Umrao Jaan (2006)

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

Director:

J.P. Dutta

Writers:

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

Stars:

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Sunil Shetty

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	...	Ameeran / Umrao Jaan (as Aishwariya Rai)
Shabana Azmi	...	Khanum Jaan
Sunil Shetty	...	Faiz Ali (as Suneil Shetty)
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Nawab Sultan
Bikram Saluja	...	Ashraf
Ayesha Jhulka	...	Khurshid Jaan
Puru Rajkumar	...	Gauhar Mirza (as Puru Raj Kumar)
Parikshit Sahni	...	Ameeran's father
Kulbhushan Kharbanda	...	Maulvi
Divya Dutta	...	Bismillah Jaan
Himani Shivpuri	...	Bua Hussaini
Maya Alagh	...	Ameeran's mother
Vishwajeet Pradhan	...	Dilawar Khan (as Viswajeet Pradhan)
Javed Khan	...	Pir Baksh
Anwar Madeem	...	Mirza Hadi Ruswa

Storyline

Ameeran lives a poor-lifestyle with her mom, dad, and brother, Jamal, in Faizabad, British India. When her dad testifies against the local corrupt cop, Dilawar Khan, Khan swears to avenge this humiliation, and several years later, abducts Ameeran, holds her for ransom. When no money is forthcoming, he sells her. Ameeran ends up in a brothel run by Lucknow's Madame Khanum Jaan, where she is taught dance and poetry, and is subsequently re-named Umrao Jaan. Years later, Umrao has matured, is a well-known Courtesan with many patrons, chief amongst them are Nawab Sujat Ali Khan and his son, Sultan. Umrao and Sultan fall in love with each other, much to the chagrin of Sujat, who instructs Sultan either to give up Umrao or to lose his inheritance, and Sultan chooses Umrao. He gives up his father's palatial house and goes to live in the brothel, but re-locates to live with his uncle in Gadi after being taunted by Khanum Jaan. Umrao has a new admirer, Nawab Faiz Ali, who proposes to take her ...

---

Plot Keywords:

courtesan | whipping | bare chested male bondage | kidnapping | singing | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

Priyanka Chopra declined the film for Bluffmaster 2005.

---

Goofs

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.

---

Connections

Version of Umrao Jaan (1981)

---

Soundtracks

Main Na Mil Sakoon Jo Tumse
Written by Javed Akhtar
Music by Anu Malik
Performed by Alka Yagnik
Courtesy of T-series

User Reviews

brilliant performance by Aish...a good remake

I happened to watch original Umrao Jann just a few days back by chance and instantly fell for classic movies. As soon as this remake was released i went especially to theater to watch and i didn't regret as it was equally good. Story was not completely a copy of original one ,instead some more good ideas were added. I think it wont be fair to both REKHA and ASH to compare them with each other as both performed equally well and were a perfect choice for the character as it demanded some thing beyond than just the verbal performance. Songs are really touchy esp SALAAM and JIS ZINDAGE NAY AP SE MILWA DIYA HAMAIN. Though the duration of the movie is too long for the typical Indian movie (which is the only not-so-good aspect to some extent) but if considered it was inevitable for such a story. Its not that Abhishak didn't perform well, he did an OK job, its just that he doesn't have the typical NAWAB FEATURES, or may b we are looking forward to his upcoming DHOOM 2 featuring him as the cool cop, so perhaps having that image in mind i just couldn't digest him playing a NAWAB in this movie. Rest the sets were good and the costumes too, though the dialogs if written with more depth would have added more to it. Anyway overall everybody did a good job. And one last thing,even if the movie didn't do well on box office, Ash should get best actress award this year. What do u say??

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

India

Language:

Urdu Hindi

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (India)

Also Known As:

Umrao Jaan: Losy pieknej kurtyzany

Filming Locations:

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$485,000, 5 November 2006

Gross USA:

$485,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,371,723

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

188 min (European Film Market)

Color:

Color