Umrao Jaan (1981 film)

Umrao Jaan (Urdu: امراؤ جان, Hindi: उमराव जान) is a 1981 Bollywood film, directed by Muzaffar Ali. It is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa based on the famous Lucknow courtesan. The film starred Bollywood actress Rekha and Farooq Shaikh as leads.

Plot

In the year 1840, a girl named Amiran (Seema Sathyu) is kidnapped from her family in Faizabad, Oudh by their neighbour, Dilawar Khan (Satish Shah), and sold to Madam Khanum Jaan (Shaukat Kaifi) who owns a brothel in Lucknow where she trains courtesans (tawaif). Amiran, renamed Umrao Jaan, learns to read, write, dance, and sing. She is a cultured woman trained to captivate men of wealth and taste.

A grown-up Umrao Jaan (Rekha) catches the eye of Nawab Sultan (Farooq Shaikh), and the two fall in love. But Nawab must marry to please his family, and Umrao's heart is broken.

She meets a dashing bandit chieftain, Faiz Ali (Raj Babbar), who woos and wins her. She flees with him, hoping to marry him and leave the world of the courtesan far behind. But her lover is killed by local police and she is left alone, with no choice but to return to her old life.

Umrao Jaan (2006 film)

Umrao Jaan (Urdu: امراؤ جان, Hindi: उमराव जान) is a Bollywood film about the famous courtesan of the title. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai stars in the lead roles. The film is directed by J. P. Dutta and also stars Shabana Azmi, Sunil Shetty, Divya Dutta, Himani Shivpuri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

Plot

In 1840, a girl named Amiran (Bansree Mandhani) is kidnapped from her home in Faizabad by Dilawar Khan (Vishwajeet Pradhan) who had been sent to jail based upon the evidence presented by Amiran's father. To take his revenge, he kidnaps Amiran and sells her to a brothel in Lucknow run by Khannum Jaan (Shabana Azmi). Bua Hussaini (Himani Shivpuri) and Maulvi Sahib (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) adopt Amiran and treat her as their own daughter. In the company of Khurshid (Ayesha Jhulka), Bismillah (Divya Dutta), and one of the courtesan's sons, Gauhar Mirza (Puru Raajkumar), Amiran learns the art of being a courtesan, or tawaif.

The girl turns into an elegant, poetic beauty by the name of Umrao Jaan (Aishwarya Rai). Umrao's beauty and poetry is enough to catch the eye of Nawab Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan). The two begin a passionate romance but, when his father hears of their relationship, he disowns Nawab Sultan from his life, wealth and property. The penniless Nawab goes to stay in the house of his uncle, who is a judge in Ghari, to sort himself out; Umrao is left desolate without him and prays every day for his return.

Mukri

Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000) was an Indian film actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Alibagh, he started his film career from film Pratima along with noted film actor Dilip Kumar in 1945. Subsequently in career spanning 50 years, he acted in over 600 films.

Mukri with his toothless smile, diminutive stature and perfect humour timing amused the audiences in more than 600 films, over six decades in Bollywood.

His notable films are Mother India (1957), Sharabi (1984), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Lawaris (1981), Bombay to Goa (1972), Gopi (1972), Kohinoor (1960) and many more.

Career

His career in films ran parallel to Dilip Kumar, who was his schoolmate.They made their debut as with the Bombay Talkies film Pratima, also the directorial debut of actor P. Jairaj. Before joining film industry, Mukri worked as a Qazi.

Death

Mukri died in Mumbai on 4 September 2000 at the age of 78, at Lilavati Hospital due to heart attack.

Personal life

Mukri died and was survived by his wife Mumtaz and 5 children, 2 daughters Naseem and Amina and three sons Nasir, Faruk and Bilal. One of his children is Naseem Mukri who wrote dialogues of movies Dhadkan and Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya. She wrote screenplay of Dhadkan and acted in it too.