What makes it different from others?

Strictly average movie

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Hi there..I echoed a very positive review for this film when I watched it and completely because I had not seen the Rekha starer Umrao Jaan.I felt the songs were nice too, if not exceptional. and Aishwarya looked breath taking angelic. She performed really good, especially in scenes like the one where she tells Sunil Shetty that she will only be a dame for him (after the song 'main na mil skun jo tum se') and towards the end when she tells Puru Rajkumar that she has forgiven him and the scenes that follow and many more.Yes the film was pretty slow paced and to be honest, I did yawned once or twice.But now the main question arises that "Did it live up to the 1981 Classic made by Muzzaffar Ali?". This is very wrong though but very obvious and unavoidable also.So to know that I ordered the previous film from my Neighbourhood DVD Library.And my whole opinion changed.The 1981 film by Muzaffar Ali with Rekha in the title role is humongous in every department and J.P.Dutta's version now appears to me as an arrogant film-making by a director.I remember Dutta saying in interviews that his a true adaptation of the book Umrao Jaan Ada by Mirza Hadi Ruswa and it is adapted by his father. If that is the case, then I believe Muzaffar Ali is a fantastic story-writer and screenplay-writer.The story of the new film is a merely 50% of the old film. The Rekha starer has more to it and that too in less screen time. There are layers and layers of drama which indulges the viewer into the story of the protagonist, making you cry for the doomed fate of her in every span of her lifetime.The story being the biggest strength give ample area for other departments to excel too. The music is timeless, lyrics very simple and extremely effective, the old word charm (the film was short in the real by lanes of Lucknow) and the performances are superlative.Rekha excelled the beautiful story by adding her talent and grace to it.I guess the power of old Umrao Jaan lies in the true fact that Muzzafar Ali was a witness to the culture and Dutta was not.I never once felt the old film slow and dragging (considering I watched it without any break) and I yawned may times in the new film which was presented to me with inter-mission.Nothing is therefore of a match between the two films. Even Aishwarya's performance gets reduced to pail due to the failure of the new film at the scripting level.I personally aspire to be a film director one day and this whole experience taught me a lesson in responsible film-making and arrogant film-making.To rate the film is now very difficult. It certainly does not comes half closer to the Old Classic and so a less than 5 is deserving. It hence gets a 3 out of 10, 95% of it because of Aishwarya's portrayal.I know that many people must have worked very hard on this film, but am sorry to all of them. I Do!

Umrao Jaan had great potential to become one of the renowned classics of the world cinema, had the screenwriter and the director had the foresight to know when to end the movie.The plot had all the tools of a successful story, well told, superbly acted both by Aishwarya Rai and Abishek Bachchan. They excelled themselves once more, projecting a great love that never went stale nor it lost its intensity of passion. The essence of the movie was a love story that ended in tragedy and it should have never turned into a life story. When the couple parted and she returned home, to the brothel in Lucknow that should have been the end, for anything that came after that was anticlimactic and only tried the patience of the audience.A movie should have only one great climax scene, and that came with the crisis when Nawab Sultan disowned her. Resolution should have followed immediately. We know that her life as we knew it ended there and possibly she became a living corpse. So why digress, diluting the effect of the climax adding another crisis scene, such as the rejection of her family? We all know that in a society that public affection is forbidden even to this day it is obvious that she could not go home again, so why bother to show it? And the purpose of the last wedding scene where she performed escaped me. If it was to add another song it just served to bore the viewers.J.P. Dutta will be wise to edit the ending of the movie, making it shorter, and release it again for the sake of saving a great piece of art from permanent oblivion.

Muzaffar Ali made the classic "Umrao Jaan" in 1981 starring Rekha, Farooq Sheikh, Naseeruddin Shah, and Raj Babbar. Compared to that, this one is entirely unwatchable.The screenplay is terrible and barely maintains the viewer's interest for the first hour. Only towards the end is there any noticeable flow to the story. Casting is fine, but Sunil Shetty does not fit the bill of Faiz Ali.The language of Lucknow is Urdu, and, unlike what some other commentators claim, the movie does not employ a correct version of the language. The dialect used by some characters is also incorrect. Dialogues are horrible, and Aishwarya's pronunciation of Urdu words is absolutely revolting. Umrao Jaan was an Urdu poetess, and Aishwarya does not do her justice. The playback singers, however, are excellent, especially Alka Yagnik.Being a native of Lucknow, I know that we do not use "Baisa", "Mausa", "Apshagun", "Maan maryada" etc, especially among Muslim families, to which all the movie's characters belong. Yet, JP Dutta pays no attention to these important details, and the characters continue to use these and other wrong terms.The characters' wardrobe is not comparable to period Lucknow or to Muzaffar Ali's version of the movie, despite Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla's involvement.JP Dutta's Umrao Jaan is a low budget pretender of a movie, with Aishwarya's looks being the only redeeming factor.Stay away from this film. Watch Muzaffar Ali's original version, if you can. That was a pleasure to watch.2/10.

I saw this movie last night, and I must say, this was a great movie. This is just the type of movie i was expecting, since i'm a lover of good Cinema. Ever since "Devdas" And "Veer-zara" i haven't seen a movie so touching and so well made as "Umrao Jaan". With excellent sets, songs, story, and awesome performance by the actors. This is not the type of flick that some people might be used to, because this is a classical. And about Ash's acting skills I have to say, that this is her best so far. She looks stunning and the dances, are superb. I think she deserves to win the "Best Actress Award", because I haven't seen any other that can measure-up to her. This is the best female character this year, I can't see no one better for the job than Aishwarya. For all those people who dislikes her and that talk badly about her, watch this movie and you will change your mind. I was not an Ash fan because I thought she was just a pretty face but she has proved that not only is she pretty but also that she is a good actress.