Shabana Azmi ... Khannum Jaan

Umrao had never seen another woman with more dignified attitude nor one as
well dressed as her.

Khannum Jaan was the high Priestess of a high kotha, which upper class and
cultured nawabs frequented. IT was a world of brocaded shawls and rich
Embellishments, witty conversations, poetry recitals, tobacco and paan,
trading of feelings and breaking of hearts. A world created by Khannum
with intelligence.

Khannum Jaan had love and luxury to give, but at her own terms. To the
world she was the perfect  courtesan : as she put her heart on ice, never
allowing feelings to overpower her sensibilities. At once sharp, at once
Charming: at once powerful, at once sweet-talk: at once clever, at once
Smooth....indeed there was none quite like Khannum Jaan.

It was Khannum Jaan who christened Amiran as Umrao.With that she also
gave her nothing that Amiran  had bargained for. Unfortunately for Umrao
,Khannum's coffers were never too full. her cup of greed, never too empty.

Khannum Jaa is given unbelievable flesh and blood by one of cinemas
brightest luminaries.Shabana Azmi.She says,” I think J.P.Dutta really loves
the character of Khannum Jaan.He was very clear in his brief to me. He said
that Khannum Jaan is an aesthete. People were sent to her to have the charm,
manners and base of a sophisticate but sometimes one had to able to see
the smoothness. To me there is a certain artifice about Khannum Jaan but
there is a core that is real and that is what I kept in mind."