The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) in Jeddah became a powerful reminder of the unbreakable cultural bonds shared across South Asia this week. The presence of legendary Indian actress Rekha for the screening of the restored classic, Umrao Jaan, resonated profoundly in Pakistani cultural circles, affirming the film’s status as a quintessential text of Urdu culture, a heritage deeply cherished in Pakistan.
Umrao Jaan is not merely an Indian film; it is a direct cinematic adaptation of the 1899 novel Umrao Jaan Ada by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. This novel is a cornerstone of classical Urdu literature, and its setting, the sophisticated, poetic world of the courtesans (tawaif) in 19th-century Lucknow, represents the height of the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. This syncretic culture, with its high standards of Urdu language, poetry, and etiquette, was painstakingly preserved and relocated by migrants who established modern-day Pakistan.
Alt Text: The image shows a poster for the novel Umrao Jaan Ada.
Source: goodreads
The Voice of Shared Tehzeeb
Pakistani delegates, writers, and film critics at the RSIFF were quick to highlight the significance of the film’s revival. For them, the film is a masterclass in the refinement (tehzeeb), language, and the art of the ghazal. The score, featuring the unforgettable voices of Asha Bhosle and Shahryar’s timeless Urdu lyrics, forms an integral part of Pakistan’s musical consciousness.
When Rekha, during her appearance, evoked the soul of the character by reciting the film’s famous verses, lines that are frequently quoted at Pakistani literary gatherings and music evenings, she was not celebrating a foreign piece of art, but performing a shared cultural memory:
“Deewaar-o-dar ko gaur se pahachaan leejiye… Dil cheez kyaa hai aap merii jaan leejiye…”
Her performance was a tribute to the enduring power of the Urdu language, which remains a central pillar of Pakistan’s identity.
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A Legacy Beyond Borders
The film’s celebration served as a powerful counter-narrative to the political friction often seen between the two nations. It demonstrated that art created in the spirit of shared tradition easily transcends state boundaries. Where politics divides, the poetry and adab (manners/literature) of the Urdu tradition, so beautifully captured in Umrao Jaan, continues to unify.
This event at the RSIFF affirmed that the cultural legacy of Lucknow and Delhi, the cradle of this high culture, lives on robustly in Pakistan, and any celebration of masterpieces like Umrao Jaan is, in essence, a celebration of Pakistan’s own deep-rooted artistic inheritance.
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