umrao jaan 'ada'

yesterday i watched umrao jaan again. muzaffar ali's film about the legendary courtesan amiran, aka umrao jaan 'ada.' more relevant, one of rekha's best performances ever. i would go so far as to say that as the hindi film industry goes, this is probably the most complete film i've seen. period films tend to be opulent, excessive and trite... or plain silly. many such come to mind... devdas, for all its 'splendour' was bereft of any feeling. it did not move me, it did not stay with me... why, i could not stay with it and walked away after a while. parineeta was a favorite for a while, until i saw it on the small screen. it lost half its kashish and the melodrama in the end had always put me off a bit. lagaan was too long and too futile a movie for me. paheli lacked feeling and seemed all too blithe in every department. mughal-e-azam i have not been able to sit through -- but partly due to logisitical problems -- still, what i saw didn't wrench the heart.

maybe it is the players as well. rai is superficial, mukherjee lacks 'dard,' madhubala, while exquisite, shows that she is 'acting.' balan and saif acted well, but between them, there seemed little want -- and then the wall breaks.

but umrao? rekha's voice, its quality and tone and her eyes all speak umrao's heart. and urdu adds to the magic. every word spoken furthers the story and every song sung needs to be there. but more than anything, i never once could separate rekha from umrao. even if i chanced upon 'phool bane angarey' which was playing on another channel. i could still turn back to umrao and be completely captivated by the story.

muzaffar ali has developed the characters well. gauhar mirza's unscrupulous ways to nawab sultan's spineless demeanour. husseini, khanum, bismillah and even faiz ali. you know what makes each one tick. and of course, umrao.

25 years ago, 1981, was when the film was released. suhasini ali's costumes and the set design leave nothing to be desired and the attention to detail had me falling in love with the film pretty deeply. notice the paan daans, the curtains, the hookahs, the ghararas, the rings, the juttis, the pile of papers on faroukh sheikh's desk. shahryar's lyrics are amazing bested only by ruswa's shayari peppered through the movie. but i keep going back to her. it's her dialogue delivery that makes the difference. how does one convey the sentiment? rekha not only does each sher full justice, but also the intervening silences speak eloquently through her eyes.

and this is a film that does not shy away from leaving you disconcerted and wanting more. no happy ending here, just a real life tale of a girl from a long time ago. ali was dead-on choosing his leading lady. i wouldnt say the same for the leading man. you need someone who matches rekha's intensity. sheikh is bland. but probably very nawabi. though, i still subscribe to the fact that a nawab interested in shers would be more than sheikh.

rumours have it that jp dutta is remaking this film. with rai. reports gush "rai is the perfect umrao." excuse me. the perfect umrao has already happened. and rai cannot act to save herself.

i don't know if i will see the new umrao jaan. maybe if curiosity consumes me, i will. but i suspect i will have to antidote myself with the real thing.

for now, i'm picking up mirza ruswa's novel. and some more rekha films. (no, not bachke rehna re baba -- i know better :))

Post Script: Zindagi jab bhi teri bazm mein laati hai hamen... took me back to chandler and the company of sucheta's wonderful rendition. I miss those days and those mehfils.