Umrao Jaan (2006)

Director:

J.P. Dutta

Writers:

J.P. Dutta (screenplay)
O.P. Dutta (story)

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (India)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

J.P. Dutta's adaption of the Urdu novel "Umrao Jan Ada" by Mirza Haadi Ruswa (1905).

Plot Keywords:

Courtesan | Beautiful Woman | Muslim | Indo Pak | Friendship

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Aishwarya Rai	...	Ameeran / Umrao Jaan
Shabana Azmi	...	Khanum Jaan
Sunil Shetty	...	Nawab Faiz Ali (as Suneil Shetty)
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Nawab Sultan Khan
Divya Dutta	...	Bismillah
Himani Shivpuri	...	Bua Hussaini
Puru Rajkumar	...	Gauhar Mirza
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Maulvi Sahab
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maya Alagh	...	Umrao's Mother
Ayesha Jhulka	...	Khurshid
Javed Khan	...	Peer Baksh
Bansree Madan	...	Young Amiran
Sakshi Madhwani	...	Young Amiran
Vishwajeet Pradhan	...	Dilawer Khan
Parikshat Sahni	...	Umrao's Father
Bikram Saluja	...	Ashraf

Runtime:

Germany:188 min (European Film Market)

Country:

India

Language:

Urdu | Hindi

Color:

Color

Trivia:

Before J.P. Dutta considered Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai for the lead, he wanted Kareena Kapoor to play Umrao Jaan. Kareena declined the part after a meeting with him.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The movie is set in the period of the late 19th century but the hand pump shown is of India Mark II which came into existence much later.

Movie Connections:

Version of Umrao Jaan (1981)

Soundtrack:

Jhoot Azaam

Excellent!

I've just seen this fantastic movie (twice in the theater), and the complaints I've heard about it completely escape me. It makes me wonder if they watched the entire movie, as the ending scenes are among the best ever filmed. For cultural reference and point of view, I am a 35 year old American male living in the United States and a fan of any good film.

This movie is incredible and an achievement in Bollywood film. There have been some really great movies coming out of Bollywood (and some great non-Bollywood is Black and Raincoat) recently such as Devdas and Lagaan. Both of those movies really showed off the best elements of typical BW, but both also had at least a little of the, well, cheese or melodrama that tends to show up in the standard Bollywood movie. Umrao Jaan had no melodrama (and hardly any comic relief either). The music and dancing element that is a staple of BW and in most movies seems to come out of nowhere was here given a foundation in reality and a reason for existence due to the main character's profession. Speaking of the main character, Aishwarya Rai as Umrao Jaan herself was perfect casting and she did an incredible job at real acting and never once hinted at melodrama. Most of the musical numbers belonged exclusively to Rai, and in fact she was in almost every shot in the entire movie.

One of the complaints is that this movie is too long. It was not too long but rather pretty average for BW, as it is only a few minutes longer than Devdas and is in fact shorter than Lagaan (at the time of this writing the run time was not given on IMDb.com, but my watch indicated about 210 minutes including intermission time). Another complaint is that it has too many songs. It did not have too many - there were six I believe which is about average for BW, and each one played an important part - especially the first and last songs in the movie. Besides their importance, the performances of the musical numbers were absolutely incredible - most of this was achieved on the shoulders of Rai - and after each musical number I seriously couldn't wait for the next one (hoping it would again feature Rai). Additionally, the songs themselves were absolutely amazing and fresh; real talent was behind the scenes here. The performance by Rai in the musical numbers was, to me, what completed the entire film.

I called this movie an achievement because it features only the BEST elements of BW while incorporating things that are new and different from the typical BW feature that only uplift it's credibility, reality, and entertainment value. The goal of the BW film is to transport the viewer to another reality, and this one does it better than any I've seen.