Hi there..<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Yes the film was pretty slow paced and to be honest, I did yawned once or twice.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />So to know that I ordered the previous film from my Neighbourhood DVD Library.<br /><br />And my whole opinion changed.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Rekha excelled the beautiful story by adding her talent and grace to it.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />I know that many people must have worked very hard on this film, but am sorry to all of them. I Do!