The Shakespeare’s Othello is a classic of the english litterature.It has been adapted for cinema , theatre and tv with as many languages as u can imagine.So what will the indian version, or more exactly the hindi version of Othello, bring new?This question has been answered by the very talented director of Omkara!
The director has not only adapted Othello to the hindi culture but he also adapted it to the rustic modern india!The man has done an excellent job, in direction , screen play and dialogues!Autenticity , originality and realism scores very high in Omkara and for that all the credits goes to the director , he is the true hero of Omkara.
For all who ignore the story of Othello, it’s a simple one.It’s about a jalous man(Omkara-Ajay Devgan) , blinded by love, to the point of killing his beloved(Dolly-Kareena Kapoor);it’s about an ambitious man(Langda-Saif Ali Khan), blinded by revenge to the point of making up a vicious machinery against his own cheif Omkara along with his wife(Konkona Sen) and it’s about another man (Kesu-Vivek Oberoi) accused of betrayal and trapped in the machinery of langda!The women has not so much to do, they are eitheir poor girls, villain women or bar dancers.But nevermind, they are still the root of all men’s actions!
The deadly triangle of love, betrayal and revenge is suported by a high effective performance by almost all the cast.Ajay plays Omkara with ease, despite the fact that we have seen him before in such intense roles, it’s always entertaining to watch him and he did what he was supposed to do!Kareena did a fine job in the role of Dolly, however some details lacks autenticity:how come that in a place where almost all the women are dark, there is such a fair girl!I know what you think, but understand what I mean, Dolly must at least look somehow dark because of the sun, due to the village emplacement!Konkona plays Langda’s wife, this actress is remarkable, she looks every bit her role and have done a powerful job though her role haven’t that much scoop!Vivek in the role of Kesu was good, and I think he is on his way back to the Vivek we knew and loved in Company and Satya(i think the breake up with Aishwarya is the best thing that could happened to the boy).Nassreddine Shah was, sadly, wasted!Bipasha, playing Billo, was a little bit too stylish for a rustic bar dancer, her makeup and hair was too modern for me!
In such stories, and in almost all the Shakspeare’s novels, it’s the villain act which is interesting to follow!The director couldn’t find better than Saif for the role(Except , mayebe, Aamir Khan who couldn’t do it due to busy scheduale)!He looked like Langda, smiled like Langda, acted like Langda and we hate him like we hate Langda!We must thank saif for th great effort he put in the detaills of the caracter!He is another new member of the perfectionnists team!An award for the best villain of 2006 will simply be fair!
The music of Omkara wasn’t that outstanding but it still fits the movie climax!
To sum up, Omkara is a good film and a good cinema.It diserves our encouragement , so go see it at least once.And again hats down to the real star of the film, the director!I didn’t watch Maqbool, but , after seeing Omkara, i will definitly chek it !