Makers of the Rekha-starrer1981 film Umrao Jaan, arecontemplating to make a sequelto the original film.Umrao Jaan, which wasdirected by Muzaffar Ali, wasbased on the Urdu novelUmrao Jaan Ada (1905), writtenby Mirza Hadi Ruswa.The film was based on thelife of famous Lucknow courtesan.Rekha’s performance asthe central character in the filmhad won her first NationalAward.Now, director Muzaffar Aliand one of the writers of thefilm Javed Siddiqui are contemplatingto make a sequel.
“Wehave two story ideas that weare working on.One apparently has nothingto do with Umrao Jaan butthe film is set in the same period…it is about aftermath offirst freedom struggle.
Theother idea is to have a sequel toUmrao Jaan,” writer JavedSiddiqui told PTI.”As in the end we haveshown that she ( Rekha) comesto her kotha and we haven’tshown what is going to happento her in the English regime,how she behaves and whathappens to her.
So we have a story inwhich we have Umrao Jaan asan older and more mature person…so this can be shown. Butwe don’t know if this wouldhappen or not,” he said.It is the producer-directorMuzaffar Ali, who would take afinal call in this matter.
“Wehave started working on boththe scripts. Both the options(scripts) are good.I think the decision shouldhappen in few days as towhether we would go with thenew story line or a sequel,”Siddiqui said.In 2006, filmmaker J PDutta had come out with theremake of Umrao Jaan withAishwarya Rai and AbhishekBachchan in the lead roles.However, the film had failedmiserably at the box office.
