Muzzafar Ali's
Umrao Jaan was an unusual feat. It seamlessly merged the aesthetics of an art film with the gloss of a commercial one.
Though its ornate visuals and gorgeous cast made it an entrancing film one cannot forget that Khayyam's music and Shahryar's poetry had a huge part to play in its success.
Circa 2006, filmmaker J P Dutta tries to re-create the aura in his interpretation of Mirza Mohammed Haadi Ruswa's Urdu novel of the same name. Starring Aishwarya Rai (looking precious in the promos), Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty and Shabana Azmi, this
Umrao Jaan too comes in glamorous packaging.
But already its music composed by Anu Malik with Javed Akhtar's lyrics doesn't quite measure up to the original. It doesn't showcase the kind of
shayari that extracts spontaneous
waah waahs.
A brief strain introducing the courtesan in question, inaugurates the album via Alka Yagnik's shrill and conscious presence in
Ek toote huye dil ki.
Javed Akhtar volunteers to give a foreword, which introduces the artistic temperament of Lucknow and its soulful inhabitant Umrao Jaan 'Ada'.
Umrao Jaan garners a warm reception as she offers a stylish and sonorous
Salaam. Coyly rendered and elegantly composed,
Salaam transports you into the era of nawabs and nazams. No wonder then that the beautiful composition is featured twice in soundtrack.
Just when you begin to lounge comfortably in the ghazal zone,
Pehle pehle shows up. A tedious effort at musicmaking from Malik,
Pehle -- a pale mix of shehnais and saraangi; wanders off aimlessly against Akhtar's exhaustive use of metaphors.
A crestfallen Umrao articulates the sting of pain caused from an ill-fated romance in
Jhute ilzaam.
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