'Secondly,' says Amaresh, 'there's the character of Azizunbai, the famous courtesan. In the book, Fazal Ali meets Umrao and falls in love with her after Nawab Sultan refuses to marry her.ДЇazal Ali's character ( called Faiz Ali in the movies) was played by Raj Babbar in 1981, and will be played by Suniel Shetty in the new film. He was from Gonda and people of Gonda fought against Britishers in 1857 during the revolt because they killed their leader. 'The character of dacoit Fazal Ali existed and he was killed in 1856. In his opinion, Umrao Jaan left Lucknow for Bhairach district in 1858 after Lucknow fell to Britishers, and moved back only much later in life, at an old age.ДЄmaresh is convinced Umrao was real because he feels there is historic evidence backing him. 'Ruswa met Umrao in 1882 when she was reduced to penury,' says Misra.В 'She was living as aВ destitute and she told her life story to him.' Ruswa eventually moved out of Lucknow and settled down in Hyderabad before he passed away in 1931.ДЄmaresh Misra, author Lucknow: Fire of GraceВ believesВ Umrao Jaan really existed. The only work of his that enjoyed acclaim after this was the novel Sharif Zada. This novel is the story of Ameeran, a girl from a lower middle class family.В She is kidnapped as a child andВ ends up a nautch girl,В rechristened as Umrao Jaan. The book of Ruswa became so famous and an Urdu literature classic that everyone thought that Umrao Jaan is a real character, but it is not true.'Д«orn in 1857, Ruswa was a teacher,В poet and an authorВ and wrote only five novels in his lifetime.

If she existed where is her grave? No one knows till this date. I believe she never existed in this world. Says writer Javed Siddiqui, who wrote Muzaffar Ali's 1981 Umrao Jaan,В 'There have alwaysВ been two opinions. Many people may like to believe that Umraojaan existed for real, but to this date there is a controversy on whether such a courtesan existed in the 19th century, as depicted in Umra-O-Jaan-E-Ada, a novel written in 1904 by Mirza Mohammed Hadi Ruswa.

Umrao jaan 1981