Rekha in Umrao Jaan (1981)

This film is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada by Mirza Mohammad Hadi ‘Ruswa’, published in 1899, which presents the story of Umrao Jaan, a courtesan of Lucknow and Kanpur, as supposedly true. It is set at the last moment of Lucknow’s glory: the 1857 uprisings occur in the novel when Umrao Jaan is at the height of her power. The novel’s popularity has continued to the present, although the story of Umrao Jaan is probably better known now from this film version, which has been adapted considerably to fit the requirements of the Hindi film. These include a focus on Umrao’s romance and her transformation into a beautiful woman, and the film creates nostalgia for a lost world, adding the visual pleasures of cinema.

The child Ameeran (Umme Farwa) lives in Faizabad with her parents (Muzaffar Ali plays her father) and her baby brother (Shaad Ali Sahgal, Muzaffar Ali’s son, who directed Saathiya [2002] and Bunty our Babli [2005]). Her father’s enemy Dilawar Khan abducts her from her own engagement ceremony and she, along with another girl, Ram Dei, is sold in Lucknow. The chaudhuriyan (madam) (Shaukat Kaifi) of her kotha (brothel) renames her Umrao and she is trained in dancing, singing and poetry. She and her friend grow up (into Rekha and Prema Narayan). Gauhar Mirza (Naseeruddin Shah), the son of one of the tawaifs, pursues her but, once she begins to perform, a nawab, Sultan Sahib (Farouque Shaikh), falls in love with her and she with him. When the nawab and Umrao realise that they cannot marry, she runs away with Faiz Ali (Raj Babbar), a bandit. When he is killed, she sets up her own kotha in Kanpur where she meets Ram Dei, who has married a nawab and laments her own fate. Mirza comes to take her back to Lucknow, but she escapes during the 1857 uprisings. She finds herself in Faizabad, where she continues with her career.

The film showcases the talents of Rekha, one of the great divas of Hindi cinema. Although she was already an icon, this is her greatest performance and the film in which she looks the most beautiful. The film is obsessed with the exquisite aesthetics of a lost Islamicate culture. Muzaffar Ali, himself a member of one of the princely families of Lucknow, and latterly a clothes designer and music event organiser, has paid attention to every detail of these aspects to produce a visual gem. It is said that the extras are also members of princely families, who were asked to come dressed in their finest clothes and to lend items from their palaces. Since much of the film was shot on sets in Bombay, it seems more likely that the props were brought from markets such as Chor Bazaar.

The film has wonderful songs, especially Umrao’s four ghazals (a popular genre of Urdu poetry), with music by Khayyam, lyrics by Shahryar and sung by Asha Bhosle. These are ‘Justuju jiski thi’, ‘Yeh kya jagah hai doston’,’ In aankhon ki masti’ and the most popular of all, ‘Dil cheez kya hai?’. Although not classical music, they produce a similar effect and, as such, they are much loved even today.

The film is currently being remade, presumably only as a commercial venture, as any attempt to improve on it would be very risky indeed.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1981, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Muzafar Ali, Director – Muzafar Ali, Music Director – Khaiyyam, Cast - Farooque Shaikh, Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar, Prema Narayan, Shaukat Kaifi, Dina Pathak, Khan Ghilzai, Akbar Rashid, Gajanan Jagirdar, Rita Rani Kaul, Shaheen Sultan, Umme Farwa, Seema Sathyu

Sunny Deol in Ghayal (1990)

Cast: Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Raj Babbar, Moushumi Chatterjee, Amrish Puri

Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi

Music: Bappi Lahiri

Lyrics: Anjaan, lndivar

Capsule Review: A revenge saga with a difference. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s blood- splattered debut showed him to be a craftsman of unforeseen devices. Though Ghayal is a routine revenge drama, the entire framing of the narrative and the editing pattern are so unique as to give the plot a look of innovative bravado. Sunny Deol, controlled and sinewy as a man seeking revenge on his brother’s killers is in splendid shape. The taut plot trotted forward and at a breakneck though even speed culminating in an unexpected climax. More than the narrative it was the way Santoshi told the age-old story which made it many cuts above the rut. Ghayal was designed by Sunny Deol’s production house as a vehicle to exploit his image as the strong and silent hero. It was a smash hit and clearly indicated where the future of mainstream Hindi cinema lay.

Raj Babbar and Salma Agha in Nikaah (1982)

Each of B. R. Chopra’s films addresses a serious topic, but they are always entertaining. Nikaah looks at the issue of Muslim divorce, arguing that to be able to get a divorce merely by uttering the three words ‘Talaq, talaq, talaq’ is not in the interests of women or even of men. To address this topic, B. R. Chopra has made a Muslim social, a genre that was rare during the 1980s, and even the success of this film did not lead to its revival. As is typical of this genre, all the characters are Muslims, speak and read Urdu and live an aristocratic life that is rare among Muslims in modern India but was certainly known before partition. The ‘Islamicate’ nature of the film is constantly exaggerated in gesture, seen in the elaborate greetings of ‘aadaab’, in the language, which is always flowery and Persianate, and in the spectacular sets and neo-traditional costumes. The contrast between the traditional nawabi house and the glamorous, modern world of Bombay is carefully underlined, as is the difference in lifestyle and customs between the world of the Muslim elite and the educated middle classes. The Nawab seems part of the decadence associated with Islamic cultures in film and literature, but he does not participate in the arts and learning of the old world.

As one expects of B. R. Chopra, the story is told in a gripping way, avoiding didacticism and excess while focusing at all times on the social message. The only exception, perhaps, is the final denouement, which is very stagey and wordy. The dialogues are well written and the film moves at a steady pace.

The film is surprisingly frank about sexual matters, from the depiction of the female nude at the beginning, as ‘Woman’ talks about the suffering and sacrifice she has undergone in history, to the married relationships of Niloufer (Salma Agha). The Nawabi Wasim (Deepak Parashar), Niloufer’s first husband, makes it clear that his love for her is based not on companionship but on sexual pleasure. His lack of any empathy for her is clear when he divorces her in a fit of temper but cannot see why she should be unwilling to take him back. Haider (Raj Babbar), Niloufer’s second husband, by contrast, sees companionship as central to their relationship, although the physical side also plays a key part.

Even though B. R. Chopra consulted with an adviser on Muslim religious law, the film caused some controversy among the Muslim population, who thought it portrayed them as backward in their gender politics, with their hot-headed men willing to throw their women out onto the street; however, it apparently found a major audience among burqa-clad Muslim women, who wept with the heroine and enjoyed her questioning of the divorce law, and her decision to leave both men until they admitted that they have misunderstood and wronged her.

Cast and Production Credits

Year - 1982, Genre – Drama (Muslim Social), Country - India, Language – Urdu, Producer(s) – B.R. Films, Director - B.R. Chopra, Music Director - Ravi, Cast - Salma Agha, Raj Babbar, Deepak Parashar, Asrani