Aishwarya was terrific in Umrao Jaan - Page 2

Originally posted by: colossial2015

I cannot imagine Alia in that role. Young and teenaged Umrao is fine but for that mathure role role Sushmita would be best.

Oh God..I love sush but Umrao jan with veeners, fillers and botox all over..no thanks..

This Umrao Jaan was a disaster at the BO

was the original an actual hit? or it was in the category of Andaaz Apna Apna, RHTDM..disaster but became cult classic..Rekha was not a BO star

Originally posted by: cougarTown

This Umrao Jaan was a disaster at the BO

was the original an actual hit? or it was in the category of Andaaz Apna Apna, RHTDM..disaster but became cult classic..Rekha was not a BO star

Rekha didn't really get the pick of the best films though, remember Hema Malini was the ruling box office star of the times, and Zeenat was basically the Katrina of her heyday, where she tagged along the blockbusters. 

Zeenat may have a better BO, but Rekha has more personal clout by far - probably is only behind Hema in that aspect. 

But to answer the question, the OG Umrao Jaan initially did average and made back all the money at the BO, but wasn't a hit. It made more profit after reruns and Rekha won the national award for it because she was so good, which gave it better publicity. So in the long run people either call it average or a semi-hit. 

Rekha is a bit unique where the films she is remembered for weren't exactly big BO hits [Khoobsurat, Umrao Jaan, Silsila], but she has BO hits under her bag ( Sawan Bhadon, Jaani Dushman, Mr. Natwarlal, Dharma, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar [with ensemble cast]) 

Also most female actresses couldn't give solo hits at the time, so even an average or semi-hit film is remarkable. In the 70s, female actresses roles were reduced. Hema [Seeta Aur Geeta] was the exception and Sri Devi [numerous], and Madhuri [pretty much carried Teezab/HANK]  came later. 

umrao jaan original had wonderful music khayyam, each song by asha is a gem. muzaffar ali has very good aesthetic sense and knows the lucknow culture deeply and it was captured in every aspect of the movie. 

the new version is a very superficial remake which just doesnt have the same feel in any aspect from acting, sets, costumes to songs, god knows why jp dutta chose to remake it, it is just not his cup of tea 

i in fact like his earlier work like ghulami and yateem which had that raw and real feel

Originally posted by: Shaitan-Haiwan

She was okay but Alia would take the role to a whole other level. They should remake it with her. 

And Ranbir Kapoor in place of Abhishek. Prefecto!