The elegance of Umrao Jaan : Bollywood News

Khaliq (Director’s Note)

The lucid narration of the famed yet doomed courtesan Umrao Jaan written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa in his Urdu Novel Umrao Jaan Ada has inspired many creative minds to capture it on celluloid. My father, writer- film maker O.P.Dutta had also scripted & started work on a film based on Umrao Jaan way back in the 1950’s .However he soon found out that a film based on the same subject was already being filmed. So to avoid any controversy, he decided to shelve his ambitions project.

When I read the novel, I noticed that many relevant aspects had not been touched by the earlier film-makers. I felt a strong urge to portray Umrao Jaan’s story in my way. Adapting from a novel is an interpreting Art. One has to interpret from one’s own experiences, aesthetics and understanding and thus the scope of capturing one’s innate vision is tremendous. I shared my thoughts with my father who asked me if I wanted to read the script that he had written. When I read his script I was completely floored. I said to him, “We will make this film!” But at that time Muzzafar Ali’s film had just released, so we felt we should wait for at least a generation to pass before making our version. Incidentally, last year marked 25 years since Ali’s film and I felt that the time had come! Umrao Jaan is my way of thanking my father for being there and realizing a dream that we both shared.

– J P Dutta