Originally posted by: briahna
imo..yes ash had moments in umrao jaan. but far and few. one can see she worked bloody hard on this performace. for such roles, one has to be naturally talented and have skills, methods of pulling it effortlessly.
rekha...her dictation/dialouges, expressions, grace, dances, pain, smile, tears, costumes..everthing thing was absolute perfect. i saw her sing/dance those gazals/songs thru her eyes. i hope i am not wrong, i think she was awarded for this movie. she simply breezes thru this performances. i turely feel this is one of the best UNDERPLAYED performance from an actor.
just brilliant.
guess what i am going to check this one again...soon...
as for don getting butchered ..well tho i enjoyed shah's take on don...but not gonna shy away saying..that bachchan kills all just in 2 min introduction as DON! talke a bow...
oh btw..i also feel bhansali butchered devdas as well. hahahaha..he made ladies run wearing gucci shoes in never ending corridors of their sheesh mahals...epic!
The new film was true to the novel (if you've read the book), rather than the tweaks made by the maker of the 1981 version. But it does not hold a candle to the 1981 version, this I agree with. It was not a bad film though. Just not a great attempt. However, most of the critics showered praise on Aishwarya and said she was the saving grace of the film, despite panning the film.
She lent dignity to the role, she brought in the required amount of vulnerability and gentleness to her role. She conveyed her love and passion with conviction, capturing the nuances of Ameeran perfectly. How expressive and subtle she was in portrayal.
Rather than it being hard, I'd say this was an effortless performance from Ash, as Baradwaj Rangan says, and I quote - " I think Rai saw something of herself in the character of a woman who was renowned for her beauty, whose profession was entertainment, who lived her life in the unforgiving public eye, and who fell in love with the wrong men (one of whom is even played by Abhishek Bachchan). I mean... Hello! She'd just have to show up on the sets and that would be the performance." And he called her performance good, coming from one of the most credible critics of our times.
Few actresses of her time would have come close to the awesomeness that Ash was in Umrao Jaan. Ethereal looking, dancing like a dream in complicated choreography, acting her socks off and surendering to the character.
Rekha was absolutely brilliant in the role of course. But her version of the film was less flawed, had great music, direction (won national awards for it) and that sure helped creating an overall impact, compared to the Ash version which had forgettable music and lack of proper direction and editing.
I don't think Bhansali's Devdas was bad in any sense. He just narrated the novel's story in his own style, and he was pretty awesome there. He made ladies run wearing Gucci shoes? You are obviously overstating it. But to each his own I guess. Honestly, I'd much rather prefer this to the old version.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ElbRmqXcbA[/YOUTUBE]
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