A courtesan and a poetess in her own right, Umrao Jaan [Aishwarya Rai] was a name to reckon with in Avadh. If Lucknow was the heart of Avadh, Umrao was the heartbeat. When she first came to Lucknow, she was Amiran, the eight-year-old daughter of a lower middle class family. Her father [Parikshit Sahni] was a jamadar at the ‘Bahu Begum ka Makhbara’ in Faizabad. A pious and simple man, he gave evidence in a case against Dilawar Khan [Vishwajeet Pradhan].
Dilawar was sentenced to jail for ten years. After completing his sentence, Dilawar came out, only to kidnap little Amiran, cart her off to Lucknow and sell her to a kotha owned by the astute Khanum Sahib [Shabana Azmi]. This was the vengeance and a few rupees as bonus. “Let her suffer a death worse than a death,” he said. In the company of Bismillah [Divya Dutta], Khurshid [Ayesha Jhulka] and Gauhar Mirza [Puru Raaj Kumar], Umrao developed varied skills, including poetry. The pen name ‘Ada’ was ample proof of her proficiency in writing and presenting poetry which she acquired over a period of time. When she grew up to be a lovely lass, Umrao became the rage of Lucknow.
A beauty that was stunning, a manner that was enticing and words that were soul-stirring; all these made the name of Umrao Jaan mean the sheer joy of watching and listening. Stepping into youth, she had to seek the love of her life. His name was Nawab Sultan [Abhishek Bachchan]. With the whole of Avadh at her feet, Umrao craved for Sultan’s company. Somewhere deep inside her, she had dreams of a husband, a family and a home. She chased her dream from one end of the rainbow to the other. But there were hiccups in the form of a dacoit Faiz [Suniel Shetty], who was smitten by Umrao.
Subsequently, the misunderstanding with Nawab Sultan took place. Later, the war of independence made her homeless. And much later, her mother [Maya Alagh] and brother disowned her. Amiran was forced to become Umrao Jaan again. The turning point comes in the form of the Sultan’s father, who disowns him. An interesting twist in the tale. The dacoit walks in, he wants Umrao at any cost. He even convinces her to come along and spend a month with him. She agrees. Interesting. Sultan gets to know the half-truth. He’s upset. He shuns her.
She returns back to Khanum. Okay. The war of independence breaks out. Umrao reaches Faizabad. Her home-town. She comes face to face with her mother and brother. She weeps, they’re not convinced. Sadly, the emotions don’t touch the heart here. You don’t feel sorry for Umrao. She gives her last performance in Faizabad. One more song. Ideally, the movie should’ve ended with Umrao walking out of her house and her brother slamming the gates on her face. Anu Malik’s music is a minus point here, partly because people want to listen to the story and the songs here add to the boredom. Aishwarya Rai looks ethereal. Abhishek Bachchan is up to the mark, although one strongly feels that he’s capable of so much more.
Shabana Azmi is superb, especially in the sequence when she insults Abhishek [minutes before the intermission]. Suniel Shetty doesn’t get much scope. Nevertheless, he’s alright. Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Himani Shivpuri lend good support. Divya Dutta and Ayesha Julka leave a mark in brief roles. Parikshit Sahni, Maya Alagh, Vishwajeet Pradhan and Javed Khan are passable.
On the whole, Umrao Jaan has a weak first half and a tolerable second. But the damage done by the first half [unwanted songs and scenes] creates a major dent, which the second half tries to repair, but cannot. At the box-office, the film will appeal to a miniscule segment of moviegoers [gentry] in a handful of multiplexes, but the wide majority would give it a wide berth and a thumbs down sign due to its unnecessary length [20 reels; 3 + hours’ duration] and lacklustre treatment. Given its low hype and poor start at the ticket window, the film will incur losses for its investors.
Courtesy: IndiaFM
