Umrao Jaan - Movie Review

Published: July 21, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Sunil Shetty

The film is a remake of a 1981 Bollywood movie by the same title and both are based on the 1905 novel Umrao Jaan Ada about a famous courtesan who lived in the Indian city of Lucknow in the mid-1800s. Real-life husband and wife Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai play the romantic leads—and they are as gorgeous together on-screen as they are off. Rai’s portrayal of the hapless Umrao is creditable, but Bachchan brings little to his role, other than looking dashing in period attire and staring at his co-star like he wants to devour her. The film’s biggest problem, however, is the lack of strong conflicts to drive the story, as it merely recounts a long series of tragedies that devastate Umrao.

 

Originally named Amiran and born to a respectable family in the city of Faizabad, she’s kidnapped at the age of eight by an enemy of her father and sold to a brothel in Lucknow, run by Khannum (Shabana Azmi), who, like all successful madams, is a tough and savvy businesswoman. Along with Khannum’s two daughters, Amiran is raised to become a courtesan. After her first time with a customer—the wealthy Nawab Sultan (played by Bachchan)—the renamed Umrao falls in love with him and he with her. When the Nawab’s father finds out that he’s spending all his time and money in a brothel, he disowns him, and Khannum makes it clear that penniless princes aren’t welcome to her girls, especially ones who murder her customers (he stabs a man who dares to solicit Umrao’s services).

So he decides to seek refuge with his uncle in the city of Grahi, and he demands that the heartbroken Umrao remain faithful to him, knowing exactly how difficult that will be for a woman who earns her living as a prostitute. But she manages to fend off other customers, including the wealthy Faiz Ali (Sunil Shetty). When Faiz Ali realizes he’s not going to get her, he offers to take her to Grahi, and she accepts, hoping to reunite with her beloved. But just when her life is about to get better, it gets much worse, and keeps going downhill from there.

 

Still, the film is set in an enchanting time and place in India’s history, when Lucknow’s brothels were an epicenter of culture. The sumptuous costumes and traditional dances alone are fascinating. 

Umrao Jaan is rated Worth Watching.

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