Umrao Jaan

Directed by: Muzaffar Ali

Starring: Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Sheikh, Raj Babbar

Released: 1981

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

One of the most famous stories of both Indian literature and cinematography, Umrao Jaan could be easily described as a tale of a woman who got as much as bad luck as possible. Thrown into the middle of undesirable circumstances, Umrao Jaan accepts her fate, tries to make the best of it, dares to hope and being heart broken tries to cope with her fate yet again, every single time a little less hopeful, until a nearly indifferent attitude becomes her main character feature. From unknown enemies to her own family, they all have a share in her misery. The woe story has been adapted on the big screen several times, yet the 1981 version starring the legendary Rekha in her, possibly, most memorable role ever, is without a doubt the one lauded by many as the ultimate and best presented one.

The story begins in 1840. A little girl Amiran is kidnapped as a revenge to her father, who had previously testified in court against a rapist (who naturally feels offended). At first the kidnappers plan to kill the girl, but ultimately their greed and hunger for money produce a better idea – they would sell the girl into a brothel. That way they will get paid, and the girl will be as good as dead to the rest of the world anyway. Little Amiran tries to run away from the brothel, but is caught, and has to bow to her fate for the first time. She gets a new name – Umrao, is treated well by everyone in her new „home“, and she is given a proper education for a future courtesan. She is taught to sing, to play musical instruments, and her greatest passion becomes writing poetry. Years keep flying by and in no time a slightly awkward girl blooms into Rekha (aka into a creature with sweet, intoxicating voice, eyes burning with an inner flame and in possession of unique, mysterious beauty).

It is her poetry though, that brings the love of her life to her. Young and dashing Nawab Sultan is a lover of shayari, and it doesn´t really take much time, until he is head over heels in love with the prostitute as well. The fairy-tale romance, however, is cut short, when under pressure of circumstances (and his mother), Nawab Sultan is forced to stop visiting thr brothel and Umrao refuses to step into a house of his friend, where she is treated like dirt. And not even several outdoor meetings save anything. Nawab Sultan bows down to his mother´s wishes and gets married, leaving devastated Umrao forever. There is more bad luck in store for Umrao, as she tries to create a new way of life for herself, taking some rather dangerous steps, but being always struck down by one blow of fate after another. For no fault of hers, she is ultimately only left with herself and her verses. All the more sad since other two female characters, also destined to be courtesans from the star, both not only find a way out of their personal hell, but also a happiness and love.

The beginning of the film is not edited too well. Glimpses and hints of how the things go, and why the characters decide what they do, seem almost unrelated, and their motivations and reactions are so only a matter of assumptions on the part of the viewer. The story itself moves slowly, and could easily become tiresome (as was the case of the 2006 version of the film), but what keeps ones attention is Rekha, whose sensitive understanding of the character truly made Umrao Jaan a living person. Rekha is also one of those actresses, who don´t need to speak much, yet even their smallest change of mood can be visible in their eyes and on their face. And when she does speak, one wants to listen to her forever. She is almost equaled in the perfection of the performance by Naseeruddin Shah, playing a good-for-nothing Gohar Mirza, a helper in the brothel, who has a soft stop for the courtesan.

 

The settings, the costumes, everything seems extremely realistic, and as far as I know the makers managed to give the film an accurate historic feel to it as well. Nothing is blown out of proportions, yet the high class and richness of the culture of 19^th century courtesans is very apparent. The film, of course, is also famous for beautiful songs, likeable melodies and lyrics. Finally I have to say, that although not perfect, the film is a beautiful piece of cinema for many reasons, some of which I have mentioned and some of which I would be putting into words only with difficulties. 

Silsila

Directed by: Yash Chopra

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor

Released: 1981

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Shekar (Shashi Kapoor) is an army officer. Brave and disciplined while in uniform, unruly and almost childish out of it. He loves to spend his days with his head resting in the lap of Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), the girl he loves, planning their future together. And in the evening he likes to drink and be merry. Meanwhile his brother Amit (Amitabh Bachchan), a play-writer, actor and poet falls under a spell of Chandni (Rekha), a fresh and beautiful girl whom he saw dancing at his friend´s wedding. Sending her flowers and cassetes with his own voice, expressing all the gentle feelings she has woken up in his heart, he slowly wins her over. Just like his brother Amit now plans to get married. But then like a bolt out of the blue comes devastating news: Shekar has perished while on army mission. And it also turns out Shobha is pregnant with his child.

Amit decides to sacrifice his love for the sake of his brother´s fiancé and marries her, sending a message to Chandni that she better forget him. But even though he has the best will to make Shobha happy, neither him nor her are capable of being so. After they are involved in a car accident Shobha looses her unborn child and not both she and Amit are really desperate, because they find themselves trapped in a marriage without love and reason. While in hospital Amit meets Chandni again. She got married to a nice, honest doctor (Sanjeev Kumar), but does not really care for his feelings for her. On the contrary – the old love between her and Amit is rekindled and after a while they both succumb to their desires. However together with their passionate and secret affair comes carelessness and neither Shobha, who has learned to love her husband, neither Chandni´s spouse are blind. . .

Amitabh and Jaya. Falling asleep just seeing them.

I must admit that had it not been for the controversy related to this film I probably wouldn´t be even interested in watching it. Silsila, translated as „Affair“, came to the theaters at the time when the rumours and gossips were on about the alleged secret relationship between Amitbh Bachchan and Rekha. But not even this tidbit managed to lure enough audience and the film flopped. But this is Yash Chopra film and box office collections are not important for those, and just like Lamhe that flopped ten years later, Silsila is today among the revered classics.

The greatest strenght of the film is really powerful starcast. All the actors put a really honest work into their performances. Amitabh Bachchan, who has the meatiest role, is completely natural. Jaya an Rekha both compliment him. Sadly, even though Rekha is unarguable better actress, she does not have much to do except for looking sad and beautiful. Still her presence is strongly felt in every scene, and she does not even have to speak. Her dark gaze is enough to do the magic. I have never been a Jaya fan, she still yet has to convince me, but yes, she was good here, though not lovable despite being „the good one“. Interestingly enough there is much more on-screen chemistry going on between Big B and Rekha then Big B and Jaya.

Amitabh and Rekha - hell yeah!

The script deserves a credit for presenting well the points of view of all the characters and making one feel the pain they all go through. Silsila telling a story about extra-marital affair could have easily become a hysterical, sobbing and whining cliché with evil mistress and poor wife, but it did not. The story is told very sensitively and in the end you feel sorry for all the characters, which is quite rare. The most interesting message is that as long as something is forbidden, it may seem sweet and desirable, but as soon as it is permitted, it looses the charm and problems, not perceived before, emerge from the shadows.

My greatest problem with Silsila was incredibly slow pace of the film. It really gets boring at times. Not even several exciting-ish moments (will they catch them together/ will they not ) do not help and I kept staring at the timeline wishing it was finished already. And when the message at the end appeared – I wanted to die. „Love is faith and faith is forever“. Really? Like seriously? What the..... Songs are good and beautifully picturized, all bearing the uncanny Yash Chopra signature. Throw some plus points in for Amitabh Bachchan reciting poetry truly beautifully. When you´re in a mood for not-that-typical romance without much excitement, you can watch Silsila, even though you will, like me, probably only look for some secret signs happening between Big B and splendid Rekha.