They says for every jealous feeling there is an emotion behind the jealousy that is much more significant than the jealousy itself. Jealousy is nothing but the finger pointing at the fears – fears of loosing someone’s relationship (paranoia, sadness, anxiety), fears of loosing someone’s love (betrayal), fears of loosing power to someone (agitation, feeling powerless), fears of not having possession of same as other person (envy), fears of feeling not important (loneliness, depression, feeling excluded), and fears of many more.
Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (2005) is Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello in the heart of Indian plateau in contemporary times. It is prime example of what jealousy can do to the person and how it can be exploited and applied on weak hearts. Both Omkara and Othello are all about one man’s descent into jealousy because of his passionate love for a woman and how jealousy can tear apart the strongest and bravest of men.
Story
Omkara Shukla (Ajay Devgan) leads gang of outlaws working for politician Bhaisaab (Naseeruddin Shah) in the brutal political heartland of Utter Pradesh. Omi is well supported by his deputies - cripple childhood buddy Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) and dynamic student leader Kesu Firangi (Vivek Oberoi).
When Omi abducts Dolly Mishra (Kareena Kapoor) with the help of Langda, many in the gang thinks Langa will be next chief. In the wake of political elections, when Omkara appoints Kesu as next chief lieutenant to gain more support from college groups, Langda’s lifetime ambition to take over Omi’s reign gets squashed. Envy of Kesu’s appointment, double-faced reptile Langda hatches a plot to falsely implicate Omi’s Dolly having love affair with Kesu. He provokes Omi against Dolly and Kesu using sophisticated smart lies. Langda keeps poisoning Omkara’s mind till one day Jealous Omi tearing apart his own world by killing Dolly and himself.
Analysis
Omkara is nothing but simple and earthy movie depicting complex subject. Omkara is part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s tribute series to Shakespeare in the line of his earlier interpretation Maqbool. Omkara is powerful story of how love, jealousy, obsession, insecurity, power, and politics make strongest man weaker than weakest.
Omkara works simply because of amazing chemistry of characters especially trio of Omi, Dolly, and Langda. Omi and Dolly’s sensitive and sensual relationship where Dolly’s unconditional love for Omi overshadowed by Omi’s possessive jealous mindset. Omkara and Langda’s relationship is like trusted companion overshadowed by Langda’s game of backstabbing and hunger for power. They both seem grown up together in village. Langda is twisted nasty snake not afraid of playing with Omi’s psyche and at the same time he is afraid of Omi’s macho and rock-solid presence.
Omkara belongs to one and only one man – it’s multitalented director at the helm of multiple chairs of director-cum-musician-cum-writer-cum-singer, Vishal Bhardwaj. If Makdee was the debutant vehicle for this talented musician turned into director and Maqbool was trademark arrival of genius director then Omkara will be his crown as new-age director in Bollywood whom you can trust to deliver elite products on each and every outings now on. It’s heartening to see RGV brand Commercial-Yet-Realistic cinema are in safe hands of new directors like Nagesh Kukunoor (Hyderabad Blues, Teen Deewarein, Iqbal), Madhur Bhandarkar (Chandani Bar, Satta, Page 3, Corporate), and Vishal Bhardwaj.
Omkara’s cinematography and art direction makes its appearance unique. Even though it’s been filmed in Maharastra, you as a viewer seem like wandering into streets of UP villages. Credit goes to Tassaduq Hussain for film’s brilliant cinematography. Look out for those special aerial panoramic scenes where Vishal takes lot of time to move camera and let viewers submerge into rustic beauty of backcountry villages. One of most memorable scenes of the movie are when Konkona walks to Kareena when she notices her crying at the high balcony of her house or when Konkona wakes up Saif when he is sleeping on the streets of the village at high noon.
In acting department, honors for best acting goes to Saif Ali Khan thanks for his brilliantly author-backed role and brilliantly performed by man himself. Saif as Langda is one-dimensional two-faced character. His sole goal is power doesn’t matter at what expense. Watch out for scenes where he poisons Ajay’s mind with ultra-swift change of proceedings. As Vishal said in one of his interviews – “Evil had rarely looked so cool on screen.” I can’t forget my twisted corny smile whenever I see him poisoning Omi against Dolly and Kesu while I was watching him on silver screen. It’s great to see ‘Ole Ole’ boy performing complex roles ever since his mature innings started with Dil Chahta Hai, Ek Hasina Thi, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Parineeta, and Being Cyrus.
With Omkara, Ajay Devgan continues solidifying his position in Bollywood as one of the finest performer in India. His recent elevation as an actor is simply mind-blowing especially in serious dramas like Company, The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Gangaajal, and Apaharan. Watch out for him when he walks after killing one of his enemy and washes his face. Kareena Kapoor was extremely enchanting as Dolly as mixture of innocent beauty and sensual goddess. She was like angel and portrayed her unconditional love for Omkara without hints of inner workings of his jealous mind. Watch out for scene when she is singing song without even hint of what’s going on in Omi’s mind. Vivek Oberoi as Kesu was totally wasted. One he was miscast and other he proved that his acting career is going downward. At the same time, Mrs. Iyyar Konkona Sen Sharma as Indu has proved her worth every single penny she received as remuneration. She was amazingly attractive and perfect fit as Saif’s wife. Vishal’s usual performer Naseeruddin Shah as Bhaisaab is as usual dependable. Bipasha Basu as dancer Billo Chaman Bahar is less you talk is better.
As far as Vishal’s music album, most of his tunes are folksy. Overall Music is average with couple of standouts. Folksy tunes gels well with the rustic atmosphere especially ‘Bidi’ and ‘Lakkad’. Title song Omkara is very electrifying but unfortunately rendered only first line in the movie. Out of all songs, Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Bharadwaj sung romantic number ‘O Saathi Re’ stands out. It’s Gulzar penned soul soothing poetry depicting two lovebird’s love for each other is magnificently enhanced by equally stunning cinematography. It is one of the best songs of this year.
Conclusion
Seems like Bollywood is changing and changing for better. Seems like its taking giant leaps in the recent years as far as qualities of good products especially in the sector of realistic cinemas. With the likes of new breed of directors like Farhans, Madhurs, Nageshes, Vishals, it’s pleasure to see that there is no scarcity of next generation moviemakers. Omkara is nothing but one more feather in crown of quality Indian cinema. It’s a must see for elite moviegoers.