Sajal Aly has been cast as the main lead for the upcoming drama adaptation of the popular novel ‘Umrao Jan’, as per reports from Variety.
The drama is being produced by Dubai-based South Asian celebrity management agency Action Consultancy, while Hamid Hussain and Muhammad Yaqoub will also be serving as producers.
The Urdu language novel was written in1899 by Mirza Hadi Ruswa, which depicts India in the 19th century, particularly the lives of courtesans. It follows the life of Amiran, a little girl living in Faizabad by a man who later sells her to a brothel.
Speaking to Variety, Hussain promised that the adaptation will be unlike the previous films, because it relies “heavily on the original Urdu version of the novel, unlike the film adaptations that had taken creative liberties to fit the story into a film narrative,” further adding “there is a lot in the novel that has never been shown in an audiovisual project.”
Previously, the novel was adapted in the 1972 Pakistani film “Umrao Jaan Ada” which was directed by Hasan Tariq and cast Rani as the main lead. In 1981, Bollywood’s “Umrao Jaan” (1981) cast Rekha as the seductive courtesan, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan then later took on the role in J.P Dutta’s 2006 ‘Umrao Jaan”.
