“What you did this time, oh God, don’t do it again! Don’t let me come as a daughter in my next birth.”

From the song: Agle Janam Mohe Bitiyaa in Umrao Jaan.

Such is the lament of Amiran, a young girl who is kidnapped and sold into prostitution to a courtesan in Lucknow (a city in northern India) by a man seeking revenge on Amiran’s father.

In the late 18th and 19th centuries Lucknow, in the Province of Awadh, was famous for its kothas. Kothas (multi-story mansions made of brick often owned by the head courtesan) were centers of high culture and flourishing businesses. Before and in the time of the British Raj, courtesans were tax-paying business women. The women in a kotha were much more than prostitutes. Tawaifs were the best of the female entertainers, similar to the Japanese Geisha, highly educated–– skilled in dance, music, singing, poetry and etiquette. Courtesans’ clientele were kings and nobility. Often the men chose one woman to patronize and paid a monthly stipend to keep her for him. The head courtesan received at least one-third of the fees to provide for her establishment. The courtesans were enlisted to entertain at palace functions. There were all levels of employees including servants and lesser prostitutes who served non-royalty and working men in the kothas. Men were not part of the management of a kothas.

These centers of arts and culture were also centers of influence on the patrons. One such patron was Mirza Hadi Ruswa, and it was his personal knowledge of the kothas on which he based his 1899 novel Umrao Jaan Ada. He also was a crime-story novelist. He understood the woman and the kothas business, but women did not come to the kothas as victims of kidnapping as young girls. This storyline was more literary license to sell novels than truth. Most women left abhorrent lives of poverty or abuse voluntarily chose this life. Some girls were sold to a courtesan when the parents could no longer afford to feed their daughters. Because in the novel and the film, Umrao Jaan is telling her story directly to Ruswa. The novel was very popular. He tainted the reputation of the kothas with his fictionalization of making it seem that the majority of the women were kidnapped as young girls.

However, the British were the real destroyers of these centers of culture while they seized control of the Province of Awadh. When disease became a problem for the British soldiers, the British enacted a law to inspect the health of the women in the kothas. The life of the courtesans became harder as the British decimated the structure of the group by removing courtesans from the kothas and placing the best and healthiest within the walls of the British cantonments. These savvy business women found ways to survive through bribery and deception.

Amiran, whose name is immediately changed to Umrao (Queen) upon the sale, is now in a world of luxury, money and culture. Since she is a young girl, she will be schooled and protected until her virginity can be sold to one of the wealthy patrons, and she is enthralled by the beauty around her. As Umrao (Aishwarya Rai), she becomes a great dancer, poet and singer––a tawaif. Her exquisite beauty and talent makes her very desirable, and she becomes the exclusive courtesan of a young Nawab (prince) Sultan (Abhishek Bachchan). They fall in love. He promises to marry her.

Based on the novel Umrao Jaan Ada the author, Ruswa, is a character in the movie. Ruswa (Anwar Madeem) is the person to whom Umrao recites her story.

There is so much more to the complexity to the life of the 1850s courtesan than has been developed by J.P. Dutta, the director and co-screenplay writer, in conjunction with his father, O.P. Dutta., of Umrao Jaan.

Quick Facts:

· Umrao Jaan can be translated in several ways. In Hindi or Urdu, Umrao means “queen.” Jaan means life or the loved one and can be used as a term of endearment such as “darling.” In Punjabi it means “sexual drive, strength/power or courage or valor.” In terms of a courtesan and her Pathan lover, Nawab Sultan, this is an interesting and perhaps more fitting translation.

· Nawab is the honorific title bestowed by the reigning Mughal emperor to Muslim rulers in the south Asian princely states. The British government also gave the title along with cash or land to deserving ruling families in the British Raj.

· Nawab Sultan refers to his Pathun (Pashtun) blood and this is often referred to in Bollywood movies. The characterization is instantly established as hot-tempered, strong, fight-to-death, formidable warriors (or Kshatriyas which is the official caste title).

· In reality today, Pathans (Pashtuns) are tribal people of Iranian descent who live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is the Pashtuns who drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan. They make up 38% of the population and have a strict ethical code and traditions. They are are excellent marksmen.

· They speak Pashthun (aka Parsi) which is significantly different than Farsi which is spoken by a greater number of people. Finding a translator for Pashtun has been a real problem for American soldiers in Afghanistan. To learn more: read In My Father’s Country: An Afghan Woman Defies Her Fate by Saima Wahab, a Parsi translator for the US Army.

· Shabana Azmi plays Khaanum Jaan, the chaudharayan, or chief courtesan, an older woman who has retired to the position of manager/owner after a successful career as a tawa'if (highly skilled, multi-talented entertainer).

· Shaban’s mother Shaukat Azmi played the same role in the 1981 version which starred the Bollywood icon, Rekha.

· Current Bollywood star & rising American cross-over Priyanka Chopra (TV’s Quantico star) was initially considered for the Umrao Jaan role but couldn’t clear her calendar for the 90-day shoot.

· Saif Ali Khan was considered for the role of Nawab Sultan. Saif is the tenth Nawab of Pataudi although officially the Government of India abolished all the princely states in 1971 so his father was the last official ruling Nawab.

Learn More:

AFGHANS: Their History and Culture, web.archive.org/web/20100127081653/http://www.cal.org/co/afghan/apeop.html#1. web.archive.org is credible according to EasyBib.com evaluation.

Courtney, David. “THE TAWAIF, THE ANTI - NAUTCH MOVEMENT, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC:” The Tawaif, The Anti-Nautch Movement, and The Development of North Indian Classical Music: The Tawaifs, 1998, chandrakantha.com/articles/tawaif/2_tawaifs.html.

HindiLyrics.Net. “Pehle Pehel Song Lyrics Translation.” Pehle Pehel Lyrics Translation (Umrao Jaan 2006), www.hindilyrics.net/translation-Umrao-Jaan%20-%202006/Pehle-Pehel.html.

Pritchett, Frances. “Lifestyle as Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow.” Lifestyle as Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow (1990), by Veena Talwar Oldenburg, Feminist Studies 16, 2 (Summer 1990), May 2008, www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00urdu/umraojan/txt_veena_oldenburg.html. All editorial comments in double square brackets are by FWP, May 2008.

Wahab, Saima. In My Father's Country: An Afghan Woman Defies Her Fate. Crown Publishers, 2012.

Om Shanti Om – The Meaning

Om is believed to be a sound of the whole cosmos. And Shanti is the "Peace," so 'Om Shanti' can be interpreted as "absolute peace." T.S. Eliot’s translation: “The peace that passeth understanding.”

Om Shanti Om – The Movie

I enjoyed Om Shanti Om (OSO) the first time I saw it about eight or nine years ago as a new release on DVD. The story had all the right twists, the vibrant colors, stunningly gorgeous heroine, nasty (but handsome) villain, and most importantly, my favorite actor, Shah Rukh Khan (a.k.a. SRK) as Om "Omi" Prakash Makhija (70s) & Om Kapoor (OK) (2000s). But I was too new to Bollywood movies then to really appreciate the nuances in this movie: the iconic actors’ cameos, the references to Mother India (or Karz or the really bad movie Tarzan 303 to name just a few of the many, many references) or the impossibility of getting so much Bollywood royalty together in one film and to get them to poke fun at themselves at that! This movie is truly amazing and even more so when you are aware of all the details that made OSO the highest grossing movie of 2007. [Farah Khan in a You Tube interview for Film Companion claims that OSO would have been the first 100,000 crore (approximately $20 million US) film except for the competition with director’s Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya release which earned about 20,000 crore. His film Devdas was the first film screened at the Dryden in the Stories of Indian Cinema. (10 Years of Om Shanti Om | Farah Khan Interview with Anupama Chopra)]

OSO is a tribute to the gone-by era of the 70s which had so influenced both Farah Khan, (the co-writer/director/choreographer) and Shah Rukh Khan (the King of Bollywood, and no relation to Farah) who would have been in their impressionable teens in the seventies. [Farah rose to the ranks of a top Bollywood choreographer in the 1990s even though she is self-taught. And her teacher? Michael Jackson (in videos that is.)]

In 2012, I screened the movie for my Good Golly! It’s Bolly! class, and besides the length of the movie (a common complaint by American audiences), the class didn’t enjoy “the song” as it became known as––but I’ll come back to this.

I did not fully appreciate this movie until I read the book The Making of Om Shanti Om (2008) by Mushtaq Shiekh. He was the co-writer of the screenplay for OSO and he documented the events during filming. (He even has a cameo in the film. When Shah Rukh Khan is pretending to be accepting his fictitious award for best actor, Mushtaq Shiekh is the homeless person who pops up from under the blankets. ( You Tube: Om's Bottle Award Om Shanti Om)

The Story:

Om Shanti Om is an unapologetic tribute to the 70s movies Farah Khan grew up watching. She actually wrote the idea for OSO in 2002 while working as a choreographer on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreamz. In 2004, she made her directorial debut with Main Hoon Na. Now with one movie as director behind her, Farah finds the forgotten OSO story lying in a drawer in 2005. The idea is “rebirthed”.

Every scene is a fond memory of a star of yesteryear! it is a “nuanced” film. Great attention has been paid to creating every detail––from the clothing, to the songs, to the re-created 70 films scenes, to the iconic mannerisms of the popular stars. And this is not a spoof of 70s movies. Farah Khan was adamant, for example, that if any of costumes were deemed “funny”, they were scrapped. (That doesn’t mean there isn’t humor in this movie.) Farah did not want to make a movie about the “grime” of the movie industry. Her purpose was to recreate the fun of that time––the excitement a teenager felt when watching a movie and imagining what it would be like to be those stars. “…the grime behind the glamour. That’s not me. Everyone is really happy in this movie, even the junior artistes are very happy in the crowd.” (Side note: The female junior artistes protested against the amount of cleavage they were expected to show. Farah had to cover them all up. Movies of the 70s had a lot of cleavage, but artistes of the 2000s wanted no part of that.) (Sheikh, Prelude Chapter.)

The Bollywood movies referenced are as iconic as Hollywood’s Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars or such lines as “you complete me” or “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” or “here’s looking at you, kid” and span decades of Bollywood movies.

The first scene of the film is a throwback to the film Karz (1980) (translation: Debt) also a film about reincarnation. Rishi Kapoor is singing while on a giant revolving LP. In this scene, SRK and Farah Khan are junior artistes (extras). The real movie is merged into the reel (OSM) movie. Farah tells Om (SRK) to stop overacting and Om says “What’s it to you? It’s not like you are the director!” And the tone is set!

The actual director of Karz, Subhash Ghai is the Karz director in OSO here. While in his own films, he always does Hitchcock-esque appearances, he was hesitant to do so one for OSO. Later in the film in the mock Filmfare Awards show thirty years into the future, the real Rishi Kapoor and Subhash Ghai fight over the envelope with winner’s name.

The Movies Referenced

Bollywood: Karz (1980) (Rishi Kapoor), Dream Girl (1977) (Hema Malini launch to stardom), Main Pyar Kiya (1989) (Salman Khan famous line), Krrish (2006) (Fire scene),Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) (Motorcycle scene), Mother India (1957) (fire scene), Dhoom franchises (only 3 so far, so the joke is that there is no Dhoom 5); Kopps (2003) (Akshay Kumar) (scene lifted from the movie), Dharmveer (1977)

Hollywood: Gone With the Wind (1939), Titanic (1997), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Gene Kelly movies: Singing in the Rain (1952), The Pirate (1948), American in Paris (1951)

The Reincarnation Theme

And here is the other important aspect to this movie for Farah Khan. Previously, reincarnation movies didn’t do an authentic differentiation between the look of the first life and the reincarnated life. By choosing a 70s era with such distinct stars and fashions, the scenes of the future life in 2000 could be easily distinguished from the past life. In Dr. Ian’s 20 Cases of Suggested Reincarnation, there are details of two cases that are in the movie. The first was the Munna/Ravi Shanker case, where a young boy knows people and details about them that he could never have known & Suresh Varma/Tuti Singh where the marks on his skull match the entrance and exit wounds of a person shot through the head. Tuti Singh names the murderer of Suresh Varma with details only a person who had lived it would know. Those the “OM” or “absolute” tattoo on Om’s arms are based on real claims. (Shiekh, Born Again Chapter)

Om’s mother (played by Kirron Kher) completely overacts. This is her job because she never has been in a movie, although she was called for an audition for a part in Mugal-E-Azam, a 1960 Bollywood mega hit, but was pregnant with Om and couldn’t audition. So her whole life becomes an audition. [In a real-life twist, SRK was sued by a fan who actually believed herself to be his mother. He had to prove that she wasn’t. (Shiekh, Born Again Chapter)]

What was the only way a junior artiste could be reincarnated as a famous movie star? To be born to a successful “filmi” family! So Om is born into the Kapoor family––a five generation famiy of actors going back to the 20s. Nepotism is always a criticism of Bollywood movies. In fact, Gauri Khan, SRK’s wife, is the producer of this film. His Red Chilis FX company, a division of his Red Chilis Entertainment, does the special effects. Farah Khan’s husband since 2004, Shirish Kunder was the editor.

The Heroine

This is Deepika Prudukone’s debut. She is a model; 21 and didn’t look too young to play opposite SRK who was 40. To give credibility to her Shantipriya, megastar “Dreamy Girl” image, for the song, Dhoom Taana, famous Bollywood films were scanned and Deepika who is an excellent dancer had to mirror step for step the original dance and then dropped into the scene replacing the heroine so that she “really” is dancing with Rajesh Khanna, Sunil Dutt & Jeetendra. It took seven days of shooting and 45 shots for each replacement. When Deepika is auditioning in the 2000s as Sandy, the scene where she is late and chewing bubble gum is right out of The Fabulous Baker Boys and Michelle Pfeifer’s audition in the movie.

Deepika is now legitimately a megastar and she recently made her Hollywood debut in Vin Diesel’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

The Villain

Arjun Rampal is a model turned actor. He had to be convinced to do this role as there are no redeeming characteristics for this villain. Vivek Oberoi had turned the role down. SRK and Farah pulled Arjun into the bathroom and two-on-one convinced him to take the part.

The “Mother India” Reference

Only three movies have received an Oscar nomination: Mother India (1957), Salaam! Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001). In OSO, Ma Bharat (Ma India) is being filmed. There is a famous fire scene in Mother India where Nargis is searching for her wayward son who is hiding in stacks of hay from the moneylender. The moneylender burns the hay and Nargis the actress is caught in the fire and in real danger. Sunil Dutt who plays the son races in to save Nargis. He is badly burned. Nargis nurses him during his recovery and the pair falls in love. They marry, have a son, Sanjay Dutt who is a famous Bollywood actor (and has a cameo in Deewangi Deewangi) and a daughter.

SRK really is on fire in two of the scenes, this one and one later in the film. After all, how better to sell your own FX company than by setting yourself on fire!

The “SONG” – “Deewangi DeeWangi” (8 minutes and 58 seconds 31 or 32 cameos)

This song became known as “the Song” and is a highlight of the film. If you grew up as a Bollywood fan, each star brings up a memory, a history, a piece of gossip or a special moment in your own life. To have so many stars agree to a cameo is amazing, one-time feat. There was one famous star, Dev Anand, who would not do a “blink-and-miss” spot.

Special appearances during the song "Deewangi Deewangi" (in order of appearance) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_Shanti_Om (each name is a link to a Wikepedia page)

However, Farah had a dream for this film that even she couldn’t make come true. She wanted SRK, Salmon Khan, Sunjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan (top Bollywood actors for over three decades now) to be together in one film, but Aamir Khan didn’t want to appear as he told her later although all the others did. At the time, he said he was editing a film and even one hour would put him three months behind. Farah was gracious at the time. I wonder if he ever regretted that decision? (10 Years of Om Shanti Om | Farah Khan Interview with Anupama Chopra)

The Filmfare Awards scene

This is a very amusing scene as Filmfare is a magazine (which you can subscribe to in an app). Filmfare Awards are sometimes referred to as the Indian Oscars, but there is great controversy about the meaning of winning as stars are paid to attend, know in advance of their win, and often enter right before their presentation and leave right after they appear. There are many inside jokes. Rakesh Roshan says of course Hritik is going to win – they are father and son and he often stars his own son in the movies he produces. The line about “we are just good friends” is a jab at all the rumors that surround stars when working together and that was completely ad libbed by Farah with each star as she herself held the camera. The OK scenes for best actor are funny because in the 70s the SRK was always named Raj or Raja or Rahul and the films were formulaic to meet the audiences’ demands for a masala film with a happy ending. He was the comsummate NRI (Non-Resident Indian in London trying to hold on to his Hindustani roots and values. Abhishek Bachchan and the Dhoom 5 reference is funny because there have only been three made to date of this extremely successful franchise and he has starred in all of them. But will he be in Dhoom 5? So he is nominated in a film that he isn’t even in and worse hasn’t even been made yet! Amitabh Bachchan questioning who Om Kapoor is is very funny because Amitabh was the most famous star of the 70s. His angry-young man persona was famous for two decades until the SRK era of the 90s began. The two stars fighting over the envelope is hysterical. There is so much hype at these awards ceremonies! This scene rings true for Hollywood as well.

Other Cameo appearances throughout the film (in alphabetical order)

Abhishek Bachchan as himself
Akshay Kumar as himself
Ameesha Patel as herself, Om Kapoor's heroine at Filmfare Awards
Amitabh Bachchan as himself
Arshad Warsi as himself
Bappi Lahiri as himself
Bipasha Basu as herself
Chunky Pandey as himself
Dhananjay Singh as himself
Dia Mirza as herself, Om Kapoor's heroine at Filmfare Awards.
Farah Khan as the woman who makes fun of Om when the show ends
Feroz Khan as himself
Gauri Khan as herself
Hrithik Roshan as himself
Karan Johar as himself
Koena Mitra as herself
Malaika Arora Khan as herself
Mayur Puri as the director of Apahij Pyar
Vishal Dadlani as the director of Mohabbat Man, a superherofilm
V. Manikandan as the director of Mind It, a parody of action films
Priya Patil as Natasha, heroine of Apahij Pyar
Rakesh Roshan as himself
Rishi Kapoor as himself
Shabana Azmi as herself
Soumya Seth as Audience
Subhash Ghai as himself
Yash Chopra as himself

The End Credits – Farah’s Special tribute to all who made this film

Farah was true to her word about making a happy movie and that even the behind-the-scenes, never-seen faces were showcased at the very end of the film. All arrive in star-style and have their 10 seconds of on-screen fame. Except for Farah––she arrives in a rickshaw with no one to greet her!

I personally believe that getting so many stars together in one film is a tribute to Farah (and SRK) and their love for and success in the movies. Farah believes that in the years to come, stars will look back on this film and say “how did that ever happen?” Well, for one thing, there weren’t any agents back then!I hope you enjoyed this look at Om Shanti Om. I further hope you become a mega-Bollywood/Indian Cinema fan if you aren’t already!

FOR TONIGHT:
Jim Harte will be projecting a 35mm print of Om Shanti Om on Thursday, 12/7/2017 at 7:30pm, from the George Eastman Museum Collection on our Kinoton projectors. There will be a brief (about 5 minutes) intermission approximately halfway through the film.