I have one thing to advice Vishal Bharadwaj, that the next time he makes a movie this brilliant he shouldnt release it for the ignorant indian audiences. This way, the effort he has put into making a spectacular adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most marvellous plays, in a way that would suit the taste of the indian audiences would not go waste the way it is going right now.
A major mass of the audiences going to watch Omkara, do so with a preconceived notion that it will be all about Omkara, or the typical UP ka bhaiyya, commendably played by Ajay Devgan, and his many antics. They are staisfied to an extent by the frequent profanities in the beginning, but soon find out it isnt a Shool or Gangajal, and that it indeed is a masterpeice from the Elizebethian age being relayed before them. The revelation is most disappointing. And they start their officious remarks and exclamations of displeasure. So beware of this phenomenon as well as the thought process, you never know what presumptions your mind makes.
The screenplay is fantastic, though it takes time to adapt to the dialect at first. There’s not a single dialogue wasted. The editing is perfect, however short a span of attention a member of the audience has, one cannot derail from the smooth unrolling of the plot. The cinematographers Bhushan Lakhndri and Ganesh Acharya deserve all the accolades for making the film as beautiful to the eyes and still as real an experience as it was.
Shakespeare is known for his strong characterization and the impact his characters leave on the minds of the audiences, and Vishal Bharadwaj has lived upto those standards upto an extent. I personally will never be able to forget Langda Tyagi (originally Lago) played by Saif Ali Khan, who has almost the entire plot riding on his shoulders, all my life. His performance is a mammoth transformation from the chocolate hero. Also mentionable is the performance rendered by Deepak Dobriyal as Raju. His face and chants of "Langda Tyagi Bahubali" will remain etched in my memory for a long time to come. Konkona Sen Sharma was excellent as usual in the role Indu (originally Emily). Only Kareena Kapoor in her character of Dolly (originally Desdemona) has retained certain Kareena-ish atrributes even though the role was far different from her usual roles, where even Vivek Oberoi playing Kesu Firangi (originally Cassio) who never showed any particular on-screen talents before now, has made an impressive effort. The other actors dont need a special mention as they have precedents to the wonderful rendering of their characters in the film.
Vishal Bharadwaj has single handedly delivered a masterpeice, a work of art which a few can fully comprehend. I havent read even a summarization of Shakespeare’s Othello, but I think it was a good thing. I had no special expectations and I’m not complaining. And I doubt if I’ll like The Othello better, because after all it’s much easier for us to place ourselves in a village of UP than in 17th century Venice. It’s only drawback I’d say is that the Director has put too much of his heart and soul into the making of this film, which is purely unjustified.
Films like Omkara appreciate the intellect of the audience and the least we can do is to applaud such a raging effort. A subversive way of film-making, like that shown in Omkara, does not depend as much on the business of films that the art of making them, and there are, hearteningly, people who can appreciate such endeavours to emancipate Indian films from the clutches of cinematic ignorance. But as long as this strata of the audience does not have a prominent number in it, such movies should not be released on a commercial platform.