- This article is about the 2006 film, directed by J.P. Dutta. For the 1981 film with the same title and subject directed by Muzaffar Ali starring Rekha, see Umrao Jaan.
Umrao Jaan (
Urdu: ,
Hindi: उमराव जान) is a Bollywood film about the famous
courtesan of the title.
Aishwarya Rai stars in the lead role. The film is directed by
J.P. Dutta and also stars
Shabana Azmi,
Sunil Shetty,
Abhishek Bachchan,
Divya Dutta,
Himani Shivpuri and
Kulbhushan Kharbanda.
Plot
In 1840, a girl named Amiran (Bansree Mandhani) is kidnapped from her home in
Faizabad by Dilawar Khan (
Vishwajeet Pradhan) who had been sent to jail based upon the evidence presented by Amiran's father. To take his revenge, he kidnaps Amiran and sells her to a brothel in
Lucknow run by Khannum Jaan (
Shabana Azmi). Bua Hussaini (
Himani Shivpuri) and Maulvi Sahib (
Kulbhushan Kharbanda) adopt Amiran and treat her as their own daughter. In the company of Khurshid (
Ayesha Jhulka), Bismillah (
Divya Dutta), and one of the courtesan's sons, Gauhar Mirza (
Puru Raajkumar), Amiran learns the art of being a courtesan, or
tawaif.
The girl turns into an elegant, poetic beauty by the name of Umrao Jaan (
Aishwarya Rai). Umrao's beauty and poetry is enough to catch the eye of Nawab Sultan (
Abhishek Bachchan). The two begin a passionate romance but, when his father hears of their relationship, he disowns Nawab Sultan from his life, wealth and property. The penniless Nawab goes to stay in the house of his uncle, who is a...
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