Umrao Jaan (1981 film)

Umrao Jaan is a 1981 Indian period musical drama film directed by Muzaffar Ali and starring Rekha as the eponymous character. Based on the 1905 Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada, the film tells the story of a Lucknow tawaif and poet, and her rise to fame.

Upon release, Umrao Jaan received widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for Ali's direction and Rekha's central performance, which is widely considered as one of the greatest of Hindi cinema. It also emerged as a commercial success, ranking as one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

At the 29th National Film Awards, Umrao Jaan won 4 awards, including Best Actress (Rekha). At the 29th Filmfare Awards, the film received 3 nominations, including Best Actress (Rekha), and won 2 awards – Best Director (Ali) and Best Music Director (Khayyam).

Plot
In the year 1840, a girl named Amiran is kidnapped from her family in Faizabad and sold to Khanum Jaan, the madam of a kotha in Lucknow who teaches young tawaifs. Dilawar is sentenced to several years in prison after Amiran's daroga dad testifies against him and as a result, he kidnapped Amiran for revenge. It is here where Amiran was renamed Umrao Jaan. Years later, Umrao has grown up and has become an accomplished poet as well as an extraordinary tawaif. She turns into a cultured woman trained to captivate men of wealth and taste.

The young Nawab is smitten by Umrao's beauty and her poems. Umrao catches the eye of Nawab Sultan and the two fall in love, but the relationship comes to an end when Nawab reveals that he must marry in order to please his family, leaving behind a heart broken and devastated Umrao who seeks solace in the arms of Faiz Ali. Umrao then becomes infatuated with bandit chieftain Faiz Ali who woos and wins her heart. She elopes with him, only to find out that he is a wanted bandit, which forced her to return to Lucknow after Ali is killed by local police.

Umrao relocates to Kanpur where she establishes herself as a poet and tawaif, but is hunted down by kotha keepers, Gohar Mirza and Husseini and brought back. Some time later, she meets the Begum from Kanpur again in Lucknow and discovers that she is actually Ram Dai, she gets imprisoned with her but the two are separated when Dilawar Khan takes her to Lucknow. By a strange twist of fate, Ram Dai was sold to the mother of Nawab Sultan and she ends up marrying him. British forces lay siege to Lucknow and the residents evacuate the city. Umrao's party of refugees stop in a small village, which Umrao recognizes as Faizabad. However, The residents fail to recognize her and they ask her to dance for their pleasure.

Afterwards, Umrao reunites with her family who believed she was dead. Her mother is happy to welcome her back, but her brother forbids it and threatens her. He thought her being a tawaif was a disgrace, and that she was better off dead, ordering her to leave. Devastated, Umrao Jaan returns to Lucknow once the mutiny is over, and finds the kotha looted and deserted.

Cast

 * Rekha as Amiran/Umrao Jaan
 * Seema Sathyu and Umme Farwa as young Amiran
 * Farooq Shaikh as Nawab Sultan
 * Naseeruddin Shah as Gohar Mirza
 * Raj Babbar as Faiz Ali
 * Ishtiaque Khan as Khan Ghilzai
 * Gajanan Jagirdar as Maulvi Saheb
 * Shaukat Kaifi as Khanum Jaan
 * Dina Pathak as Husseini
 * Prema Narayan as Bismillah Jaan
 * Bharat Bhushan Bhalla as Khan Saheb
 * Mukri as Parnan Aziz
 * Satish Shah as Daroga Dilawar

Crew

 * Art Direction: Muzaffar Ali, Bansi Chandragupta, Manzoor
 * Choreography: Gopi Krishna for the song "Dil Cheez Kya Hai", Kumudini Lakhia
 * Costume Design: Subhashini Ali

Release and reception
According to author Anitaa Padhye's Ten Classics (English), Umrao Jaan was released theatrically on 2 January 1981.

Rekha was widely praised for her acting, and she was awarded the National Award for her portrayal of the central character. But the box office returns were just average. The supporting characters were played by Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar and Bharat Bhushan. Critics responded favourably to the carefully done historical setting.

The soundtrack was composed by Khayyam and the lyrics were penned by Shahryar. Several songs from the film, sung by Asha Bhosle, are considered classics of filmi music: "Dil Cheez Kya Hai", "Justuju Jiski Thi", "In Ankhon Ki Masti Ke", and "Yeh Kya Jagah Hai Doston". Today, Umrao Jaan is considered at par with other cult classics such as Pakeezah (1972) and is widely acclaimed as one of India's great cinematic magnum opuses.

Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by Khayyam, while the lyrics were penned by Shahryar.

Musical
Salim–Sulaiman adapted the film into a musical play, Umrao Jaan Ada - The Musical, in 2019. The theatrical adaptation was directed by Rajeev Goswami with Pratibha Baghel in the titular role of the tawaif.