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Umrao nothing but TRAISH

A lot of Ash, but not enough Umrao

Sukanya Verma | November 03, 2006 19:21 IST








Recreating the past is hard, and filmmakers seldom succeed in replacing the memory of the past vision with their own.

The same is true of director J P Dutta's efforts, which are not nearly enough. His interpretation of Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa's Urdu novel never achieves the creative brilliance and emotional poignancy of Muzzafar Ali's benchmark 1981 adaptation. To be fair, even if you steer clear of comparisons, the new Umrao Jaan barely demonstrates the soul or fabric of a classic. Instead it alternates between a hollow, glossy romance and an outrageous period drama.

The alternate Umrao Jaan review

The film documents the heartbreaks and disillusionments in the life of gifted courtesan Umrao Jaan (Aishwarya Rai). As in the novel, the story unfolds in flashbacks told to the author (Anwar Nadeem in a mind-numbing performance) by the lady herself, a la Interview With The Vampire (and a shabbily executed one at that).

Before winning the hearts of her mujra-loving admirers in Lucknow, Umrao nursed dreams of a normal life like any other regular teenage girl. Born Ameeran to a poor but respectable family of Faizabad, she is kidnapped by an enemy (Vishwajeet Pradhan) of her father (Parikshit Sahni) and sold to a sharp Madame Khanum Jaan (Shabana Azmi). Mesmerized by the lure of fancy clothes, pretty ornaments and carefree dancing, Ameeran, now rechristened Umrao, masters the art of dance and poetry.

In her first public performance itself, she falls hard for the dashing Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan). Her passion is likewise reciprocated. Here Dutta literally forces the romance down the viewer's throat. In their second meeting itself, they are exchanging rings and eternal promises of ever-lasting togetherness. Instead of building a simmering chemistry, he inserts unnecessary, lengthy songs and ruins the momentum. And then he adds threats to their romance in the form of rivalry elements like a dacoit-in-the-garb-of-a-nawab, Faiz Ali (Sunil Shetty) and Umrao's childhood mate, Gauhar (Puru Raaj Kumar). At this juncture, Umrao Jaan begins to lose whatever grip it had and stops making sense.

Essentially, Umrao Jaan talks about a woman being let down by all the three men she got involved with. Here Dutta weaves the three episodes into one and takes away the impact of Umrao's great loss making the men in her life come across as spineless, ruthless and hopelessm respectively.

If you are the soft-hearted types, you will feel a lump down your throat everytime the heart-wrenching Agle janam mohe bitiya plays in the background. Sadly, the drama of Anu Malik's composition is not echoed in the dialogues. The makers misconstrue misery as an invitation to invent a weepy melodrama.

Ironically, even as Dutta adapts to the old style of filmmaking: prolonged scenes, compelling close-ups, symbolic gestures and a series of songs (did I say there are too many of those? I must reiterate!), he doesn't ever capture the old world charm.

Ostentatiously painted sets of havelis and kothas sporting ornate silver paan boxes, hookah pipes, Persian carpets and hand-operated ceiling fans give an exhausted, jaded appearance. Sure, the place looks enormous but not opulent, flamboyant but not fantastic. The concepts of shayari (poetry), aadabs (greeting) and mehfils (gatherings) never find an outlet in the proceedings. Instead, aristocrats are positioned like bland extras to fill up the picture. There is no subtext to pay attention to the etiquette-heavy culture of the nawabs and their refined elegance in the customs of the tawaif.

Deficiency in detailing aside, Umrao Jaan's biggest guilty party is majority of its cast. Dutta has chosen wrong actors for wrong roles -- lousy actors play key parts and an exceptional artist like Divya Dutta is reduced to a sidekick. Puru Raaj Kumar and Sunil Shetty are grossly miscast as Gauhar Mirza and Faiz Ali. Forget getting into the skin of the character, they don't even touch it. Filmi acting coupled with incorrectly pronounced Urdu rubbishes the authenticity.

The dialogues are emphatic, and an interesting mix of weighty literary lines and those with poetic simplicity. Thank God for Shabana Azmi. Her literary background and intimidating personality prove to be a formidable mix as she effortlessly conveys the flavour and mentality of an era with hard-hitting conviction.

The chemistry between Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan is pleasant, though not necessarily passionate. Like in their previous outings -- Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke and Kuch Naa Kaho -- the couple share a relaxed rapport.

Bachchan Jr is wasted in what was supposed to be charming but turned out to be inconsequential role. True, he wears a scruffy beard and designer sherwanis with elan, but the same cannot be said about his edgy and weakly-written role. The film doesn't extract any of his charm or vulnerability. Nawab Sultan's connection with Umrao is supposed to be based on the duo's collective love for poetry. But the way he dumps her here shows it was only lust that brought them together.

Finally, there is Aishwarya Rai -- the star, queen and saving grace of Umrao Jaan. She enthralls with her gorgeousness, the precision in her dance movements, elegance in her gestures and sincerity in her willingness to become Umrao Jaan Ada. Don't expect an Umrao Jaan. Don't expect a Rekha. But Aishwarya Rai? You'll get plenty.

The alternate Umrao Jaan review

Rediff Rating:
**

Even Moran says wash out!

Though the film could stand a good editor - Aishwarya Rai is excellent in/as Umrao Jaan, period.
There is no other truth, only lies.

I was surprised at how much I loved the new Umrao Jaan - and I didn't mind the length. Allowing the character to go full circle, coming to terms with her past and present, was an extremely important aspect to the film. Aish was fantastic, and Shabana Azmi rocked her small part too.

I found Aishwarya's Umrao Jaan a lot better than Rekha one.

It's a serious work of literature transferred to film. As it's a serious film, don't expect comedy, disco or bikinies although Aishwarya does look glamourous.

Heard comments from the audience that Aish must win best actress awards for this film.

Audio: Audio was distinctly multichannel and directional. End credits showed DD and DTS logos. Surround sound sure gives a different look to Mujras.

Film length: 180 min plus/ minus 2-3 min.

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It's a shame that a family film like Umrao Jaan and a comedy film like Jaaneman get excellent surround sound and the film that deserves a multichannel sound, a special effects film, DON is presented in back-up Front channel only.

Umrao Jaan screening that I saw sure had subtitles.

Presently at first listening, I didn't find songs/ music to be as catchy as the orig UJ but later on the music/ songs/ lyrics may catch on. One thing for sure, even if I didn't like songs on CD (@ 1st listening) as much as the old UJ, songs/ mujras were miles and miles ahead of old UJ or even other modern songs because of multichannel ambiance. Plus the fact what made HAHK a fashion statement and a super hit, Aish's Umrao Jaan is a lot better. Umrao Jaan deserves to be a hit/ super hit just based on Aish's fashionable/ colorful clothes. And IMHO, it will.

Abhishek sure looks a good looking modern Nawwab son (Old UJ had Farookh Shaikh that fitted to the role of 19th cent Nawwab but Abhishek is excellent too, although he does look modern). Abhishek-Aish pairing is excellent.

Whether Junta likes the film or not (but, they will), they sure will flock to theatres, IMHO, just to see Aish-Abhishek colorful fashion clothing, as the word of mouth spreads.

As I said earlier, songs/ mujras in Umrao Jaan are in surround and it does give a special feel of the ambience. Perhaps, it's the first time that I noticed surround ambience in Hindi film songs ?? Is it so or there have been earlier films with active surround during songs ?? Hindi CDs are all in stereo at best. Or am I wrong here too ??

You are right!Stereo, at the most!

Biz Talk: Bejaan Umrao

As a kid, I remember visiting my parents in Mumbai during the annual vacations and the only ‘hobby’ I indulged in during my adolescence was watching movies and more movies. I distinctly remember standing in serpentine queues to watch the new releases at New Talkies, Neptune, Nandi, Bandra Talkies and Gaiety-Galaxy in Bandra. The one memory I can never erase was that of the junta whistling away to glory the moment the censor certificate of the film flashed on screen. If it was an 18-reeler, the whistles would be strong and if it happened to be a 20-reeler, the auditorium would be filled with loud cheers, claps and whistles. Watching a 20-reeler then made people euphoric.

A few days ago, as the censor certificate of UMRAO JAAN flashed on screen and truth dawned upon viewers that it was a 20-reeler, a group of ladies seated alongside couldn’t control their gasps, sighs and moans. “Heavens, it’s a 3-hour film,” someone remarked, making me realize once again that times have changed. A 20-reeler is more of a bane than a boon in today’s time and age. That’s one of the prime reasons why J.P. Dutta’s films suffer at the box-office.

I distinctly remember watching J.P.’s directorial debut GHULAMI almost two decades ago and the first thing the producer asked me once the screening concluded was, “Film kaisi lagi?” My reply was rapid, “The director is the actual star of this multi-starrer.” When I compare J.P.’s output in GHULAMI or YATEEM [even though this didn’t work] with UMRAO JAAN, I sincerely feel J.P. is not in form of late. As a storyteller, he knows the grammar of film-making right. As a technician, he’s fantastic. But as an editor, sorry, either he’s too passionate about his work and forgets all about editing or he has lost objectivity.

The disastrous opening of UMRAO JAAN sent shock waves within the film industry. And the blame-game began on Friday itself. “J.P. should’ve promoted the music for at least a month more,” someone suggested. Here’s another one, “The youth of today is not interested in costume dramas/period films.” And another, “Abhishek and Ash make a lovely pair, but they’re unlucky as far as box-office goes: DHAAI AKSHAR PREM KE, KUCH NAA KAHO and now UMRAO JAAN.” But why are we overlooking the chartbuster ‘Kajra Re’ from BUNTY AUR BABLI?

Back to UMRAO JAAN. The opening was 25%-30% at most places, while certain centres reported as low as 10%-15% occupancy, which sets you thinking. “We were expecting a slow start,” a prominent distributor of UMRAO JAAN told me on Friday afternoon. But things didn’t improve on Saturday, while the evening shows on Sunday showed better occupancy at some multiplexes. On Monday and Tuesday, the business plummeted completely.

Take, for instance, an ‘A’ class centre like Indore [one of the barometers in the industry]. The comparative collections of UMRAO JAAN are sure to give you a clearer idea of how the mighty fell:

THEATRE Friday Sunday Tuesday
PVR 55,000 64,000 12,300
Inox 32,000 46,200 9,800
Adlabs 28,000 57,600 8,600
Velocity 24,000 42,300 6,050

Note:- Friday was approx. 20% occupancy, so just do your calculations for Tuesday.

As things stand today, the heavily priced UMRAO JAAN has emerged a setback for the industry, making its distributors poorer by a couple of crores.



Tumhari mehfil main aagaey hain, please ab humko kabool karlo

Is it a blanket statement or did you guys(who have seen Umrao Jaan) feel the same ? DId Aishwarya and Abhishek portray the poetic side of their characters in a natural way?

i watched it last night.. i found the first half boring as hell.. the story of nawab sultans affair with umraao jaan seem to me pointless and didnt hold any meaning with the amount of songs used to picturise the event.. the songs were getting a bit boring.. but the second half was pretty good.. aish was great, abhishek was good.. sunil shetty was great too.. the old movie was waaay better than this though..

pity my b***** DEI disc of Umrao jaan is knackered by dvd-rot.. i came to watch it this morning and it didnt work... Grrrrrrrrrrrr...

Sensibility prevailed!! I would request an endorsement from our one and only rana sahab on behalf of overseas audience and sanjay sahab for India!

Looking for new profession for Dutta!! and and a new older, non shani, happening bahu, mate for Bachans

May I recommend " MOCHI" for DUTTA!

and for Bachan Junior, my humble offer is any other happening budhi chudail


Jiyo Bachan!!

I do not doubt Traish looking good as blue eyed gal, to lone and moan for!! But million $$ question is if she was as convincing as Rekha( Umrao jaan) or Madhuri(Devdas) in this remake?

Imho!! She did well as PARO the pretty, lovable, green eyed doll that would make any Dev anto Devdas but I bet she would not have been able to re create a convincing chandramukhi!

Firstly would it make sense to remake CASA BLANCA?

Yes!! If you want to create hype and make quick bucks by posting sadeela rook and traish over Bogart and Bergman!

NO: !!!! It is not possible to recreate a better convincing Blanca Casa Please leave it alone!! fo God sake!

I've seen enough reports that the film has flopped but the local A1 theatre audience indicates it differently. Me and my wife (2nd viewing) took along kids for UJ. On the 14th day, there were more than 60 people (a rarity here) in the theatre and many were for repeat viewing. We liked it even more the 2nd time around. Kids too liked it a lot, mainly for Aish's looks, traditional colorful dresses, in absolute harmony with Aish's blue eyes, and yet modern fashion. Plus, a tear jerker for the kids and they still liked it.

rana sahab!! I wonder how can some one watch this film twice?

It was hard for me to sit in there for even 5 minutes without forcing myself to go watch the orig one instead!!

There was no damn it LUCKNOW in this film, it was Jay pur or Udaypur's Umrao darn it all the way!!

Even shabana could not keep my interest, Abhishek was Lame and other characters were not significant any ways!

A good soundtrack, and background, wasted by Dutta on his horrendous attept to sell Aish for cheap!

Aish failed miserably as Umrao the courtesan, but partialy decent as lovelorn, rejected dejected!

Fate!! Eject this one and replace with orig!

It was hard for me to sit with this over 3 hrs long traishwarya torture! Where I was feeling guilty for not spending same time to rewatch, orig Umrao!