Umrao Jaan

In the 1840s, Amiran is kidnapped in Faizabad by the criminal Dilawar as revenge against her father. He then sells her to Khanum Jaan in Lucknow, where she is renamed Umrao Jaan and begins training as a tawaif and aspiring poet.

Years later in Lucknow, Umrao grows into an accomplished poet and a celebrated tawaif at the kotha. The young Nawab Sultan is smitten by her beauty and poetry.

Sultan reveals that he must marry someone else to please his family, leaving Umrao deeply heartbroken. She confronts the consequences of love denied by duty.

Seeking solace, Umrao elopes with Faiz Ali. She soon learns he is a wanted bandit, and on their journey he is killed by local police.

Umrao relocates to Kanpur and establishes herself as a poet and tawaif, earning renown. Her kotha keepers, Gohar Mirza and Husseini, eventually fetch her back to Khanum Jaan.

In Kanpur, Umrao meets the Begum of Kanpur and learns she is Ram Dai, the other girl abducted years earlier. Ram Dai is later sold to Nawab Sultan’s family and ends up marrying him.

British forces lay siege to Lucknow and residents evacuate the city. Umrao and Khanum’s household of refugees stops in a small village along the route.

In the village, Umrao recognises Faizabad as her hometown, though the locals do not recognize her. The villagers urge her to perform, testing her memory and art.

Umrao goes to her childhood home, where her mother greets her with happiness. Her younger brother, however, humiliates her and declares her life as a tawaif a disgrace, ordering her to leave.

Devastated, Umrao returns to Lucknow once the mutiny is over. She finds her kotha looted and deserted, its once-thriving life now a memory of conflict.

Umrao's resilience as a performer endures despite years of loss and displacement. Her artistic legacy as a poet and tawaif remains a core part of her identity.