Jaanisaar arrives as the second movie in this week which completely lets you down. Muzaffar Ali who spun magic with the Rekha starrer 'Umrao Jaan' way back in 1981 fails to create any impact with Jaanisaar. It has a weak plot, unimpressive acting, cliched dialogues and forgettable music. You can definitely give this film a miss.

It's hard to let go of the past. In the case of filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, it means the classic Umrao Jaan, which enjoys a cult status for featuring one of Rekha's best performances, Khayyam's great music, which was enhanced by Asha Bhosle's striking vocals, and fine costume design. It now infamously is also Ali's one-hit wonder. With Jaanisaar, one can feel the imprints of Umrao Jaan, like ghosts lurking in the background reminding what had been and now can't be replicated. Jaanisaar unfolds twenty years after the revolt of 1857 but the editing is such that one has little sense of time and space. The film randomly jumps from Noor's abode to Ameer's and then to the British baddie (Carl Wharton), a sadistic employee of Queen Victoria. The less said about the lovemaking scenes involving the latter the better it is. There are far too many songs, all of which seem akin. It is not just that Jaanisaar doesn't draw viewers to the epic romance of Ameer and Noor, it also fails to evoke any animosity for the British who are shown here to destroy Awadh. That is ultimately the film's undoing - its inability to make viewers care about anything in the film.

Muzaffer Ali’s Jaanisaar is a cautionary tale of a film with a half-baked script and pretend patriotism. Jaanisaar was supposed to be Muzaffer Ali’s comeback vehicle after the stunning Umrao Jaan but it fails to meet expectations. However, the film ruins the moment by letting bad editing get the better of it. Redundant scenes and a weak story weight the film down. Jaanisaar doesn’t just go off track. It barely stays on it. You don’t know who is related to whom and why. No one tells you what ails the characters. Too many threads are entangled and ten minutes into the film, one is far too tired to even bother to figure it out. A film that helped me discover that dark space between frustration and boredom, Jaanisaar would have been a more honest work of art if it were titled Jaanleva.

Neither Imran Abbas nor Pernia Qureshi do justice to their meaty parts, except he is a tad better than her. A period film demands correct body language: both look modish but contemporary. The way they speak is also very here and now. The awful Englishman (Carl Wharton), representative of the Queen and cruel collector of ‘lagaan’, is theatrical, as are the rest of the supporting acts. The only upside: the wonderful costumes. My tip: watch ‘Umrao Jaan’ instead, and after that pull out the even older ‘Gaman’, Ali’s other timeless triumph.

'Inspired by true events', Jaanisaar begins with Naseeruddin Shah's voice over telling us how the British had initially thought it was impossible to capture the then wealthy India because of its rich heritage and culture. If they were to do so, they had to kill this very 'tehzeeb' which made us invincible. Speaking of history or the beauty of the bygone era, sadly his film seems as jaded as an abandoned, dilapidated palace, which is way past its glory. Unhurried pace mediocre dialogues, poor acting and lack of a credible story makes it a tedious watch. While songs are generally woven around a story, here the story comes across as a filler, which is hugely disappointing. Pernia Qureshi dances well but fails to do justice to her exotic role as an actor. Imran Abbas is relatively superior. If you are the kind, who is besotted with India's past and the beauty of Lucknowi culture, you won't mind watching this one, solely for the stunning costumes and classical music. Otherwise, it's a case of cinematic self-indulgence that doesn't deserve to be compared to Ali's masterpiece Umrao Jaan (1981). Poetic injustice!