Nainital, Nov 4 (PTI) For veteran filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, his 1981 masterpiece “Umrao Jaan" was more than a period drama — it was poetry finding a visual form.

Speaking at the recently concluded 10th edition of the “Himalayan Echoes: Kumaon Festival of Literature & Arts", Ali said with “Umrao Jaan", he was, in essence, telling “the story of a poetess through poetry".

“I was always a poetry-driven person. For me, ‘Umrao Jaan’ was poetry coming alive. It came from my days after leaving Aligarh, from all the poets I spent time with, and from the imagery they instilled in my thinking and life," said Ali, who has also directed “Gaman", “Aagaman", “Anjuman", and “Jaanisaar".

To keep the essence of the story intact, he ensured that poet-lyricist Shahryar stayed with him in Mumbai throughout th

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