A special film as always. I'm so glad I got to see this in cinemas! On the largest screen in the UK, with the very director of this film Muzaffar Ali there. He gave an interesting anecdote about how Asha Bhosle wanted to immerse herself into Lucknowi culture to get a better understanding of Umrao Jaan. Her voice is amazing and hits different especially after her passing. It was amazing to see Rekha on the big screen and the songs were amazing. Everything. A beautiful and tragic tale of the decay in Lucknowi culture.

A special film as always. I'm so glad I got to see this in cinemas! On the largest screen in the UK, with the very director of this film Muzaffar Ali there. He gave an interesting anecdote about how Asha Bhosle wanted to immerse herself into Lucknowi culture to get a better understanding of Umrao Jaan. Her voice is amazing and hits different especially after her passing. It was amazing to see Rekha on the big screen and the songs were amazing. Everything. A beautiful and tragic tale of the decay in Lucknowi culture.

I don't think I've ever felt this full and empty at the same time. I feel as if I've been enriched by the movie, yet after watching this my heart is so heavy.

I watched it a second time (saw it for the first time yesterday) because it has haunted me since I've first saw it. and today, I've had the pleasure to assist a talk with a palestino-american poetess lisa suhair majaj in my uni, which undoubtedly impacted me so much on matters of creation, poetry, intentionality and invisibility. I don't know why, but after this, I felt drawn to watch umrao jaan again. i watched it in better conditions, and god. I'm devastated.

the softness. the slowness. the movie itself feels like a dream; hypnotizing, synesthesic—I mean this as in the literal physical sensations I've felt, I can't explain how or why, but some of the scenes have me a tingling sensations very close to what I experience with asmr. ali has made a true object of art, delicate and ornated in it's imagery. loved the use of mirrors and shadows.
I'm deeply impacted with the portrayal of love here. it's so bittersweet, melancholic, and I think it is was has left me so heavy hearted. we witness how love is not withheld in umrao's lovers, but in her ability to sublimate her love into art, into poetry. she has this precious gift, something so precious, and it's even more tragic because she is caged by her condition and her fate. the men she is with cannot live up to her feelings. every men (everyone) around her either wants to take something from her, and she is a prisoner of their intentions, lustful or not. gosh it's so painful because each time it's a tragic twist, and we go from umrao in the prime of her life as courtesan, living, laughing, dancing, her room ornated, full of life, and throughout the movie, she falls and falls, her love deceptions causing her to not dance anymore, but be still (and if she does, it's with teary eyes). her room becomes more empty as the film advances, little is in her power.

the social portrait is even more tragic. due to her position she's constantly judged as a whore. she is a prison of her status and of her gender. first she was supposed to get married as a child, got kidnapped and sold off as a prostitute. she only feels safe in the brothel, and it still gets deserted by the british. she's rejected from her home town (I can't even write about this because it's so impacting I'm crying so so much omg), and she returns to her room, in which all is left is a melancholic emptiness. and yet...

this movie is beautiful. the women. gosh the womanhood is absolutely beautiful. her friendship with bismillah is so comforting, and when umrao and rambei reconnect ? tears. so many tears. there's no jealousy among women here, but a form of solidary and even awe each has for the other. this is a feminist movie, even if a heartbreaking one at times.

but perhaps what I'm so sensitive about is the poetry. poetry is everywhere. in the frames, in love, in nature, in her story. I definitely need to learn more about ghazals. poetesses are to love what a womb is to life. umrao, despite her fate, became a poetess, not just because she was praised by men, but because her art started when she transformed her feelings into thoughts, her thoughts into words, her words into mindfulness.

I'll end this rather abruptly with a few words I remember with my meeting with lisa suhair majaj. poetry is intuition. poetry is intention. poetry is what resides in you that needs to be expressed. never stop to write.

(I'm writing a bunch of nonsense don't mind me I'm just very emotional about this movie lol)

I don't think I've ever felt this full and empty at the same time. I feel as if I've been enriched by the movie, yet after watching this my heart is so heavy.

I watched it a second time (saw it for the first time yesterday) because it has haunted me since I've first saw it. and today, I've had the pleasure to assist a talk with a palestino-american poetess lisa suhair majaj in my uni, which undoubtedly impacted me so much on matters of creation, poetry, intentionality and invisibility. I don't know why, but after this, I felt drawn to watch umrao jaan again. i watched it in better conditions, and god. I'm devastated.

the softness. the slowness. the movie itself feels like a dream; hypnotizing, synesthesic—I mean this as in the literal physical sensations I've felt, I can't explain how or why, but some of the scenes have me a tingling sensations very close to what I experience with asmr. ali has made a true object of art, delicate and ornated in it's imagery. loved the use of mirrors and shadows.
I'm deeply impacted with the portrayal of love here. it's so bittersweet, melancholic, and I think it is was has left me so heavy hearted. we witness how love is not withheld in umrao's lovers, but in her ability to sublimate her love into art, into poetry. she has this precious gift, something so precious, and it's even more tragic because she is caged by her condition and her fate. the men she is with cannot live up to her feelings. every men (everyone) around her either wants to take something from her, and she is a prisoner of their intentions, lustful or not. gosh it's so painful because each time it's a tragic twist, and we go from umrao in the prime of her life as courtesan, living, laughing, dancing, her room ornated, full of life, and throughout the movie, she falls and falls, her love deceptions causing her to not dance anymore, but be still (and if she does, it's with teary eyes). her room becomes more empty as the film advances, little is in her power.

the social portrait is even more tragic. due to her position she's constantly judged as a whore. she is a prison of her status and of her gender. first she was supposed to get married as a child, got kidnapped and sold off as a prostitute. she only feels safe in the brothel, and it still gets deserted by the british. she's rejected from her home town (I can't even write about this because it's so impacting I'm crying so so much omg), and she returns to her room, in which all is left is a melancholic emptiness. and yet...

this movie is beautiful. the women. gosh the womanhood is absolutely beautiful. her friendship with bismillah is so comforting, and when umrao and rambei reconnect ? tears. so many tears. there's no jealousy among women here, but a form of solidary and even awe each has for the other. this is a feminist movie, even if a heartbreaking one at times.

but perhaps what I'm so sensitive about is the poetry. poetry is everywhere. in the frames, in love, in nature, in her story. I definitely need to learn more about ghazals. poetesses are to love what a womb is to life. umrao, despite her fate, became a poetess, not just because she was praised by men, but because her art started when she transformed her feelings into thoughts, her thoughts into words, her words into mindfulness.

I'll end this rather abruptly with a few words I remember with my meeting with lisa suhair majaj. poetry is intuition. poetry is intention. poetry is what resides in you that needs to be expressed. never stop to write.

(I'm writing a bunch of nonsense don't mind me I'm just very emotional about this movie lol)

heartBREAKING. so beautiful, soulful, and profound about women. it's poetry in the form of cinema. hypnotizing from start to finish. thank you internet archive.

heartBREAKING. so beautiful, soulful, and profound about women. it's poetry in the form of cinema. hypnotizing from start to finish. thank you internet archive.

8.75/10
My first tawaif film.
Watched the 4K restoration done by national film development corporation in PVR .

8.75/10
My first tawaif film.
Watched the 4K restoration done by national film development corporation in PVR .

my heart has no answer, it’s full of remorse

my heart has no answer, it’s full of remorse