Umrao Jaan
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- This article is about the 1981 film directed by Muzaffar Ali. For the 2006 film with the same title and subject directed by J.P. Dutta starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, see Umrao Jaan (2006 film).
| Umrao Jaan | |
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 Umrao Jaan film poster |
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| Directed by | Muzaffar Ali |
| Produced by | Muzaffar Ali |
| Written by | Mirza Hadi Ruswa Muzaffar Ali Javed Siddiqui Shama Zaidi |
| Starring | Rekha Farooq Shaikh Naseeruddin Shah Umme Farwa Shaukat Kaifi Dina Pathak Prema Narayan Gajanan Jagirdar Raj Babbar Bharat Bhushan Satish Shah (uncredited) |
| Music by | Khayyam |
| Cinematography | Pravin Bhatt |
| Editing by | B. Prasad |
| Release date(s) | 1981 |
| Running time | 145 min. |
| Language | Urdu |
| IMDb profile | |
Umrao Jaan (Urdu: امراؤ جان, Hindi: उमराव जान) is a Bollywood film released in 1981. It is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jan Ada (1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. The film starred Bollywood actress Rekha.
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[edit] Plot
In the year 1840, a young girl named Amiran (Seema Sathyu) is kidnapped from her family by their neighbour, Dilawar Khan (Satish Shah) and sold to Madam Khanum Jaan (Shaukat Kaifi) who owns a brothel where she trains courtesans (tawaif). Amiran, renamed Umrao Jaan, learns to read, write, dance, sing, and charm wealthy men. She is no common prostitute, but a cultured woman trained to captivate men of wealth and taste.
A grown-up Umrao Jaan, (Rekha), catches the eye of Nawab Sultan (Farooq Shaikh), and the two fall in love. But the Nawab must marry to please his family, and Umrao's heart is broken.
She meets a dashing bandit chieftain, Faiz Ali (Raj Babbar), who wooes and wins her. She flees with her dacoit, hoping to marry him and leave the world of the courtesan far behind. But her lover is killed by local police and she is left alone, with no choice but to return to her old life.
Soon, the British attack the city of Lucknow and the residents, including Umrao Jaan, are forced to flee. Umrao's party of refugees stop in a small village near Lucknow. The residents ask the courtesan to sing and dance. Umrao, looking about her, realizes that this is her village, Faizabad, her family, the place from which she was kidnapped. She had been so young when kidnapped that she had forgotten it all, but now it all returns to her.
She sings the song, Yeh kya jagah hai doston? -- What kind of place is this, friends? -- a veiled reference to her feelings of dismay at being treated like a pariah entertainer by her very own people. Afterwards, she meets her mother and younger brother, who had thought that she was dead. Her mother would be happy to welcome her back into the family, but her brother forbids it -- she is tainted by her profession and must not return to embarrass them.
At the end of the film, Umrao is left alone, with nothing but her profession and her poetry.
[edit] Critical reception
Rekha was praised for her acting, if not her dancing. The supporting characters were also played by strong performers, such as Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar and Bharat Bhushan. Audiences appreciated the carefully done historical setting.
Umrao Jaan also featured a brilliant soundtrack, with music composed by Khayyam and lyrics penned by Shahryar. Several songs from the film, sung by Asha Bhosle, are considered classics of filmi music: Dil cheez kya hai?, In ankhon ki masti, and Yeh kya jagah hai doston.
[edit] 2006 remake by J.P. Dutta
A remake of Umrao Jaan was released on November 3, 2006. It is directed by J.P. Dutta and stars Aishwarya Rai as Umrao Jaan, Sunil Shetty as Faiz Ali, Puru Raaj Kumar as Gauhar Mirza and Abhishek Bachchan as Nawab Sultan. Shabana Azmi portrays Madam Khanum Jaan (notably, Azmi's own mother, Shaukat Kaifi, portrayed Madam Khanum Jaan in the original version of the film)[1]. The music is composed by Anu Malik and the lyrics are penned by Javed Akhtar.
[edit] 2008 sequel to the remake by J.P. Dutta
It has just been announced and confirmed that there will be a sequel to the remake of Umrao Jaan starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan that will be released in late 2008. The director, J.P. Dutta, has only said that the music will be composed by A.R. Rahman this time around and will not release any more information.
