Umrao Jaan - Not For All
Hi Folks,
As promised here is the review of the film, that prior to Dhoom 2, was one of the most awaited one!!
First the positives. And I will not compare to the original cause that is a fault. The costumes are lavish, but the songs are many, Aishwariya reacts but Shabana acts. Abhishek, goes back a step, to what he was before Mani Ratnam changed him in Yuva. Abhishek is a good action here, Abhishek as a romantic, leaves much to be desired. Sunil is passable, however, he cannot be “the vulnerable in love.” The language is rich the characters are not.The setting of this film was one, where the characters could have complimented the mood and the “adab and ada” of Lucknow and UP. The problem is when you cast eye candy and expect them to blend into the environment, they don’t, they stand out and even the Kathak moves of Ash, don’t seem to blend that well.
There will be many who will swear by the tone and texture of this film. That it does have, but the acting and the excessive number of songs, slow down the pace.
And, now I contradict myself. I have to compare it to the original. The director of the original wanted to tell a story with all his passion. JP Dutta wanted to redeem himself post LOC. The latter emotion failed to match the purity of the former.
Ash gives it all she has, unfortunately, this is not a modelling assignment for Lucknow tourism. An intense story had to be told. Rekha’s real life pain probably came across on the celluloid. Ash, is Ash. A great looker and with beautiful eyes, unfortunately Umrao Jaan was more. Abhishek’s dad was never a lover boy, Abhsihek, who is 70% in intensity, should stay with action and comedy. Give me a Shiney or an Irfaan for this one. Give me a Smriti for this one.
Shabana and Kulbhushan do justice to their roles.The others fall short. One should not compare, one can’t help but compare. The intensity of Rekha and Farokh Sheikh, is too recent and Ash and Abhsihek are too wooden.
Some might like this and hopefully it will become a classic. Unfortunately I am not one of those. I do have to be honest on that.The pace could have been maintianed and at least an hour of the film could have been shaved without affecting the story.
Sincerely,
Vivek “didn’t quite speak to me” Kumar
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Weak opening for Umrao Jaan!
The response to the film is not too good, with multiplexes having 30% opening. The weekend booking is also very less.
- Manjeet, Thanks for providing the data… I was expecting this. Why can’t movie-makers realize right when they conceive an idea - if it will generate interest in the general public. Forget the story - treatment etc.
No surprises here…. UJ was a doomed project right when it was thought of. I would love to know how many of us on PFC really liked the original UJ? Dont count me in…i cud barely watch it for 30 mins..
i have not even seen the original Umrao Jaan! :d
i haven’t seen the original either.. when JP first announced it, my first reaction was.. “of all the films to remake.. he chose this?!?”
“the film, that prior to Dhoom 2, was one of the most awaited one!!”
really????
heh! mujraas, kothaas don’t invoke even an iota of excitement in me
I think JP Dutta should simply leave the streets of Lucknow to someone else and go back to the deserts of Rajasthan which is his forte
Man, we need JP of Ghulami, Hathyaar and yateem. Hathyaar was awesome
I love the classics, but honestly (and I may get blasted for saying this) but I really did not like the original Umrao Jaan by Muzaffar Ali. Technically, I thought it was quite backward, and as a film, I found it quite boring. First I thought maybe it was because I could not understand the extremely chaste Urdu used, so I popped the DVD in again, this time with subtitles, and still was not able to stay interested. As for JP Dutta’s Umrao Jaan, I never really was interested, and probably will not watch the movie. I’m quite wary of a Dutta film, especially after the torture I had to endure twice in a row - Refugee, and LOC. If he really wants to continue making films that people will sit through, I think the man needs to realize that filling the movie with 14 songs per hour is not the way to go.
Vijay..you are not going to get blasted for not watching original Umrao Jaan… But, if someone really had to blast you… then they will have two to deal with…
- You two didn’t like Muzaffar Ali’s UJ?? x(x(x(x(x(x(x(x( well… I was bored too… :-”
BTW why did JP wanted to remake Umrao Jaan. The original one itself was a yawn fest, and was watchable only coz of Rekha and songs. I cant even watch Ash for 10 minutes, so no way im gonna watch her plastic expressions for 3 hours. BTW promos of Guru look really good, i would want to see something on Dhirubhai Ambani, not a dated period piece on some courtesan.
Congratulations vivek, your review has been published in today’s mumbai mirror.:d
Appreciate letting me know Chaitanya. Always feel a positive nostalgia about my favorite city in this world and if anything reaches out there, feel a sense of continued connection.
I found the original to be very boring so this one wasn’t really high on my list of movies to watch. At least the music in the original was pleasing to the ear compared to Anu Malik’s compositions.
Hi all, I would like to say movie has several flwas,it could have been better.Shabana,aish,abhishek,kulbhushan,puru are wonderful in acting.but the man whome umrao narrets her life story has no contrl and sync on his act voice and dialogue.something looks too artificial.aish is beautiful.one thing i noticed that there was too much of darkness in the whole movie or i saw a bad print.it could have been a bit bright.the most important thing the songs are not good at all.may be the lyrics are good,but music…uff.the old original classic’s songs are still on the lips and hearts of ppl.while these new songs hardly touches at present.main thing alka yagnics voice doesnt suits to ash.kavita krishnmurty was the best playback singer for her or someone else.many scenes like a father is collecting batashs from the road??why??to give his daughter later??in a marriage vidai ceremony ladies are wearing pinned up saris in modern style.while i dont think it was in vogue in that sentury.director should keep in mind these small things.divya dutta has become an actress who knows to show his talant in small roles.even in long shots she catches the attraction.the same thing for ayesh julka.i know she is a trained wonderful kathak dancer.and she must have done this movie to enjoy his dancing ability.becoz great artist never see the leighnth of the role.puru rajkumar was surprising he resembles his father in looks and voice.director couldnt show outdoor scenes too much.above all with all its flaws movie is god.it could have been a super hit if the songs vere hearable and more melodious that was the main reason behind the succsess of the old UJ.
JP might have done a good job of this movie if he had shot it in Rajasthan and givenit a Marwadi look.
When LOC flopped did Bindya Goswami really state that “People who did not like LOC are traitors”.
A friend of mine told me this durin our movie discussion.
Is there anyway this statement can be validated?
Cheers,
Muzzy, in fact JP did shoot most of the film in Jaipur and surrounding palaces. He did it in order to make the actors feel close to the time period. But the reason noone felt the locales much was because almost all the film was done indoors.
As per the Rajasthani look, I am not sure the text would have allowed that much liberty.
Though I must say, he either needs to drop his desert obsession or make only films that are based to that place textually, cus he still has the deserts’ dryness in even lakhnavi mujra! And his regular actors also seem a lil uncomfortable playin the ppl with a royal demeanor and tehzeeb.
I guess that would have been a principle reason to being in Shabana Azmi in the goings on.
The Be-jaan Umrao has turned out to be a complete disappointment & has many flaws which should be highlighted. First of all accent issues!. Come on Sunil Shetty you should have learned a little bit punctuation of Urdu language to portray a lukhnowi citizen in this film…there’s a difference when you say ‘Khuda’ in hindi & when in Urdu. Being a pakistani I don’t know if the hindi language has any alphabet for ‘kh’ of Urdu..bcoz mostly pronunciation mistakes are done with the words starting with this alphabet. Words like Khuda, Khanum, Khadim, etc needs a particular accent. You cannot say ‘KOOHDA’ & ‘KAAHNUM’ in Urdu![-(
Even Ash has failed to pronounce the words properly. However among the whole cast Sunil Shetty was worst along with his looks!!!! Some important scenes could have been made more impressive but however they left no mark & failed to evoke any sympathies for ill-fated courteson. Ash re-uniting with her family was the most important & sensitive scene of the movie but it failed to leave an impact on the audience. The scenes between Ash & Abhishek made the movie quite boring. Those scenes should have been given special attention. Music & lyrics was a disaster. “Agle Janam mohe Bitya na keejo”…come on there is no concept of of reincarnation/rebirth in Islam. A girl of a muslim family cannot sing this song in her childhood…no one talks about reincarnation in a muslim family!!![-(
- Rizwan, Interesting points! Haven’t had the courage to go and see UJ. Perhaps I’ll wait for the DVD release where I can have complete control over the fast forward button.
there is a “kh” alphabet in Hindi… it’s just that every region has it’s own flavor (dialect?) - Sunil does have a problem in the correct “Hindi” pronunciations in his other movies too.
The other thing you point out - about the song - is frankly humorous for me over the guffaw made by the UJ team. I would never have known this unless and until you pointed this out.
Very interesting observations. Thanks!
i just honestly can’t think of a single ‘pull’ that’ll get me to watch this film.. even on dvd. not abhishek, not barbie, not the lavish sets or the songs.. nothing.
the promos were boring enuf to the point where i can confidently say i wouldn’t even watch this if i had a pirate copy.. would rather take a nap to make good use of my time |-)
Rizwan:
Re: For non-existence of rebirth concept in Islam and why this song” agle janam mohe bitiya na keejo” You must curse Javed Akhtar Saab for that. JP is less responsible for this. Being muslim Javed Saab should know better than JP.
Incidently is it first time a muslim character is shown to talk about things prohibited in Islam? Just curious!
Atleast in Hindustan, its very difficult for a common man (who has no specialisation in hindi or urdu as languages)to tell which word specifically belong to Urdu or which is not originated in Hindi. In communication langauge Hindi contains almost all the Urdu words let alone words started with Kh. I am writing about spoken langauge.
Is there any difference between Hindi and Urdu? as far as spoken words are concerned? (script is different we know). Urdu (Hindi+Farsi) Is not it? Not Urdu speaking people can have same pronounciation of same word. Regional touch has to enter in the pronounciation. Bhopal, Rampur, Lucknow, Aligarh, Azamgarh. people live there pronounce words as per their regional accent.
Muzzy:
I think not Bindiya Goswami but JP himself had said those words that people who did not see and praise LOC…. I am not sure if he used word
“traitor” or not. Rediff.com might have published interview of JP where he had repeated something similar but with sad tone this time that he was sad that people rejected LOC.
JP thinks its necessary for a citizen to watch a film based on a war as thats a tribute to the soldiers died in the war. A little emotional rhetoric! He was hoping Millions of Indians will attack the cinema halls to watch LOC.
RK thanks for the clarification.
Dont know how much Javed saab knows about Islam.
Or it might be the director who might have asked him write such stuff even after being informed by writer that muslims dont believe in agla janam.
We might never know.
I would surely go to cinema if someone converts Haqeeqat into colour (ala Mughal-e-Azam). Thats a war movie which stirs you from inside.
Balraj Sahni & Jayant are superb.
“Lo chale hum juda jaan-e-tan saathiyon, ab tumhare hawale watan saathiyon”
Muzzy:
Rizwan has started an interesting debate which may reach soon to Javed Akhtar and JP.
Haqeeqat is perhaps best hindi film among war films. Though very few war films are made and when they are made they lose effect due to heavy dialogues.
Haqeeqat had beautiful music.
Masti mein chhedh ke taran koi dil ka( rafi)
Ek ye bhee diwali hai(lata)
mein ye soch kar uske dar se utha tha (rafi)
kar chale hum fida jane tan sathiyon ( rafi)
Hoke majbur mujhe usne bhulaya hoga ( rafi, talat, mannade, bhupendra)
perhaps best ever lyrics written by Kaifi Azami
(father of Shabana Azami and father in law of Javed Saab)
Yup, Marhoom Kaifi saab was totally up there with likes of Sahir Ludhianvi.
My favorite of Kaifi saab was in Arth. “Tere khat” was absolute out of this world.
Hope Javed saab learns of our debate & joins in. Lately there is much of crap he is writing. I hate to see that happen as from the current crop of writers I rate him as No.1. Other like Sameer can stick around with their Hidayat, Inayat, Mehfil etc. (limited words)
“Tu apni dil ki jawan dharkano ko ginke bata” another gem from him.
Yes Muzzy,
Kaifee saab did his best work to the tunes of Madan Mohan, Khaiyam, Heman Kumar, Gulam Mohammad, SD Burmen and ofcourse Jagjit Singh in Arth. Mostly he teamed up with Madan Mohan. He kept up the stadard in filmi songs.
I’m here again! I’m happy many people took notice of things that I pointed out in this forum. Somebody remarked above that soon my criticism should reach to Javed Akhtar too..I wish that could happen! Infact when the music of UJ was released I said the same things about the song “Agle Janam…” in IndiaFM forum too. Someone above said the right thing that for “Agle Janam” Javed Akhtar should be blamed..but J.P.Dutta should be equally blamed too. Why did he have to ruin a beautiful subject with his pathetic war sense of movie-making!
@ RK
Well RK you must know Urdu & Hindi have a major difference in terms of pronunciation & vocabulary too. There are certain words which are not even included in Urdu which you speak in Hindi. And yes! Urdu is a mixture of Persian, Arabic & Arain languages & a very few words from hindi. It’s hindi which has taken words from Urdu otherwise Hindi is a refined form of Sanskirit. Well pronunciation does count a lot. You can have a different accent but pronunciation should not differ. You can say Khuda ki kasam in a punjabi accent but you cannot say “Koohda ki kasam” in any accent!!! Accent & pronunciation are two different concepts. JP Dutta should be blamed for all the flaws of pronunciation in the film…bcoz he has claimed one million times that his father is an authority & has mastered in Urdu language plus they had had some Lucknowi poet on the sets of UJ to correct the mistakes of Urdu language. Is se acha toh woh mujhe bulla lete Pakistan se….I would have given a tough time to actors like Sunil & Ash!!!!:d
I really hated Sunil Shetty saying “Koohda ki kasam…& Kaah-num saab”!!!/:) Come on do Sunil Shetty & Abhishek Bachan were suitable for this film..!!! Absolutely NOT. Does anyone really think that Abhishek look like a nawab!!!! Abhishek should have been given the role of Sunil Shetty (dacoit) & Sunil Shetty should have been omitted from this film completely…leaving him to work on some ‘tapori’ movie! And what about Raj Kumar!!! What was the need to put him in the role which earlier played by the legend Naseeruddin Shah. The role was supposed to create some humour in this intense tragedy like Naseeruddin Shah did create in the classic version…on the contrary Raj Kumar looked himself an intense tragic character in the film. He looked more Umrao Jaan than Ashwariya!!!! He had no expressions on his face in his every scene..!
One more thing the word “Abbo” (father) came very late in muslim culture..particularly in the post independence period. Abbo is a modern form of Abba & is like Dad in English for Daddy. If they were showing a very cultured background in early 19th Century era then “Abba Hazoor or Abba Jaan” was the right word for calling the ‘father’ not Abbo!
Frankly speaking when I watched’Hum Dil De Chukke Sanam’ I told everyone around that bollywood should remake Umrao Jaan & take Ash to play the lead role. 6 years later when J.P announced the movie I was so excited about the film. I thought he would somehow make a beautiful muscial film…but the whole team really turned out to be a nightmare. Now this topic will never be touched again for coming 4/5 decades or may be never!. J.P.Dutta has obstructed everybody else’s approach too by ruining the subject in this ugly celluloid!