18
Ranked #18 of 100
Umrao Jaan
उमराव जान · 1981
A kidnapped girl becomes Lucknow's most celebrated courtesan-poet, and loses everything she is good at wanting.
- Director
- Muzaffar Ali
- Year
- 1981
- Genre
- Drama · Musical
- Cast
- Rekha, Farooq Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah
Why it's at number 18
Rekha's finest performance and Khayyam's finest score. The Lucknawi tehzeeb has never been shot better.
A kidnapped girl becomes Lucknow's most celebrated courtesan-poet, and loses everything she is good at wanting.
Umrao Jaan sits in the 1980s alongside Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro and Ardh Satya — a decade this canon treats as formative.
The Bollywood 100The essentials
- Directed by Muzaffar Ali — also responsible for Gaman.
- Released in 1981, in the 1980s — see everything else from that decade.
- Filed under Drama, Musical.
- Read more on Wikipedia, check the full crew on IMDb, or find a legal stream via JustWatch.
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