Omkara (film)
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| Omkara | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster for Omkara |
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| Directed by | Vishal Bharadwaj |
| Produced by | Kumar Mangat Ketan Maroo Neelam Pathak |
| Written by | William Shakespeare Vishal Bharadwaj (story) Robin Bhatt (screenplay) Abhishek Chaubey (screenplay) |
| Starring | Ajay Devgan Kareena Kapoor Saif Ali Khan Konkona Sen Sharma Vivek Oberoi Bipasha Basu Naseeruddin Shah |
| Music by | Vishal Bharadwaj |
| Cinematography | Tassaduq Hussain |
| Editing by | Meghna Manchanda |
| Distributed by | Big Screen Entertainer |
| Release date(s) | July 28, 2006 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Omkara (Hindi: ओमकारा, Urdu: امکارا) is a 2006 Hindi film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. It starred Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles, supported by Vivek Oberoi, Naseeruddin Shah and Konkona Sen Sharma with a ‘’special appearance’’ from Bipasha Basu. The director Vishal Bharadwaj himself composed the entire music for the film, including the background score, with song lyrics by Gulzar.
The film was showcased in the 2006 Cannes Film Festival along with a book on the making of Omkara.[1] It was also selected to be screened at the Cairo International Film Festival & Pakistan's Kara Film Festival.[2]
It became part of a series of film interpretations of popular literary works by Bharadwaj, made after Maqbool based on Macbeth and Chatri Chor based on Ruskin Bond's The Blue Umbrella, though it should be noted that Omkara was released before Chatri Chor.
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[edit] Plot
Omkara Shukla or Omi (Ajay Devgan) is a baahubali, a sort of political enforcer. He is the leader of a gang which carries out political crimes for the local politician Tiwari Bhaisaab (Naseeruddin Shah). Ishwar 'Langda' Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) and Keshav 'Kesu Firangi' Upadhyay (Vivek Oberoi) are his closest lieutenants.
The movie starts with Langda Tyagi hijacking a baraat and sending Rajju (Deepak Dobriyal), the bridegroom to try and stop Omkara from abducting the bride Dolly Mishra (Kareena Kapoor). Rajju fails and the wedding never takes place.
Dolly’s father Advocate Ragunath Mishra (Kamal Tiwari), mostly referred in the movie as “vakeel saab” (lawyer sir), is furious and confronts Omi. He puts a gun to Omi’s head and demands the return of his daughter. Bhaisaab intervenes and resolves the conflict by mentioning the current political conditions and prevents bloodshed. Still unconvinced, Vakeel saab grieves to Bhaisaab the next day. To bring a final solution to this issue, Dolly is made to appear in front of her father and clarify that she eloped with Omi rather than being abducted forcefully. She also tells the events of how she fell in love with Omkara. The father leaves feeling betrayed and ashamed.
After some crafty political arm-twisting, involving a MMS sex scandal, Omkara eliminates a powerful electoral rival. Bhaisaab is elected for Parliament and Omkara is promoted from “bahubali” to the candidate for the upcoming state elections. Omkara appoints Kesu over Langda as his successor once he enters politics himself. Langda, disappointed with Omkara's poor judgment and jealous of Kesu, his younger, less-experienced, superior; hatches a plot to revenge both his offenders. He first causes a violent brawl between Kesu and Rajju (Deepak Dobriyal), Dolly’s original suitor by taking advantage of Kesu's low threshold for alcohol. Such irresponsible behaviour of Kesu infuriates Omi, who now starts becoming unsure about his own decision.
On one hand, playing the role of a concerned friend Langda convinces Kesu to appeal to Dolly, Omi's lover and bride-to-be to mollify Omi. On the other he starts to disrepute Dolly by implicating Kesu's visits to ask Dolly for her help as meetings in an illicit love affair between the two. A kamarbandh, a piece of traditional jewellery worn around the waist, carelessly dropped by Dolly and stolen by Langda’s wife Indu (Konkona Sen Sharma), which eventually reaches Billo Chamanbahar (Bipasha Basu) as a gift from Kesu, plays an important part in the plot, as evidence of Dolly’s infidelity.
By the time of the climax, the night of their wedding, Omi is convinced that Dolly and Kesu have been having an affair behind his back. In utter rage, he smothers his new wife to death. Langda shoots Kesu with a silent approval from Omi. Hearing gunshots and in shock Indu enters the room where Omi is sitting next to Dolly’s corpse in remorse. Indu notices the kamarbandh and mentions stealing it, they both understand the fatal misunderstanding and Langda as its root cause.
In retribution, Indu slashes Langda's throat and Omi commits suicide. The movie closes with Omi lying dead of the floor and Dolly’s dead body swinging above his.
[edit] Cast and Characters
| Actor | Character in the movie | Character in the play |
|---|---|---|
| Ajay Devgan | Omkara 'Omi' Shukla | Othello |
| Saif Ali Khan | Ishwar 'Langda' Tyagi | Iago |
| Kareena Kapoor | Dolly Mishra | Desdemona |
| Vivek Oberoi | Keshav 'Kesu Firangi' | Cassio |
| Bipasha Basu | Billo Chamanbahar | Bianca |
| Konkona Sen Sharma | Indu | Emilia |
| Deepak Dobriyal | Rajan ’Rajju’ Tiwari | Roderigo |
| Naseeruddin Shah | Bhaisaab | Duke of Venice |
[edit] Character Outlines
- Omkara "Omi" Shukla - Omkara is a hardened goon, equivalent to a capo, a man with principles who sees life in extremes, either as good or evil. He is the illegitimate child of a higher caste Brahmin man and a lower caste woman.
- Ishwar "Langda" Tyagi – Langda, which means limp in Hindi is the catalyst in the story. He had been a loyal right hand man to Omi for years and expected to be the next ‘’bahubali’’. Kesu’s promotion gives a crushing blow to his ambitions and brings out the evil in him. His jealousy and hatred towards his kin is further encouraged by chiding remarks from Rajju.
- Dolly Mishra – Dolly is a playful, innocent, young girl, smitten by Omi. She is the one who expresses her love for him and lays the basis of their relationship. Throughout the narrative, other characters have been showed to doubt her innocence, including her father. Omi also finds her personality ambiguous, resulting in the tragic end.
- Indu - Indu leads a bittersweet life as Langda Tyagi’s wife. She becomes an unwitting aid in her husband's plan.
- Keshav "Kesu Firangi" Upadhyay - Kesu is Omi’s other deputy. His epithet comes from the fact that he is a foreigner[citation needed]. He is college educated and urban, known to be somewhat of a casanova. He is important to Omi for his political contacts in the students. After admitting to having ‘’known’’ a string of women he falls in love with Billo and proposes to her for marriage. He is shown to be impatient and easily frustrated with a low threshold for alcohol.
- Billo Chamanbahar – Billo is a singer/dancer who melts hearts with just her looks. She sees Kesu as a future companion, though keeps him hanging on. She makes an easy tool for Langda to manipulate.
- Bhaisaab - An influential Brahmin that everyone respects and obeys. He is an outwardly sophisticated man, with a ruthless interior. He is a politician to the bone and rules the region with an iron fist, picking up enemies as he progresses his career. He is a father figure for Omkara as well as the political head honcho.
- Rajan ‘Rajju’ Tiwari – Son of a respectable ‘’thekedar’’, he is head over heals in love with Dolly. He tries to win her affection, throughout the movie.
[edit] Shooting Location
Omkara was shot over a period of 4 months across various locales, including Lonavala, Lucknow University, Allahabad, Bodh Gaya, Mahabaleshwar, Wai and Mumbai. Bulk of the shooting for the film took place in Wai Maharashtra. Even though most of the shooting took place in Maharashtra, sets were erected with precise details to create an authentic Uttar Pradesh village.
[edit] Production Notes
Other members of the production team included stunts co-ordinator Jai Singh, costume designer Dolly Ahluwalia, choreographers Bhushan Lakhandri and Ganesh Acharya along with chief assistant director Ajit Ahuja. The title of the film was decide by a popular vote. Moviegoers had a choice between Omkara, Issak and O Saathi Re, all of which had already appeared on the soundtrack as song titles.
[edit] Response
Omkara had a poor opening at the box office in India. The dark theme and strong language kept away family audiences. It was however a grand success abroad. The film quickly entered the UK's Top Ten and also did very well in Australia, South Africa and the United States. Though the film was not a huge commercial success in India, it was critically acclaimed universally. Rediff.com writes: "Vishal Bhardwaj's film is a superlative-exhausting work of passion and tribute, skill and style...Spellbinding stuff". The film was praised for its taut script, brilliantly executed drama sequences and its lead performances. Kareena Kapoor's performance was considered to be the finest of her films. However, Saif Ali Khan drew the most praise for his villainous role as Langda Tyagi.
[edit] Language
All the dialogues in the film are delivered in a strong input of the Khariboli dialect other than Hindi, including the use of swear words, generally absent from mainstream Hindi cinema. The movie received an A Certificate from the censor board of India. Critics and audiences were divided in their opinions about the foul language. Many believed that it was not required and would lead to distancing the movie from the family audience,[3] while on the other hand some applauded it for authentically showing the rustic setting of the story. The language and A certificate narrowed the audience but in turn brought accolades for the creators of the movie for valuing creativity over commercial success
A thin line (or thread) separates the fool from the fucker. On one end of the line lies the fool and on the other, the fucker. Upon snapping the line it's a million dollar question as to who's the fool and who's the fucker, my friend. Let's see the face of the pretty bridegroom now. Well, I'll be damned. Surely you are the fool, right? 'Coz a man becomes a fucker only after his wedding.
The exact same dialogues were repeated in the movie at different points in the screenplay by the same or different characters, acting like catchphrases. Some examples have been listed below
| Quote in Hindi | Translation | Note | |||
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A smile (or smiles) is getting more and more expensive in the world | Indu to other characters | |||
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(Trying to) Lift a large load of wood | An idiom repeated by several characters | |||
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If I am a liar, then I am a son of a dog . If I am honest then I am your mother's illegitimate lover | Langda to Rajju, as a threat later repeated as a personal joke | |||
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The girl who can steal from (betray) her own father, how can she be trusted by anyone else | A statement summarising the plot of the movie, by Dolly's father to Omkara. Repeated in Omkara's thoughts | |||
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Rip the hide off your body and dry the skeleton in sunlight | A threat, from Omkara to Kesu. Repeated by Kesu when talking to Dolly |
| Quote in Hindi | Translation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Bets should be placed on horses, you |
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... anyway, he also has a lot of experience in giving out invitations to Dolly's wedding | |||
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While the mare is getting shoed, even the frog (rather the female version of ‘’frog’’) lifts her foot |
[edit] Music
The film has eight songs composed by Vishal Bharadwaj:
- Omkara - Sukhwinder Singh
- O Saathi Re - Shreya Ghoshal & Vishal Bharadwaj
- Beedi - Sunidhi Chauhan, Sukhwinder Singh, Nachiketa Chakraborty & Clinton Cerejo
- Jag Ja - Suresh Wadkar
- Namak - Rekha Bharadwaj & Rakesh Pandit
- Naina - Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Laakad - Rekha Bharadwaj
- The Tragedy of Omkara - Instrumental
[edit] Awards & Nominations
The awards it won are highlighted in bold.
[edit] Filmfare Awards
[edit] Star Screen Awards
[edit] Zee Cine Awards
[edit] International Indian Film Academy Awards
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[edit] Bollywood Movie Awards
[edit] Stardust Awards
[edit] Global Indian Film Awards
[edit] All India Filmgoer Awards
[edit] National Film Awards
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[edit] Other Awards
- Sports World Awards: Best Actor In A Villanous Role - Saif Ali Khan
- Cairo International Film Festival: Best Artistic Contribution in Cinema of a Director - Vishal Bharadwaj
- Kara Film Festival: Best Actor - Saif Ali Khan
- Kara Film Festival: Best Music Director - Vishal Bharadwaj
- Kara Film Festival: Best Adapted Screenplay - Vishal Bharadwaj, Abhishek Chaubey & Robin Bhatt
[edit] References
- ^ Omkara film preview. BBC website. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
- ^ 'Omkara' shines in Cairo and Karachi. Apun Ka Choice. Retrieved on 2006-12-26.
- ^ Families stay away from Omkara. The Times of India. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
[edit] See also
- William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello
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