40 years of Umrao Jaan

In 2021, Umrao Jaan, the exquisite classic Bollywood film from 1981 completed 40 years. The editor of NCPA’s On Stage magazine commissioned me to write a piece on the timeless music of the film for which I was asked to interview the director of the film, Muzaffar Ali. A painter, sculptor, fashion designer and gemologist, Ali was untraceable through several sources. Finally, with a few days left to the deadline, I managed to get in touch with Ali and it turned out to be one of the most insightful interviews ever. We spoke for about an hour. His quotes and anecdotes about the making of the film along with my researched information comprise this article on Umrao Jaan. I watched the movie Umrao Jaan more keenly with multiple viewings of a few scenes and the songs and listened to the album throughout the course of writing this article. Read the full piece as it appeared in the December 2021 issue of On Stage magazine.

Poetry in Motion

It has been 40 years since Umrao Jaan, the elegant feature directed by Muzaffar Ali, was released. The film won three National Awards: Best Actress, Best Music Direction and Best Female Playback Singer. Accolades aside, Umrao Jaan remains timeless for several reasons: the stately production, the brilliant writing, the exceptional acting line-up and of course, a magnificent Rekha who essayed the titular character to perfection. What has truly stood the test of time, though, is the music of the lm. The melody of composer Khayyam’s tunes, the poetry of Shahryar and the unmatched voice of Asha Bhosle have given music lovers a soundtrack to cherish forever. With invaluable inputs from the film’s director, Muzaffar Ali, we revisit the magic of Umrao Jaan’s music.

The muse and her poetry

The film was based on an Urdu novel, Umrao Jan Ada that was written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa and published in 1899. Widely regarded as the first Urdu-language novel, it tells the story of a 19th- century tawaif (courtesan) Umrao Jan Ada. Umrao, born Amiran to a modest family in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, is kidnapped at the age of 12 by enemies of her father and sold to the head courtesan of a kotha in Lucknow. There, she is renamed Umrao and is trained in classical music and dance to charm wealthy clients from royal families. Umrao soon develops an interest in poetry and begins exploring the world of ghazal writing and composition. Her life is characterised by a series of heartbreaks and suitors that only seek to exploit her. After several unfortunate and discriminatory experiences, when Umrao finally reaches her maternal home, her family also rejects her. Hers is a tragic take that captures the imagination and makes you fall in love with Umrao Jaan.

Ali wanted to ignite the same love for Umrao through his film. His familiarity with the culture of Lucknow facilitated an authentic representation of the story and the times it was set in. In preparation for the film, Ali (employed with Air India at the time) had recorded the novel on tape and listened to it more than a hundred times on his daily commute. Elaborating on the character he said, “Umrao Jaan is very poetic. Poetry is her creative expression along with singing and dancing. That is what courtesans do but some courtesans go beyond that.” It is likely that Umrao Jaan existed but outside of the novel, no other direct mention of her is archived. Ali explained that even when Ruswa wrote her, he tried to embellish Umrao’s character. And Ali himself tried to do so “a little more than Ruswa did.”

A memoir in ghazals

Music is an integral part of Bollywood films, but Ali wanted to go a step further and create an album of ghazals “jo dil mein utar jaaye” (that seeps into the heart). Umrao’s tragic and creative journey is not only captured in the music of the film but also narrated through the lyrics. The first ghazal she writes, ‘Dil Cheez Kya Hai Aap Meri Jaan Lijiye’, has elements that allude to a novice composer and is also set to a faster tune. The following ghazal, ‘In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke’, has more thehraav, comfortable pauses, and more depth in its lyrical composition. Heartbreak takes Umrao’s poetry to another level as she composes the poignant, ‘Justuju Jiski Thi Usko Toh Na Paaya Humne’. When life comes full circle and she finds herself in her native town, longing to catch a glimpse of her mother, Umrao sings ‘Yeh Kya Jagah Hai Doston’ in a doleful tone. Particularly telling is the first stanza of the ghazal:

Yeh kis maqam par hayat mujhko leke aa gayi
Na bas khushi pe hai jahan, na gham pe ikhtiyar hai (To what realm has life brought me
Where I have no control over my happiness and no authority over my sorrow)

“Ghazal captures your imagination and your sentiment…It’s like telling a story. Having worked earlier for my lm Gaman, I knew what ghazals could do,” explained Ali about his choice of the genre. Making his debut with Umrao Jaan was renowned ghazal singer Talat Aziz, who sang the soothing ‘Zindagi Jab Bhi Teri Bazm Mein’.

Musical triumvirate

The three stalwarts who gave the soundtrack their all— composer Khayyam, lyricist Shahryar and singer Bhosle—were brought together by Ali to realise his vision of recreating 19th-century Lucknow: “The music was literally her [Umrao’s] screenplay. The poetry had to be the focus of the film and the poetry had to be very lyrical. A lot of poetry tells you how to compose [music for it]. I wanted the fragrance of Lucknow to be present throughout the lm. I had to get all these people on one page and ultimately, use my own sense of Awadh and sense of romance. That is why reading the novel a hundred times was necessary as it used to keep me on track.” Originally, the music of Umrao Jaan was to be composed by Jaidev who composed the soundtrack for Gaman, Ali’s debut lm. The songs were to be sung by celebrated ghazal singer Madhurani but Ali wanted Bhosle, who could be “a bridge between the classical and the popular”. Ali was always inspired by Khayyam’s music and approached him to helm the soundtrack of his ambitious project. Shahryar was a famous poet and lecturer at Aligarh Muslim University before Ali had asked him to write lyrics for Gaman. Shahryar had taught Umrao Jan Ada at the university for several years and was familiar with every aspect of Umrao’s personality. Explaining his choice of lyricist Ali said, “In Bollywood, every composer comes with his own set of lyricists but I didn’t want to fall into that music trap. I had decided that lyrics will be written by Shahryar. For me he was one of the best choices I made for this film.”

One of the most famous anecdotes about the music of Umrao Jaan is how on the first day of recording, Khayyam asked Bhosle to sing one and a half notes lower than her usual pitch. His research on Umrao Jaan had led him to conclude that she had a deeper, huskier voice and to become Umrao, the songstress would have to do the same: “We don’t want Asha Bhosle, we want Umrao Jaan,” the veteran had famously declared. Bhosle, with years of riyaz behind her, was capable beyond doubt but highly displeased with the request. After much cajoling on the part of Khayyam, she sang in C, on the condition that they would re-tune and record the song again in her usual note, D sharp. When Bhosle listened to her recording in the lower register, she fell silent for the duration of the song only to remark at the end, “Was that me singing? I’ve never heard myself sing like that before.” She insisted on reading the translated version of the Urdu novel and prepared herself in every way to become Umrao Jaan. She was so immersed in transforming her singing for the film, observed Ali, that she sang as if she was performing for Nawab Sultan at a court mehfil of Lucknow. “I think if Ashaji had not done that kind of homework and had not put her soul into the recording, this music would not have been the same. She also received a National Award for the film and later wrote me a letter to express how I inspired her to become Umrao Jaan.” 

After listening to nostalgic stories about the making of the lm’s music, one question was begging to be asked of Ali: forty years on, how does he feel about the music of the film now? “It’s something that matures,” he responded. “This music is something that permeates your heart and then the heart protects it. Other things that are used to titillate you are rejected because they are merely replacing titillation by titillation. When some things reach the heart and soul they remain there forever. They are things of sheer beauty, sentiment and sublime aesthetics…they get better with age. Like the Taj Mahal. It cannot go out of date; it somehow fits into your emotional landscape.”

Umrao Jaan was screened at Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro, Vermont on August 18th 2022

Listen to my episode featuring all the Bollywood songs that recreated royal court performances