Umrao Jaan is a 1981

Bollywood films of 1981

-Highest grossing:The top forty grossing films at the Indian Box Office in 1981:The last four were box office flops-1981:-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database* - A look back at the year 1981 with a special focus on the Hindi film song*...

 Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 film, directed by Muzaffar Ali

Muzaffar Ali

Rajah Muzaffar Ali is an Indian film-maker, a fashion designer, a poet, an artist, a music-lover, a revivalist, and a social worker.He belongs to a Royal Muslim Rajput family of Kotwara. He is not to be confused with the famous 16th century Persian artist of the Persian miniature.Muzaffar Ali was...

. It is based on the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada

Umrao Jaan Ada

Umrao Jaan Ada is an Urdu novel by Mirza Hadi Ruswa , first published in 1899. It is considered the first Urdu novel by many and tells the story of a courtesan and poetess by the same name from 19th century Lucknow, as recounted by her to the author.-History and theme:According to the novel, the...

(1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa

Mirza Hadi Ruswa

Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa was an Urdu poet and writer of fiction, plays, and treatises . He remained on the Nizam of Awadh's advisory board on language matters for years...

 based on the famous Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 courtesan. The film starred Bollywood actress Rekha and Farooq Shaikh

Farooq Shaikh

Farooq Sheikh or Farooque Sheikh is an Indian actor, philanthropist and a popular television presenter. He is best known for his films during the 1970s and 1980s. His major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or the New Indian Cinema...

 as leads.
In the year 1840, a girl named Amiran (Seema Sathyu) is kidnapped from her family in Faizabad, Oudh by their neighbour, Dilawar Khan (Satish Shah

Satish Shah

Satish Ravilal Shah is a Hindi and Marathi film and television actor best known for his comedy films. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the ever popular 80's sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi directed by Kundan Shah and Manjul Sinha. He is famous for playing the role of Municipal Commissioner...

), and sold to Madam Khanum Jaan (Shaukat Kaifi

Shaukat Kaifi

Shaukat Kaifi is an Indian activist and stage and film actor. She was married to poet, Kaifi Azmi, and through her career associated with the Indian People's Theatre Association , the Progressive Writers Association and Prithvi Theatre.-Career:...

) who owns a brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 in Lucknow

Lucknow

Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....

 where she trains courtesans (tawaif

Tawaif

A tawaif was a courtesan who catered to the nobility of South Asia, particularly during the era of the Mughal Empire.The tawaifs contributed to music, dance, theatre, film, and the Urdu literary tradition.-History:...

).