic and individualistic - and not quite willing to perform the part of a passive muse. But that doesn't deter a rejuvenated Nawab from giving her different personae - she can be the mysterious perfume trader of Hyderabad, the exotic desert bloom of Jaisalmer, the orphaned Maria of Prague. Inexorably, she consolidates her command over the novelist. She dismisses his renewed attempts at writing as insubstantial and hackneyed, plunging him into a state of deeper despair. She is scathingly critical about his story and...
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