Nov 06, 2006 01:35 PM
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(Updated Nov 06, 2006 04:00 PM)
"Umrao Jaan-ada" is the story of a young girl Ameeran, snatched from her family in Faisabad and sold to a brothel in Lucknow. She is brought up there under the tutelage of a Madam, Khanum Sahib (Shabana Azmi) and is taught the art of dance and music, until she grows up to be the poetess and courtesan Umrao Jaan (Aishwarya Rai). She then falls in love, rather disastrously, with a young nobleman Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan) who she cant really be with because of who she is. Umrao also has men falling in love with her, Gohar Mirza (Puru Rajkumar) and a dacoit (Suniel Shetty), both of whom end up taking advantage of her. She tries to go back to her old, childhood home in Faisabad, but is rejected by her family because of her profession. Umrao returns to Lucknow, and spends her remaining days alone and unloved. (YAWN!!!!)
MY TAKE:This was the uninspiring, totally dated story of Umrao Jaan, made into a way too long, three and a half hour movie. Quite a few good movies have been made here in the past about courtesans. "Umrao Jaan" itself was first made in the 80's and actually gained the status of a classic....."Why?" you might ask. Certainly not due to its story, but because of a beautiful actress named Rekha who played Umrao, who made an alluring, beautiful courtesan, and because of the poetry -drenched, wonderfully melodic music. Nice cameos from NSD (National School of Drama) trained actors like Nasseeruddin Shah and Farooque Shaikh in the old classic also helped the cause of that movie.
Coming to THIS movie......
ACTING: Not a single actor or performance stands out in this movie. Shabana as Khanum Sahib is imperious and arresting as usual, but she is only playing herself, not the character. Abhishek Bachchan too ends up playing himself and a bit of his father. Aishwarya is beautiful ,but a courtesan is not necessarily beautiful. A courtesan has to have the allure, the "ada", a certain air of mystery, yet sending out unmistakeable signs of invitation and warmth, to draw men to her. Aishwarya certainly doesnt exude any kind of allure or warmth. As for the chemistry between the lead actors, NON-EXISTENT as far as I could see. Or perhaps one is just too bored by the movie to care!
None of the actors are to blame completely for their lackluster performances. They have all done better in other movies, with good scripts and directors. Some of the cameo roles in this movie are so badly acted that they are actually laughable...like the guy playing the author Ruswa...eveytime he uttered a dialogue in supposedly chaste Urdu, the audience laughed!
MUSIC: Absolutely dreadful and forgettable. It seemed like there was a song every minute, and each song was a continuation of the previous one. The only average song in the movie, "Agle janam mohe", only played in the background, and that too just for a few seconds at a time, whereas Alka Yagnik seemed to shriek out a song every other minute!
DIRECTION: Need I really spell it out and state how bad it was! JP Duta has completely lost it. Granted this movie wasnt as bad as his previous effort LOC was, but it isnt that much better either. Unnecessary songs, badly etched characters, not edited properly...the list of flaws is endless. It is difficult to imagine that this is the man who made movies like "Ghulami" and "Border"...they werent brilliant, but at least they were made from the heart.
There is so much more to critique, but I wont waste your time..this movie isnt worth it! Just a few last words..Please dont watch it!
