In aankhon ki masti kay: ‘Rekha’s eyes portray Umrao’s helplessness’

Muzaffar Ali speaks about iconic film on poet-courtesan

LAHORE: Umrao Jaan was a statement from an era wherein colonialism was not firmly entrenched, Indian filmmaker Muzaffar Ali said on Saturday.

Ali was in conversation with director Sarmad Khoosat and academic Meera Hashmi regarding his iconic film and the culture it presented on the third day of the Faiz International Festival. Ali said 1857 was a watershed in the Indian subcontinent’s history in this regard. Since then, he said, people had begun adopting colonial culture at the expense of what was indigenous to the region.

“Even if we do try to understand our own culture, we (feel the need) to give it acceptability and universality by discussing it in English,” Ali said.

Answering a question on the use of Urdu dialogues and poetry in the movie Ali said he had learnt Urdu poetry through legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s work.

He said poetry became his driving force during his time in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). “If we do not understand how sacred poetry is then we are a depraved society,” Ali said.

He said it had taken him a year to chart the trajectory of Umrao Jaan’s character through poetry in the film. He said he had worked closely with Shahryar in this regard. Quoting the verse yeh kia jageh hai dosto, Ali said it was the poetry that had made the film.

The film maker said he had chosen Farooq Sheikh to essay the role of Nawab Sultan in the film as the part required a vulnerable actor. “He had to be a lovable fool,” Ali said. He said the titular role required someone who could portray the helplessness of Umrao Jan and how she acquires the energy to live and finally face the reality of life through it. He said Rekha’s eyes had the power to portray just that. “The eyes had to narrate the real story,” Ali said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2015.