For the past three years, Muzaffar Ali has been living in the 1800s. He’s roamed through palatial corridors lined with ornate carpets and jousted with fierce tigers and elephants in Lucknow’s thick jungles. He’s sifted through rich silks and brocades, embellished with Awadh’s traditional craft and set off with Amrapali jewellery. He’s drifted in tune to carefully crafted music, reminiscent of an era bygone. As the ace director, famed for creating Bollywood classics like the Rekha-starrer Umrao Jaan, explains, “I don’t just make a movie, I live it. For the past three years, I’ve been living in the world I seek to create in my movie, Jaanisaar.”

Muzaffar’s soon-to-release Jaanisaar marks his comeback to commercial cinema after three odd decades. His Umrao Jaan, of course, is a cult classic. But following the movie, Muzaffar proceeded to work on projects that were more low-profile or, like the much-touted Kashmir-centric Dimple Kapadia-Vinod Khanna starrer Zooni, remained incomplete. “I can’t really call Jaanisaar my comeback,” says the director. “I’ve been working throughout; on Zooni, of course, but also filming a series on Sufism, curating the annual Sufi music festival Jahan-i-Khusrau in Delhi, building my designer clothing line Kotwara and working for the revival of craft and culture in my ancestral village.”

With Jaanisaar, the director returns to the limelight with a story that he feels walks the balancing line between art and commercial cinema. The movie presents a spin on the age-old romance between a royal prince and a beautiful courtesan, amidst the tumultuous backdrop of India two decades post the 1857 revolt. What drew Muzaffar towards a story on the war for independence, a topic that has been covered by Indian cinema in the past?

“I think that it’s a topic that’s barely been covered,” says the director. “There are so many dimensions to 1857, so many emotions that are triggered just by remembering what happened at the time. The era was a turning point in the mutual history of India and Pakistan and a testament to how the British employed the ‘divide and rule’ policy to create two nations out of one. Umpteen movies have been made on the Holocaust and similarly, we need to develop a sharper sense of history by remembering the sacrifices and pain we bore for our independence.”

As the Raja of Kotwara in UP, the director is bona fide royalty and his genealogy has been an intrinsic feature of his work. Rekha as his Umrao Jaan bedazzled in a custom-made wardrobe and elaborate jewellery. In Jaanisaar, the leads wear vintage designs by Kotwara, replete with traditional Lakhnavi embellishments and set off by Amrapali jewellery.

While Jaanisaar’s storyline is undoubtedly rooted in this somber nostalgia, it is narrated through the romance between a Britain-returned Prince of Lucknow, played by our very own Imran Abbas, and a courtesan, enacted by Pernia Qureshi of Pernia’s Pop-up fame. These are curious casting choices: this will be Pernia’s cinematic debut and while Imran may be well-known by Pakistani drama enthusiasts, his only claim-to-fame in Bollywood is the disastrous 3D movie Creature. Why did Muzaffar opt for a caste of relative newcomers when he could have taken on more established names and generated greater hype for his movie?

“I think my cast fits the bill completely,” says Muzaffar. “I didn’t want to sit around and wait for Bollywood’s established actors to provide me with shooting dates. There are some very talented young actors in India right now, boys like Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor who give their all to a role. Unfortunately, jaanisaar, their shooting schedules are booked for years in advance and besides, they are more interested in acting in conventional commercial roles as opposed to a movie like Jaanisaar which is more experimental.”

Muzaffar Ali weaves cinematic dreams once again

“Having said this, I am very happy with my cast. Pernia is a trained dancer and she brought an authenticity to her role that an amateur couldn’t possibly have been able to feign. Imran is experienced, a hard worker and he has acted very well. He suits his role to a tee.”

Still, why did Muzaffar choose a Pakistani actor for his hero when casting an Indian would possibly have made more logistical sense? “I don’t really think there’s a cultural difference between India and Pakistan,” he mulls. “I have cast Imran as my hero and even Jaanisaar’s soundtrack features a mix of Pakistani and Indian talents. Shafqat Ali and Abida Parveen both sing in the movie, as well as Sukhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghoshal. Choosing from a common talent pool adds greater diversity to the movie and the soundtrack melds well into it, becoming part of the screenplay.”

Regardless, what is bound to take center stage in Jaanisaar is Muzaffar’s quintessential flair for details and beauty. As the Raja of Kotwara in UP, the director himself is bona fide royalty and his genealogy, entrenched in history and an appreciation of the arts, has always been an intrinsic feature of his work. In the early ’80s, Rekha as his Umrao Jaan bedazzled in a custom-made wardrobe and elaborate jewellery. Now, in Jaanisaar, the leads wear vintage designs by Kotwara, replete with traditional Lakhnavi embellishments and set off by Amrapali jewellery. “I even made the shoes myself,” says Muzaffar. “They had to be period-specific.”

A large part of the movie has been shot in Muzaffar’s own home, the Kotwara palace, with the ceilings and walls dressed to emulate a 19th century royal home. “We didn’t have a huge budget but we did have the support of our friends,” says Muzaffar. “They let us borrow huge, lavish carpets to line the floors. Details matter, because they add authenticity. When a movie is created with passion and intensity, it becomes more believable.”

His methods are quite in contrast to those of modern-day Bollywood where the focus is more on special effects and stunts. As a veteran who has witnessed the changing trends in Indian cinema and with his own son, Shaad Ali, directing present-day movies like Kill Dil and Bunty aur Babli, does Muzaffar approve of modern-day Bollywood?

“I think form and technique in Indian cinema has gotten stronger but unfortunately, content has gotten weak. There are many directors like Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Leela Bhansali that try to do their best. I like my son’s work even though I belong to a different genre of cinema and occasionally, a current movie comes along that I enjoy. Salman’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan has some cinematic weaknesses but it is still a movie that I liked.”

With his Jaanisaar pitted against heavy duty Bollywood mega-starrers — Dharma Productions’ Brothers releases a week after Jaanisaar — why haven’t we seen the movie being heavily promoted? Typically, Indian movie releases are preceded by multiple promotional appearances on television shows. Jaanisaar’s pre-release promotions are more low-profile: music launches and a Jaanisaar-inspired collection by the House of Kotwara being made available at Pernia’s Pop-up shop. “We have a more limited budget,” says Muzaffar. “But we have content and a movie that’s different.”

And while Muzaffar’s prowess as a storyteller is undeniable, does he think that a period drama like Jaanisaar will be enjoyed by an audience that has become accustomed to fast-paced Bollywood masala? “I think people will enjoy the different experience offered to them through Jaanisaar and that slowly, this movie will make inroads,” he says.

The stress on ‘slowly’ cannot be missed — one remembers Umrao Jaan initially flopping before it was lauded as a timeless classic. Under Muzaffar’s infamous gimlet eye, Jaanisaar is bound to be a visual treat. But will it do well at the box office or only win critical acclaim? Will it be memorable or become just another period drama recording the bloodshed that lead to independence? And will it help Imran Abbas make the transition from the lovelorn TV drama lead to the lovelorn Indian film hero?

Next week, we’ll know.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine August 2nd, 2015

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