Avant-garde is French for "ahead of the crowd." In contemporary English, it would be said to be on the "cutting edge." Avant-garde film makers experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions--and are often considered to be ahead of their times. Such films are characterized by a high degree of experimentation – whether it is in manipulation of narrative materials, in highly stylized visual representation, or in radical departures from the norms or conventions current at the time. Avant-garde film is always a vehicle for the filmmaker’s expression. Often, avant-garde films focus on the lyrical, the abstract, formal beauty for its own sake—and therefore may avoid conventions of narrative. As such, one may call them cinematic or painterly "poems."

Hussain’s Meenaxi falls under the category of an avant-garde film, it offers a rich tapestry of colors and shapes and a glimpse into a fresher approach to film making. Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, while constructing a fictional story, leaves itself open to interpretations and readings by every viewer. Dwelling on the complex relationship between a creator and his creation the film is a continuation on the ageless debate on illusion, life and art.

Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities is mainly the tale of a hapless artist who is slave to his muse. The film opens on Nawab (Raghuvir Yadav) a nondescript novelist fighting a bout of writer’s block. When he spots his muse (Meenaxi), or when she finds him, his fortunes turn and he begins to create prolifically.

Meenaxi (Tabu), is a tyrant of a muse though, she nags, taunts and goads the writer imposing her will on his stories.
In Kameshwar (Kunal Kapoor), the novelist finds his alter ego and he serves as the male lead in the novel. Meenaxi is disillusioned with the novel, she ridicules the Nawab for his lack of sensitivity and threatens to abandon him. There is no satisfying the demanding muse and in despair the Nawab realizes that he has created a character that looms larger than life itself.

The writer and his characters take a jaunt through three cities, in each Meenaxi assumes a different personae. In Hyderabad, she is the mysterious perfume trader, an exotic desert bloom in Jaisalmer and an orphaned Maria, Barhelp/actor in Prague. celluloid as a canvas.

On his deathbed, she confounds him; then leaves him only to return to his bedside once again. Even after his death he seeks to fulfill his dream of completing an incomplete piece of art. Mickey Contractors’s make up fails to make Tabu look sensual or appealing. Lesser chemistry there never has been as between the handsome and very young Kunal Kapoor and a jaded mature looking Tabu. Not once do Tabu’s eyes reflect a connection with the characters that she essays. Raghuvir Yadav plays himself to perfection.

The real hero of the film is cinematographer Santhosh Shivan who paints exotic locales as well as the master Hussain himself. Only Shivan could do justice to Rahman’s excellent score in the film. The director has treated celluloid as canvas, the rich bold strokes of his brush are evident in every shot, the film is sensory experience more than anything else.

This film will appeal to folks who seek to experience something completely different from the typical Bollywood fare. So, if you loved Kal Ho Naho, K3G or Main Hoon Na this is one you may want to miss!

The film is a collaboration between artist M. F. Husain and his painter son Owais Husain.

Certain Muslim organizations voiced objection to one of the songs in the M F Hussain's film 'Meenaxi - A Tale of Three Cities'. Terming the song 'Noorun-ala-Noor' "blasphemous", the All India Ulema Council demanded an immediate ban of the film. Hussain ordered the immediate withdrawal of the film from public showing in the whole of India.
Since then Hussain has re-released the film.

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