Umrao Jaan
Any remake, be it film or music, faces the obvious challenge — that of being compared to the original. Filmmaker J P Dutta has no such fear, which is why he has decided to remake the 1981 Muzaffar Ali classic Umrao Jaan.
Anu Malik has composed music and Javed Akhtar has written songs for Umrao Jaan. Anu Malik has used his daughter Anmol’s voice for young Aishwarya Rai.
Umrao Jaan: From Rekha to Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Rai steps into Rekha’s shoes to play Amiran aka Umrao Jaan. It seems a tough task, no doubt, for the former Miss World.
Rekha’s performance in the film not only won her a National Award but also fetched her wide critical acclaim. While viewing the film, one fails to dissociate actress Rekha from Amiran.
Will Ash do Umrao justice? Only time will tell. Ash has done pretty good work in her last period movie Devdas. People admired her in the role. J.P.Dutta being one of the best directors in bollywood knows how to extract work from his stars.
Nawab Sultan: From Farooq Shaikh to Abhishek Bachchan
Abhishek may be the toast of Bollywood today, but will he be able to do what Farooq Shaikh did so subtly?
Farooq was the epitome of elegance and romanticism, and the role is still etched in audience’s minds.
Of late, Abhishek has made his presence felt in the industry. His films like Dhoom, Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar are hits, and he even won critical acclaim for his role in Yuva.
Khanum Jaan: From Shaukat Kaifi to Shabana Azmi
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While acting, Shaukat Kaifi may have forgotten her real identity, so wonderful was her depiction of Umrao Jaan’s mother Khanum Jaan. Her depiction of pain, suffering and dilemma wrenched many hearts.
There could not have been a better choice than Shabana replacing her mother in the new version. Bollywood has few actresses of her calibre. In an interview, Shabana refuted recent reports of having told J P Dutta ‘no one can play my mother’s role other than me.’
She insisted Rekha had called her to say she should play the part of Khanam.
Star cast
Aishwarya Rai
Abhishek Bachchan
Shabana Azmi
Suniel Shetty
Puru Rajkumar
Divya Dutta
Himani Shivpuri
Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Ayesha Jhulka
Bikram Saluja
Producer
J. P. Dutta
Director
J. P. Dutta
Music Director
Anu Malik
Lyricist
Javed Akhtar
Release Date
20 October 2006
