Aug 11, 2006 08:12 PM
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(Updated Aug 12, 2006 04:19 PM)
I wonder why people are saying that Shakespeare would have smiled after watching Omkara. I don’t think so! He would have felt jealous, by the fact that his work is adapted in another country and it is made into a more nice way than the original!!
The main characters in the movie:
Omi Shukla aka Omkara (Ajay Devgan): Omi is a fearless, strong and brave youth. He is a principled man of action and he would never forgive those who would betray him.
Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan): Langda Tyagi is shrewd and cunning guy. Jealousy is the only flaw in him and that’s what makes everyone’s life around him miserable.
Kesu Firangi (Vivek Oberoi): Kesu is a smart, innocent and cute guy. He is the only one around who will pop out some English words while speaking. Therefore, ‘Firangi’ was tagged after his name. Kesu loves to play guitar and flirt with girls. But Kesu is very loyal and very fearless.
Dolly (Kareena Kapoor): Dolly is a young, beautiful and educated girl. Dolly loves Omi very much. For Dolly, Omi is everything and she couldn’t live without him.
Billo (Bipasha Basu): Billo is a sweet, sexy orchestra party singer. She can make even the sternest man melt with desire. She also made Kesu fall in love with him.
Indu (Konkana Sen Sharma): Indu is the wife of Langda Tyagi. She loved and respected Langda and was fiercely devoted to him.
The story of the movie: Omkara is a chieftain gangster who heads a gang of outlaws, which include Langda Tyagi and Kesu Firangi and others. Omkara appoints Kesu and not the well-experienced Langda as Bahubali (Lieutenant). This envies Langda and he hatches a plan to finish off Kesu. He poisons Omkara’s mind by falsely implicating to Omi that his lover Dolly is having a secret love affair with Kesu! Langda takes help of Rajju (Deepak Dobriyal), a drunkard for this. Langda’s wife Indu also unknowingly helps him in his devastating plan. What happens next is unexpected and very interesting.
Omkara is dark, emotional, and serious and may not appeal to all kinds of Bollywood audiences. But Omkara is worth watching because of its direction, performances, climax and cinematography. The movie is made in such a nice manner that is it is very hard to belive that it is an adaptation from the west! Also, each character in the movie has some importance in the movie and are not added unnecessarily.
Ajay Devgan gives a top-notch performance. Last seen in Golmaal where he was quite the opposite of what he plays here. Ajay, who has also done serious movies before (e.g. Apaharan, Gangaajal) gets into the character very easily. Great work!
Saif Ali Khan was outstanding! His body language, style of speaking, walking everything is mind blowing. Here, he is quite different from what he has done before and therefore he is likeable. Really, he is an actor to watch!
Vivek Oberoi was fantastic too. But he doesn’t get much scope in the second half. But overall, he is amazing especially during the ‘Beedi’ song.
Kareena Kapoor looks beautiful and plays her part in a very nice way. It’s hard to believe that she has not done any make-up. She rocks, especially in the second half. Konkana Sen Sharma was impressive too and gives a great performance especially in the end.
Bipasha had a special appearance and was okay. Naseeruddin Shah as Bhaisaab was too good. Raju Dobriyal was okay. Others were good.
Vishal Bharadwaj himself has given the music of the movie, which is quite nice. The songs that are really great is the title track and ‘Beedi’. Tassaduq Hussain’s cinematography is outstanding and one of the best of 2006. Action was okay. Sound design was perfect. Samir Chanda’s art direction was astonishing. He has made a whole village for this movie and it is hard to believe that it is actually a set!
Vishal Bharadwaj’s direction is very original, excellent and perfect. Vishal, who had earlier made Makdee and Maqbool, is a really creative director and his forthcoming movies would surely be excellent.
Now, the shortcomings in the movie:
The movie is too long and could had been easily trimmed by 10-15 minutes.
The movie has extensive and unnecessary use of abusive words.
The dialect used in the movie is, at times, hard to understand.
Some of the excellent scenes of the movie:
The action sequence during the title song
The scene where Omi chooses Kesu as Bahubali
The scene where Rajju jumps into the river
Indu’s entry!
The scene that follow after the song ‘Beedi’
The last 25 minutes of the movie
On the whole, Omkara deserves to be watched because of its unique direction, story, performances, etc. It is one of the best movie of 2006. Although it is not entertaining, it would be surely liked by most of the audiences. It is already become a super-hit and it has been critically acclaimed by both media and viewers.
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