Omkara
Dir- Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast- Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Viveik Oberoi, Konkona Sen-Sharma, Bipasha Basu and Naseeruddin Shah.
Written by- Vishal Bhardwaj, Robin Bhatt and Abhishek Chaubhey; based on William Shakespeare’s Othello.
Omkara or Omi (Ajay Devgan) is initially the ’General’ or enforcer of a political party, leading a group which includes the crafty Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) and the dynamic Kesu (Vivek Oberoi) amongst his chief cohorts. The story begins when Omi appoints Kesu and not Langda as his replacement as ’General’ once he enters politics himself. Langda’s pride is slighted and raging with envy he hatches a plot to falsely implicate Omi’s beautiful lover Dolly (Kareena Kapoor), in a love affair with Omi’s “favorite lieutenant”, Kesu. With the unwitting aid of Indu (Konkona Sen Sharma), Langda’s wife, and the willing help of Raju, a fellow grouch, Langda’s plan takes shape and results in horrific tragedy. Using petty insinuations and lies, Langda keeps poisoning Omi’s mind till one day it snaps and Omi goes about tearing up his own safe and secure world. By the time he realizes what he has done and the backlash of his actions it is too late.
But like all love stories which never really end…out of the ashes of this one too comes a twist. Omkara’s dark love for Dolly, Dolly’s unquestioning love for Omi, Langda’s warped loyalty and jealousy for Omi, the vibrant Kesu’s unswerving devotion to Omi - all leading up to a dark tragedy where Omi finally realizes what he has done.
Spoilers end here. ]
Characters Omkara - Omkara is a combination of greatness and weakness. A principled man of action, he doesnt see life in midtones. He sees life either as good or evil. Therein lies Omi’s tragic flaw Langda - The pricipal catalyst in the story, Langda manipulates chaos into an orderly world and coldly invigilates its utter destruction. Tragically, the one person who truly loves him is the one who will have to settle the scores... Kesu - Kesu is a natural charmer. He likes his woman as much as he loves his guns. Inspite of his first skin, he manages to fall in love with Billo, an orchestra party singer. Fearless and loyal to the bone, Kesu’s only chink is his impatience and he pays for it in blood. Dolly - Dolly’s love and trust for Omi remains rock steady till the end. Smitten by him, she believes that the idyllic life of her dreams will begin soon. And it almost does until... Bhaisaab - An influential cog in the Brahmin politics of the region, Bhaisaab is a sophisticated man, which can be misleading at times, given the ruthless nature of his profession. Omi treats him more like a father figure than just a political mentor. Billo - Billo’s wiles and charms has seen the sternest men melt with her desire. Kesu is besotted with her but she just keep him hanging on. A capricous soul, she is easily sucked into Langda’s master scheme. Indu - Life with a scrupulous gangster was always going to be tricky but Indu bore it all with stern determination. Fiercely devoted to Langda, she becomes an unwitting aid in her husband’s nefarious scheme. When the truth dawns, she takes up the cudgel and decides to stem the rot... []
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.
Trivia This is Vishal Bharadwaj’s third interpretation of a literary classic after Maqbool which was based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Chatri Chor which was based on Ruskin Bond’s The Blue Umbrella.An audience poll was held to decide the title of the film which will either be Omkara, Issak or O Saathi Re. Omkara was the winner.All characters in Omkara share the same alphabet or sound in their first name as in the original Shakespeare classic.Saif Ali Khan literally shaved his head to get in the character of Langda Tyagi.A book on the making of Omkara has been released by producer Kumar Mangat and presenters Shemaroo Films . [
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 Fateh Ali Khan Laakad - Rekha Bharadwaj The Tragedy of Omkara - Instrumental