Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Chez Shay Umrao Jaan - Beauty, grace, class and that "something" called 'ada', blend it with memorable poetry, soul stirring vocals, lilting music, detailed art direction, classical choreography, memorable and rich costume design, sensitive direction, lucid screenplay and brilliant performances, and of course the magic called Rekha.Too many good things to list? Well these are all there in the immensely memorable Umrao Jaan. The whole film is like a beautiful poem being unveiled on screen. It is about a renowned 19th century female artist who achieved the pinnacle of glamour and fame, and yet remained deserted by her loved one's. It is also the story in a widely acclaimed Urdu novel of the same name.The film is rich in several departments. Performances, set design, costume design, music, vocals and an eye for detail. Authentic hookahs, hand spun rich brocades and Jadau jewellery celebrate the artistry of Lucknow craftsmen in the most authentic and beautiful manner. The dances are classy and it remains screen diva Rekha's most treasured performance. She brings the character alive in classy fashion. The film celebrates the various arts it's maker Muzzafar Ali is a patron of, it's a harmonious amalgamation of all his interests and that reflects very well on screen.

Ahmad AYAZ I saw it again, after 25 years! I think it is one of the best movies (Indian or otherwise), at par with any famed-Satyajit Ray. It should NOT be even compared with the new Umrao Jaan. The problem is that it is so good that Muzaffar Ali (the producer from Lucknow where most of the movie unfolds) perhaps cannot make a better movie all his life.The film is very restrained, and therefore, a believable story of a Lucknow tawa-if (courtesan, geisha). There are no brave heroes (all flee 1857 Sepoy Mutiny against the English), the robber Faiz Ali dies in an unheroic escape. Owner of house of tawaifs, Madam Khanum, is selfish and exploitative. Nawab Sultan, one of the first clients of Umrao, sees Umarao what she is - a tawaif and abandons her with no compunctions to marry into the wealthy family of her cousin; others hurl insults at Umrao. There is a thin line (if any) between a tawaif and a prostitute/hooker - Umrao sleeps with Nawab Sultan as a matter of routine, and then with the robber Faiz Ali. Urdu poetry (ghazal) is shown to be pervasive in the lives of tawaifs and all around her. The dialogs are in lyrical, delicate and local Urdu, difficult to be appreciated in translation. Acting is superb by all. Songs and Indian Kathak dances (minus one by Nawab Sultan) are mostly in context.Good movies like good books can enrich and teach. Most Indian movies are trash, fantastic escape from reality but not old Umrao Jaan. You could see Lucknow of a bygone era. Sample these:pigeon flight contests (or kabootar baazi, a flock breaking pigeons mid flight from a rival flock) - Indian hop scotch (ikkal dukkal) - the earthen stove (or choolha) - the custom of eating with hands in the kitchen on the floor near choolha - the custom of offering for a saint's shrine (nazar at durgaah) - the custom of arranged marriage between Muslim cousins - the custom of purdah, - the custom of eating betel leaf (or paans) and hookah smoking - the tradition of sellers of bangles and shawls coming home - the incompetent and indolent nawabs who would sell part of the estate for a courtesanSee it if you have not yet; see it again if you have once. Technically, the photography is not as high quality as now - but then in 25 years movie cameras have improved a lot.

sakagaze Muzaffar Ali's UMRAO JAAN was a classy, niche-audience oriented film. Rekha's performance, Khayyam's musical score and the authentic period details, thanks to the discerning filmmaker who is known for subtlety and class, make it a masterpiece. The true appreciation for the film is more than due at this very moment when the entire world is exposed to the crass and glossy remake of the film (or call it the adaptation of the same literary classic by Mirza Haadi Ruswa) by J. P. Dutta. Aishwarya Rai in the 2006 film pales in comparison to Rekha, who played the quintessential tawaaif in Muzaffar Ali's film with perfect poise and elan. Abhishek Bachchan is nothing compared to Farouque Shaikh, and the same can be said when one tries to draw parallels between Suniel Shetty and Raj Babbar, the counterparts in the new and the old films respectively.

arnab_dasswayam Who among the Indians failed to get moved by the advertised displays and cutouts of the Indian actress Rekha in context of Umrao Jaan. Those who saw the film carefully recall it in the silence of sadness and as a class of its own. Umrao, a true character of a highly sensitive female artist of nineteenth century India, could write the wonderful lyrics of her songs, tune the classical melody herself, achieved a magical voice and presented the class of a dance-style, called Kathak. Though finally she came up on top of her fame and popularity in a wide region of India, she remained deserted by her relatives. Her love relations failed to acquire any meaningful social end. Only the audio-visual experience of the film can take one near the heart of the poetic portrayal, brilliantly done by Muzaffar Ali. Ali comes of such a lineage of aristocracy, which had much bearing on the time and cultural milieu of Umrao Jaan in Lucknow. A sensitive Indian viewer might also intuit such a living philosophical background of the spectacular details and technically rare presentation of an excellent narrative. Abducted from her home village along with another friend Ramrey in her childhood Umrao alone was purchased by a pander. She lost the last link to her past, even the whereabouts of her birthplace. Umrao Jaan grew up as a professional dancer and singer in certain art-loving space of Lucknow, where the performer--even the sexually virgin one-- entertained the elite with performance, but could have no legitimate social relation with them. Umrao had to leave her first love, a connoisseur of her performance and a good-hearted handsome prince, whom after many years she finds as married to Ramrey. It was also a matter of chance that one family adopted Ramrey and paid satisfactorily to the same kidnaper. The mature Umrao as a paid entertainer--on the family occasion of the happy and her beloved couple--could readily responds in songs to her amazing feelings of relentless drift of life.All along the narrative of the film the genius of Umrao is shown to expand as an artist and as an author from inside her existential experience. Her songs and dances--wonderfully matching the shifting contexts of her biography--move gradually from deep passion for life to profound existential quarries. A period of historical unrest in the region keeps Umrao floating and troubled to procure her livelihood and to maintain her prestige. After all the un-thought-of turns of life and an effective exposure to the out-world she unknowingly (re)appears in her lost paradise, the forgotten shelter of her birthplace and patriarchal family of origin. On deepest agony and not incredibly the Indian spectators see Umrao herself to accept her social death and ruthless rejection from her family belonging to orthodox Indian patriarchy. Crying her heart out she had to leave her mother, the ever-missing reconciliation perhaps for all. Finally the major associates of her troop also got detached from Umrao. She had to return to the deserted house of Lucknow and starts cleaning the dust spread over the old things. The pale sight of disheveled Umrao reflected in an old mirror concludes the film. The still of a drifting individual on the edge of her career and tormented life suspends an air of subtle nostalgia.Except editing all the aspects of the film making is overwhelming. Such an extraordinarily articulate film needs to be (re)viewed over again, especially in the inter(con)textual backdrop of a memoir of a loner, a genius, a beggar, a performing artist, an author and above all a female that is successfully reproduced by a director as a stream of nostalgic images.