It’s been 32 years since ‘Umrao Jaan’ hit the theatres and Rekha, who played the protagonist, enthralled the audience with her performance as the ravishingly beautiful, tragedy-stricken courtesan of Lucknow. Ever since, directorMuzaffar Ali and his writer Javed Siddiqui were planning to make a sequel to their iconic film. Now TOI has learnt, that Ali is planning another film on a courtesan and is collaborating with Siddiqui for the same. However, TOI has learnt that the film, tentatively titled ‘Raqs’, will not be a sequel. In fact the director has abandoned the idea of a sequel to the 1981 classic. 

Ali had planned a sequel where Umrao returns to the ‘kotha’ and continues her life. Naturally, he wanted to repeat Rekha as the aged Umrao. Siddiqui told this newspaper, “Two years back, we started working on the second instalment. And Rekha was more than glad to do the film. But now, the plan has changed.” When contacted, Ali said, “Rekha doesn’t fit into my scheme of things now.”

Apparently, Ali and Siddiqui were apprehensive about how well the audience will receive a sequel. Siddiqui explained: “A filmmaker did try to make another film on the same (read: JP Dutta’s Aishwarya-Abhishek starrer), but it didn’t work commercially too well.” He goes on to say that the audience would watch the film with a mental block. “Frankly, it is difficult to live up to the high standards of the original film. Also, most sequels or even remakes are not well received.”

As things stand now, Ali and Siddiqui are trying to finalise the cast. Buzz is that a fresh face maybe introduced. “All the established stars have date issues. We need an actress who can dance well. And we need to act fast. We have decided to start Raqs early next year,” said a source close to Ali.