UK Asian Film Festival presents:

Umrao Jaan

+ extended intro by director Muzaffar Ali

See this restored Bollywood cult classic on the largest screen in the UK.

  • Director

    Muzaffar Ali

  • With

    Rekha, Farooq Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar

  • India 1981. 146min

  • Digital 4k

  • Certificate

    PG

  • Urdu with English subtitles

In its 28th year, the UK Asian Film Festival 2026 celebrates powerful cinema from South Asia and its diaspora, uniting bold storytelling and diverse voices under this year's theme, ‘Stories That Bind Us’.

Umrao Jaan (1981), a Bollywood restored 4K cult classic, brings its timeless tale of love, longing, and poetry to life on an epic scale. The film traces the journey of a young girl abducted and raised in a Lucknow kotha, who becomes the legendary courtesan and poet Umrao Jaan. Celebrated for her beauty and artistry yet bound by fate, her story unfolds as a haunting reflection on desire, resilience and the search for freedom.