‘Umrao Jaan' re-release: A 44-year-old wine coming your way, says Muzaffar Ali

India Today

5 hours ago

Umrao Jaan (1981) is a gift that keeps giving for filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, every day. 'Just this morning, while disembarking from the aircraft, an elderly gentleman said 'Aap Muzaffar Ali hain? Aap please humein aisi (Umrao Jaan) filmein dete rahiye (Please keep making films like Umrao Jaan),' says Ali. Adulation like that makes his day.On June 27, Ali's classic star-crossed tale about a courtesan, featuring Rekha in an all-timer performance, re-releases in cinemas. He has also managed to put together a book on the film that he's forever synonymous with.advertisementIn an exclusive interview to INDIA TODAY, Ali shares interesting facts about the making of Umrao Jaan, curating a luxury coffee-table book celebrating the film, and the vanishing Awadhi culture.Q. Is the book as much a labour of love as the film was?
A. There's no labour without love or love without labour. It was a very intense and challenging thing to do. Things get lost, people don't look after records and the mind doesn't recollect many things. The book puts everything into sharp focus—the whole ethos of the film, the time, the era.The film has so many shades and aspects that we don't realise until one compiles it into a book. We need to look at the film in a very layered way. The book celebrates the film. It goes into the back-story, the different, subtle things which couldn't have come with the first release. It is a 44-year-old wine coming audiences' way.advertisementQ. The photographs show you have maintained a good archive. What else have you preserved?A. I have got 40-50 trunks of clothing of that time, which need a proper museum. There's no space for these things in cities. Maybe, I will set up a museum of film costumes in my village. It can be an interesting experience. I hate throwing away these things. There's a lot of memory to each little thing.Umrao Jaan is full of lovely things that people lent me, in terms of shawls, carpets, jewellery and textiles. You have to have a heart to lend it to somebody, so I was fortunate in that way.Q. The re-release strategy has really done wonders for some films. Are you excited to see the film be discovered by a whole new generation?A. I think it's a big, big experiment. I shouldn't be so scared; I am very expectant as to how people will react. It's a film that's survived many generations, and people have held it close to their hearts. It will take its own journey from here on.Q. The legendary Kathak artist Kumudini Lakhia, who choreographed the songs, passed away recently. Tell us a bit about the collaboration. She truly did make those songs more memorable with the abhinaya she made Rekha do.advertisementA. If it wasn't for her, Rekha wouldn't have had this kind of grace on screen. By the time Kathak entered Bollywood, it got jhatkas, which isn't true to the essence of the classical style.What Kumudini behn did nobody could have done for me. She was really wonderful in the way she choreographed every single word and musical note. She gave the bhaav and movements. It is poetry in motion. In the book, I have given a tribute to Kumudini.Q. Are the locations where you shot Umrao Jaan intact or they have faded with time?A. Let's talk of the positives first. Yes, some places are intact while some have seen the surroundings degrade. Buildings have come up. Some places are just gone. Places outside of Lucknow, which were very photogenic and more spacious and easy to work in, such as Amethi, Kakori and Malihabad, are still holding on to those locations.People don't know how to take care of places. Lots of things are lost to neglect. No conservation architects as such are given these assignments. While shooting the film, we spent a lot of time in restoring places, to bring them back to their original condition. For instance, Mughal Saheba's Imambada in Lucknow. It took two to three months to restore it just so that I could shoot for a five-to-six-minute sequence. These kinds of things are no longer possible.advertisementQ. You are seen as a custodian and documentarian of Awadhi culture. Is it alive in Lucknow?A. Don't give me so much responsibility because I don't think I am taking it up seriously. People are aware of it and are conscious of monuments, spaces, architectures, way of life, food, and even literature to a degree.Urdu is not getting its rightful place. It's a vast world—poetry is just one aspect of it. People have lost control and command of Urdu. It is an exemplary language for India. I don't know of any language that has bloomed so beautifully. It was born out of the need to connect. The ghazal gave it a beautiful dimension to describe the beloved and to talk with so much grace.The automotive culture has really changed the city (Lucknow). There should be a more graceful way of commuting. Until the culture of the street is respected, I don't think any city in India will be worth walking around. There are no footpaths left.advertisementQ. Umrao Jaan is also that rare beast where you see leading artistes from different creative disciplines come together. Anjolie Ela Menon designed the poster; Kumudini Lakhia was the choreographer; poet Shahryar was the lyricist; and illustrator Manjula Padmanabhan did the titles. Such cross-collaboration seems to be missing from filmmaking these days.A. What happens in Bollywood is that people don't get artistes. Shahryar pulled his hair; he felt one had to be degraded to stay and work in it (Bollywood). I don't think artistes of that kind of calibre found it easy to be a part of ecosystem. Unless there's an artistic ecosystem, the concept of collective art or integrated art forms cannot emerge.Nothing is made without inspiration and respect. Cinema has become a business, and I am not a businessman. What I hate about it is that it's a business art when, in fact, it is an art of the soul.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends