How does one describe 'Umrao Jaan'? Story of a courtesan. An emotional journey of a girl child to a most desired woman. A tale of a highly literate person. A costume drama.  Producer-director JP Dutta packs this and a lot more in his take on Mirza Hadi Ruswa's book 'Umrao Jaan Ada'.

It has been a common saying - If Lucknow was the heart of Avadh, Umrao was the heartbeat! Set in 19th century, 'Umrao Jaan' is a journey of an eight year old girl called Amiran. Hailing from a lower class family, she was a daughter of a sweeper, a 'jamadar', who was employed at 'Bahu Begum ka Makhbara' in Faizabad [now in UP]. He was a simple man with limited desires and a supporter of truth. This righteous trait of him landed him in trouble since his statement against Dilawar Khan, a criminal, changed the course of life.

Dilawar Khan was imprisoned but on return he kidnapped young Amiran and sold her to Khannum Sahib [Shabana Azmi], owner of a 'kotha' in Lucknow. Though 'kothas' have their own meaning when it comes to films, the one that we are mentioning from the era of 19th century was a hub for cultural activities. There was education, literature, poetry, styling, classical music, dance....everything that could make an individual a master in arts

Amiran too became one such literate person and was named Umrao [Aishwarya Rai] by Khannum. She learnt everything in the confines of the kotha - living up in stlye from Bua Hussaini, education from Maulvi Sahib, music and dance from Kathak Acharya and many more skills, including poetry, from Bismillah, Khurshid and Gauhar. Also 'Ada' was her signatory name due to her proficiency over writing and presenting poetry.

Soon Umrao Jaan Ada was a name to reckon with and the entire Lucknow was bowled over by her beauty, charms and skills. Every man wanted to watch her sing and dance but Khannum's kotha was only for the elite. Also for Umrao it was only one man whose attention she desired - Nawab Sultan [Abhishek Bachchan]. A nawab that had luxury of riches at his feet, even he reciprocated to her feelings and was equally in love with her. Meanwhile Faiz Ali [Suneil Shetty], a hardened outlaw, too was in love with Umrao Jaan. Even his love was true as he cared for her in all earnest in spite of the world recognizing him as a dacoit