Umrao Jaan is not without its flaws. The film is replete with references that conflate the tawaif with randi (sex worker)—not just a common misconception about the tawaif culture but also a reductive derivation that has colonial roots. Tawaifs were powerful figures, revered for their cultural capital and intellectual prowess. Materially, they were some of the most well-endowed individuals in the society. As historians point out, many courtesans willingly came to kothas fleeing abusive families. It was the British who stripped tawaifs of their landholdings, forcing some of them into sex work to make a living. Although tawaifs did have multiple partners, they weren’t always coerced and sex work was not their primary means of income. Rather, they made a living through performing their art. While sex work is labour in its own right and shouldn’t come with a value judgement, the reinforcement of this conflation is disempowering because it strips the tawaif of the socio-cultural and financial autonomy they enjoyed, which sex workers did not.