By Hindustan Times
I watched Umrao Jaan yesterday. The old version. With Rekha Ji, who hasn’t earned the title Ji just because of her long years in films but in addition as a result of her perfectionist attitude to acting. She’s sublime and mature on this film despite being young on the time.
The film itself is a ‘grown up’ film, potent and tough hitting, stating the facts of lifetime of this young girl who was sold into prostitution. Though the film did average on the box office, it got critical appreciation and turned a classic. (THERE HAS BEEN the remake in 2006, which did poorly on the box office and wasn’t viewed highly by critics either).
It made me think, why, 30 years down the line, is it still difficult to make a movie like Umrao Jaan? Why will we have such trouble portraying prostitution or sex in a mature and easy way?
Sure, we’ve learnt to be ‘bold’. Learnt to turn off long legs in hot pants and using bad language with attitude. However the subject of sex continues to be taboo. Today, a movie can show girls in little or no clothing and men in tight pants gyrating in an item number and that’s accepted as a ‘family’ movie. But a lady and a man fully dressed talking about sex? Now that’s an adult movie. That doesn’t make sense to me.
Sex is everywhere. We didn't get to a population of over a thousand million by wearing bikinis. We got there wearing sarees, salwars, burqas, dhotis and kurtas. It doesn’t matter how covered up we're or aren’t, we're humans and that involves sex.
If a film like Umrao Jaan 30 years ago could speak about sex so explicitly without really showing any skin, what are we doing today after we show only skin and refuse to speak about sex? I don’t know, but something seems off. Maybe what we actually like is to disregard life around us, and dream about things we don’t have. Maybe because today, growing capitalism has taught us to wish what we don’t have. Maybe that’s why gutsier films were made 30 years ago, when it was not really easy to survive credit cards, EMIs and social networking to live our dream life. Maybe 30 years ago, real life needed to be faced. What do you think?
