Umrao Jaan:Bollywood (mis)magic

After some self cajoling, and not so bad reviews by my friend and my sister, I made an attempt to watch J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan. Having seen the legendary Rekha in the earlier version my prejudices and non-expectations from the new one were well placed!
And having seen it, I couldn’t have done without writing a semi review, an inevitable comparison (with the earlier version), and some observations about it.
The plot more or less stays faithful to the original one however there are parts where the director has experimented with the story. If the first one showed the growing closeness between Rekha the courtesan and Farooq Shaikh (Nawaab Sultan) based on their mutual love and admiration for poetry, the latter couple (Aish-Abhi) are smitten by things that don’t seem to feature much of poetry. There is too much screen time devoted to their love interactions and this is a drag on the audiences’ time. The roles essayed by Naseeruddin Shah and Raj Babbar were etched differently in the earlier version. The misunderstanding between Umrao and Nawab too has been differently handled in each version.
JP Dutta has tried hard to induce the right feel of Lucknow, through the costumes, the dialogues. But he fails in comparison to Muzzafar Ali’s epic. The dialogues are quite suitable. The costumes however fail miserably. He just doesn’t get it right here. The dressed up courtesans don’t elicit the right look, an eye to fine details is missing.
If I take a look at the actors now and their skills, it will be unjust to compare any of the original actors to the present day ones. Rekha was, simply put, super and the only one who had the natural grace to carry off that role. So anyone who steps into this role is resigned to the fact that there is no bettering the original. Under such circumstances, Aishwarya still manages to hold her own, quite well. She is tantalizingly vulnerable and uses her expressive eyes and full mouth to complete use. Some of her fine acting can be seen towards the last parts of the movie. However her dancing skills come as a disappointment. Rekha’s limited yet classical movements were very feminine. The sensitivity of perfectly formed emotions on her face, accentuated her graceful movements. Aish on the other hand is an incredible dancer but tends to border on stiffness with her arm movements being akin to geometrical arcs and curves, and a far cry from a natural flow of the body, that forms a courtesan’s natural trait of seduction.
Abhishek Bachchan is a pain to watch. He has a limited set of expressions in which the angry look dominates mostly (strangely enough even in his romantic moments)! His gait and dialogue delivery is utterly non-nawaabi.
Shabana Azmi is her usual brilliant self. She can seldom go wrong, with her natural incredible reserves of talent and that perfect Lucknowi accent. Sunil Shetty and Puru are no match to Naserrudin or Raj Babbar and are completely predictable.
The music may not be exceptional, but the lyrics stay on! Again it would be criminal to even start comparing it to Sharyar’s ‘Dil cheek kya hai’ or ‘In aankhon ki masti’ or ‘Justajoo jiski thi’,or to Khayyam’s music.
All in all, if one hasn’t seen either the old one or the new…it’s a pity that you haven’t seen the old one and it would be a shame if you’d rather pick the new one to start with!