''Umrao Jaan'' is a 1981 Indian period musical drama film directed by

Muzaffar Ali Muzaffar Ali (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian filmmaker, fashion designer, poet, artist, cultural revivalist, and social worker. Biography Ali was born in Lucknow in 1944. The eldest son of Raja Syed Sajid Husain Ali, the ruling prince of ...

and starring

Rekha Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Hindi films. Acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Indian cinema, she has starred in more than 180 fi ...

as the eponymous character. Based on the 1905

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Umrao Jaan Ada ''Umrao Jaan Ada'' ( ur, ) is an Urdu novel by Mirza Hadi Ruswa (1857–1931), first published in 1899. It is considered the first Urdu novel by many

'', the film tells the story of a

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divis ...

courtesan and her rise to fame.

Plot

In the year 1840, a girl named Amiran is kidnapped from her family in

Faizabad Faizabad (Hindustani pronunciation: ɛːzaːbaːd is a city situated near the southern banks of Saryu river in Ayodhya district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The area of this Faizabad region is administered by Ayodhya Municipal Corpo ...

and sold to Khanum Jaan, the madam of a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

who teaches young courtesans. Renamed Umrao Jaan, Amiran turns into a cultured woman trained to captivate men of wealth and taste. Umrao catches the eye of Nawab Sultan and the two fall in love, but the relationship comes to an end when Nawab reveals he must marry in order to please his family. Umrao then becomes infatuated with bandit chieftain Faiz Ali, who woos and wins her heart. She elopes with him, but is forced to return to Lucknow after Ali is killed by local police. Some time later, British forces lay siege to

and the residents evacuate the city. Umrao's party of refugees stops in a small village, which Umrao recognizes as

. The residents fail to recognize her, however, and ask her to dance for their pleasure. Afterwards, she reunites with her family, who believed her to be dead. Her mother is happy to welcome Umrao back, but her brother forbids it and orders Umrao to never return. She returns to

to find the

looted and deserted.

Cast

as Amiran/Umrao Jaan ** Seema Sathyu and Umme Farwa as young Amiran * Farooq Shaikh as Nawab Sultan *

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare ...

as Gohar Mirza * Raj Babbar as Faiz Ali * Ishtiaque Khan as Khan Ghilzai *

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film direct ...

as Maulvi Saheb * Shaukat Kaifi as Khanum Jaan *

Dina Pathak Dina Pathak (née Gandhi; 4 March 1922 – 11 October 2002) was an Indian actress and director of Gujarati theatre and also a film actor. She was an activist and President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW). A doyenne of Hindi ...

as Husseini * Prema Narayan as Bismillah Jaan *

Bharat Bhushan Bhalla ''Bharatbhushan Bhalla'' better known as ''Bharat Bhushan'' (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the sam ...

as Khan Saheb *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with th ...

as Parnan Aziz *

Satish Shah Satish Shah (born 25 June 1951) is an Indian actor. He is best known for his comic roles in films like '' Jaane bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), '' Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi'' (1984), '' Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'' (2004), '' Main Hoon Na'' (2004), ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' ...

as Daroga Dilawar

Crew

* Art Direction:

, Bansi Chandragupta, Manzoor * Choreography: Gopi Krishna for the song "Dil Cheez Kya Hai",

Kumudini Lakhia Kumudini Lakhia (born 17 May 1930) is an Indian Kathak dancer and choreographer based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where she founded Kadamb School of Dance and Music, an institute of Indian dance and music in 1967. A pioneer in contemporary Kathak d ...

* 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.

was 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

, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar and Bharat Bhushan. Critics responded favourably to the carefully done historical setting. The soundtrack was composed by

Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīsābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131), commonly known as Omar Khayyam ( fa, عمر خیّام), was a polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, ...

and the lyrics were penned by Shahryar. Several songs from the film, sung by

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...

, are considered classics of

filmi Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...

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 opus.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by

, while the lyrics were penned by Shahryar.

Accolades

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 Pratibha Singh Baghel (born 4 January), also referred to as Pratibha Singh and Pratibha Baghel, is an Indian singer who sings Hindustani classical music, ghazals as well as Bollywood film songs.Anish MohantyBole Naina Music Review Planet Bollywo ...

in the titular role of the courtesan.

References

External links

* {{Muzaffar Ali Films featuring a Best Actress National Award-winning performance 1980s Hindi-language films Indian epic films 1980s Urdu-language films 1981 films Films with screenplays by Shama Zaidi Films directed by Muzaffar Ali Films set in Lucknow Films based on Indian novels Films about courtesans in India Films shot in Lucknow Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award Films adapted into plays Urdu-language Indian films