Watched Umrao Jaan more because my mom was keen to watch the same. And I am still regretting my decision on acquiescing to the same.
The movie was bad.
The biggest flaw with the movie was that it came across more as a low budget documentary of Umrao’s life. The splendour, the richness, the magnificience et all of that era was totally missing and instead we were treated to peeling walls, tacky sets, tackier clothes and a plodding narrative more suitable to a documentary.
The director missed all the key elements that needed to have been highlighted to make the movie more interesting. for e.g he could have concentrated more on the efforts that underwent to make ameeran a simple naive girl into umarao jaan a sophisticated woman instead of wasting valuable reels documeting the love story b/w umrao and nawab through boring songs.The songs were uninspiring and unappealing. The costumes unappealing. The mujras were lacklustre. For a story based on a courtesan I think these elements should have been of prime importance to a director.
For inspiration he should have just looked at Bhansali’s Devdas where chandramukhi’s tawaif mahal and her mujras were exquisite and a class apart. The dances were entertaining yet technically sound, the songs were haunting and the whole ambience transported you to a splendour of a bygone era.
Aishwarya Rai and Shabana azmi are the only saving grace of the movie. Ash truly rises above the movie and lends a class and dignity to her character which the director otherwise fails to provide. Her growth through the movie comes across as very believable. From her flirtatiousness in her first mujra to her dignified sadness in her last mujra she truly comes of age as an actress. She has worked on her voice modulation and hence her anger is now conveyed more through a more believable angry husky voice than screeches. Shaban azmi is also very good as the madam who is ruthless with a heart.
Abhishek Bachchan was a big let down. He was smirking enigmatically throughout the movie as if he was onto some big joke which we were all unaware of. The other actors inspite of their calibre were let down by their director.
The movie is a big waste and if not for Ash would have been a total wash out.