Umrao Jaan, featuring Rekha's iconic performance, is set for a special 4K restored screening at the prestigious UK Asian Film Festival, where director Muzaffar Ali will also be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Key Points
- The restored 4K version of Umrao Jaan will be screened at the UK Asian Film Festival on May 7, 9, and 10.
- Director Muzaffar Ali will receive the Golden Flame Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival.
- Rekha, who won a National Award for her role, expressed surprise at the film's enduring appeal, calling it 'timeless'.
- The film, restored by the National Film Archive of India, has previously been screened at the 56th International Film Festival of India and re-released in Delhi.
Bollywood's timeless classic Umrao Jaan, which got its lead actor Rekha a National Award in 1981, is set to have a special screening at the UK Asian Film Festival in May. The film's restored version will screen on May 7, 9 and 10 at the prestigious film festival.
Director Muzaffar Ali will receive the Golden Flame Lifetime Achievement Award at the fest.
'Umrao Jaan is timeless, ageless'
This is not the first time that the restored version of Umrao Jaan has been released in the theatres and for special screenings at film festivals. It was also screened at the 56th International Film Festival of India last year as well as under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM), curated by the NFDC-National Film Archive of India (NFAI) as part of the Indian Panorama Special Package.
On the sidelines of a Delhi screening last year, Muzaffar Ali called the film 'timeless' and 'ageless'.
While talking to ANI, he said, "I think the movie is timeless, it's ageless, it was meant for a time 150 years ago. So, it was meant to be a period film, and it has been true to the period. It is still vibrant and alive as that period would have been. So, that way, the film is, for me, full of nostalgia, full of memories, details and hard work."
What makes Umrao Jaan such a classic
In Umrao Jaan, Rekha played a courtesan-poetess in 19th century Lucknow.
The director breaks Umrao's story into a heartbreaking coming-of-age from an artless teenager to a wide-eyed romantic and gifted poetess to, ultimately, a woman who has recognised the ugliness of the real world outside her equally unpleasant kotha through her relationships with three men (played by Farooque Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah and Raj Babbar).
Just why did he select Rekha?
"Her eyes tell a very intense story. You look at her and you feel that this woman has the resilience to face the world," Ali had once said.
The film's music, especially the songs Dil Cheez Kya Hai, In Aankhon Ki Masti, and Justuju Jiski Hai, are timeless classics too.
Music composer Khayyam once said about its music: 'I read the subject in great detail and try to understand what the characters are thinking. Only when you have internalised the entire subject can great compositions be born.'
Umrao Jaan became such a cult classic that it spawned a 2006 version, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. But it was not well-received by the audience. Both films are based on Mirza Hadi Ruswa's novel Umrao Jaan Ada.
'Look at where it has come!'
Rekha is expected to accompany Muzaffar Ali to the UK Asian Film Festival and tells Subhash K Jha, "Look at where it has come! It is timeless in its appeal. Did I ever think it would go this far? No, honestly I don't think about my films once I finish with them."
With inputs from Subhash K Jha
Photograph curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
