Umrao Jaan
I know Lucknowites are fuming. They are furious about what ifs and what nots; about the hara-kiris. They are angry at JP Dutta. More than angry, they are hurt. And now this hurt has changed into ridicule, not only in Lucknow but in the whole country.
Feel sorry for the situation Dutta is in, but he probabily asked for it.
Personally speaking, I knew he would be in even more dreadful situation than Farhan Akhtar was. The latter at least had the support of the original script writer, former has no such privilege. He even claims it is not a remake.
While Lucknowites may have gone overboard with their displeasure, JP Dutta nevertheless made too many mistakes, even if we forget the mistake of making an attempt to make this movie. I would have not dared to remake a movie which had won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Music Director and Best Singer at National Awards.
Casting
The say well begun is half done, and Dutta begun very badly by choosing an awful star cast, more so if you compare with the earlier one.
Umrao Jan was not an extraordinarily beautiful woman; she was attractive, intelligent, brave and a good poetess. From the age of twelve, she had found herself in unfortunate situations. One needed an actress, who acts and expresses well, not a wooden star who is a former Miss World. For Dhoom-2 its fine, but not here.
My choice would have been Konkona Sen Sharma.
And look at the other casts - Suniel Shetty, as Faiz Ali(Raj Babbar), a Daku who helps Umrao to escape Kotha, at least for sometime, or Puru Rajkumar as Gauhar Mirza(Naseeruddin Shah) as a scheming pimp. Is it not preposterous!
Music
The character is a melancholy, doomed courtesan, who loves and is jilted; who performs Mujra in Mehfils. She lets out her pain in form of Gazhals. This needed a haunting album, a masterpiece which would have mixed well with the script and the settings.
Javed Akhtar failed miserably here, so did flat Alka Yagnik. As far as Anu Malik is concerned, JP Dutta should have taken horses for courses, his previously successful association notwithstanding. The zing is completely missing.
The magic of Khayyam, Shaharyar, and Asha Bhosle is sorely missed. What an album it was! You can feel Umrao's love and pain in Asha's voice, and in Shaharyar's poetry. The earlier choice was Jaidev, but his tunes were rejected by Muzaffar Ali.
Script
The dialogue writer of Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan, apart from Muzaffar himself, were brilliant Javed Siddiqui and Shama Zaidi.
If they sound unknown entities, let me tell you that former wrote the dialogues of Shatranj Ke Khiladi(co-wrote), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Darr, Baazigar, Koi Mil Gaya, Raja Hindustani, Pardes, among others and latter has written for Garam Hawa, Shatranj Ke Khiladi(co-wrote), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to name a few. The fact that they have local connection helped a lot.
So much pain was taken in Talaffuz - the diction - that it was difficult to find a fault. To see Rekha - a Tamizh - speak fluent Lucknawi accent was a treat to ears. Not only she, Asha Bhosle - a Maharashtrian, and Talat Aziz - a Telgu followed the book, and Talat still vouches on the perfectionism of Khayyam and Muzaffar Ali, when he was made to speak Phoolon in refined Lucknawi Urdu way, different from accented Hyderabadi Urdu way.
Have been hearing that Ashwariya is not able to speak even 'Khuda' properly. Dutta has been giving excuses of Ashwariya being Manglorean, but Rekha belongs to further south, and what was the director himself doing during the dubbing?
The character of Dilawar Khan, who kidnaps Ameeran and sells her off as Umrao Jaan, has been shown speaking Haryanvi! Haryanvi in Faizabad? Vow! And to comment on the diction of Suniel Shetty, Puru Rajkumar, and sometimes even Abhishek Bachhan would be redundant.
Settings
Not shooting Umrao Jan in Lucknow is like not shooting Gandhi in India. This clearly showed JP Dutta lacked the passion of Muzaffar Ali. JP Dutta earlier said that Lucknow monuments are in bad shape, and that prompted him to move to his favourite Rajasthan, and now he retracts that 80% is shot in Lucknow, and 20% percent in Jaipur.
I doubt it. Not a single promo shows Lucknow, except the painting of Imam Bara. The architecture is clearly Rajputana, not Awadhi. Not even the dressing. Even the media is talking about Safas, Pathan suits, beards so unlike Lucknow of that era.
In Ali's movie, all the artifacts, locations, costumes, musical instruments like Sarangi, even stuff like carpets, flower vase, lamps, Hookah, silver Paan boxes, crystal lamps, mirrors were authentic.
Some of these were brought Muzaffar Ali's ancestral Haveli at Kotwara, and other were gathered from local Nawabi households in Mehboobabad, Malihabad, and Kakori. Dress designing was done by Suhasini Ali, the then wife of Muzaffar Ali, keeping in mind of the dressing of that time after thorough research.
Shooting of interiors were done in the Kaiserbagh Baradari, and other Kothis, not at erected the sets. Some monuments look neglected but less because of poor upkeep and more because they were destroyed by British after Lucknow battle in 1857.
But still, it JP Dutta's baby and his interpretation. We can criticize, or lament but God only knows what his reasons were. It is not the first time authenticity is being compromised and not the last time either.
Feel sorry for the situation Dutta is in, but he probabily asked for it.
Personally speaking, I knew he would be in even more dreadful situation than Farhan Akhtar was. The latter at least had the support of the original script writer, former has no such privilege. He even claims it is not a remake.
While Lucknowites may have gone overboard with their displeasure, JP Dutta nevertheless made too many mistakes, even if we forget the mistake of making an attempt to make this movie. I would have not dared to remake a movie which had won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Music Director and Best Singer at National Awards.
Casting
The say well begun is half done, and Dutta begun very badly by choosing an awful star cast, more so if you compare with the earlier one.
Umrao Jan was not an extraordinarily beautiful woman; she was attractive, intelligent, brave and a good poetess. From the age of twelve, she had found herself in unfortunate situations. One needed an actress, who acts and expresses well, not a wooden star who is a former Miss World. For Dhoom-2 its fine, but not here.
My choice would have been Konkona Sen Sharma.
And look at the other casts - Suniel Shetty, as Faiz Ali(Raj Babbar), a Daku who helps Umrao to escape Kotha, at least for sometime, or Puru Rajkumar as Gauhar Mirza(Naseeruddin Shah) as a scheming pimp. Is it not preposterous!
Music
The character is a melancholy, doomed courtesan, who loves and is jilted; who performs Mujra in Mehfils. She lets out her pain in form of Gazhals. This needed a haunting album, a masterpiece which would have mixed well with the script and the settings.
Javed Akhtar failed miserably here, so did flat Alka Yagnik. As far as Anu Malik is concerned, JP Dutta should have taken horses for courses, his previously successful association notwithstanding. The zing is completely missing.
The magic of Khayyam, Shaharyar, and Asha Bhosle is sorely missed. What an album it was! You can feel Umrao's love and pain in Asha's voice, and in Shaharyar's poetry. The earlier choice was Jaidev, but his tunes were rejected by Muzaffar Ali.
Script
The dialogue writer of Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan, apart from Muzaffar himself, were brilliant Javed Siddiqui and Shama Zaidi.
If they sound unknown entities, let me tell you that former wrote the dialogues of Shatranj Ke Khiladi(co-wrote), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Darr, Baazigar, Koi Mil Gaya, Raja Hindustani, Pardes, among others and latter has written for Garam Hawa, Shatranj Ke Khiladi(co-wrote), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to name a few. The fact that they have local connection helped a lot.
So much pain was taken in Talaffuz - the diction - that it was difficult to find a fault. To see Rekha - a Tamizh - speak fluent Lucknawi accent was a treat to ears. Not only she, Asha Bhosle - a Maharashtrian, and Talat Aziz - a Telgu followed the book, and Talat still vouches on the perfectionism of Khayyam and Muzaffar Ali, when he was made to speak Phoolon in refined Lucknawi Urdu way, different from accented Hyderabadi Urdu way.
Have been hearing that Ashwariya is not able to speak even 'Khuda' properly. Dutta has been giving excuses of Ashwariya being Manglorean, but Rekha belongs to further south, and what was the director himself doing during the dubbing?
The character of Dilawar Khan, who kidnaps Ameeran and sells her off as Umrao Jaan, has been shown speaking Haryanvi! Haryanvi in Faizabad? Vow! And to comment on the diction of Suniel Shetty, Puru Rajkumar, and sometimes even Abhishek Bachhan would be redundant.
Settings
Not shooting Umrao Jan in Lucknow is like not shooting Gandhi in India. This clearly showed JP Dutta lacked the passion of Muzaffar Ali. JP Dutta earlier said that Lucknow monuments are in bad shape, and that prompted him to move to his favourite Rajasthan, and now he retracts that 80% is shot in Lucknow, and 20% percent in Jaipur.
I doubt it. Not a single promo shows Lucknow, except the painting of Imam Bara. The architecture is clearly Rajputana, not Awadhi. Not even the dressing. Even the media is talking about Safas, Pathan suits, beards so unlike Lucknow of that era.
In Ali's movie, all the artifacts, locations, costumes, musical instruments like Sarangi, even stuff like carpets, flower vase, lamps, Hookah, silver Paan boxes, crystal lamps, mirrors were authentic.
Some of these were brought Muzaffar Ali's ancestral Haveli at Kotwara, and other were gathered from local Nawabi households in Mehboobabad, Malihabad, and Kakori. Dress designing was done by Suhasini Ali, the then wife of Muzaffar Ali, keeping in mind of the dressing of that time after thorough research.
Shooting of interiors were done in the Kaiserbagh Baradari, and other Kothis, not at erected the sets. Some monuments look neglected but less because of poor upkeep and more because they were destroyed by British after Lucknow battle in 1857.
But still, it JP Dutta's baby and his interpretation. We can criticize, or lament but God only knows what his reasons were. It is not the first time authenticity is being compromised and not the last time either.
posted by Unknown at 10:09 AM
<< Home