A Perfect Adaptation. Review on Omkara

Omkara, a Kumar Mangat produced film is based on Shakespeare’s 17th century classic Othello. The film is a tragic love story and above all depicts the varied negative human emotions that accompany the feeling of love. Vishal Bharadwaj who made his foray into bollywood as a music composer has directed the film. Vishal is known to favour Shakespeare classics and has earlier adapted the master’s Macbeth in his Maqbool quite well. In fact Vishal seems to be pretty much of an all rounder as he has not only composed the music for his film, but has adapted the script and even written the dialogues for Omkara. The film is set in the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh and stars Ajay Devgan as Omkara, Vivek Oberoi as Kesu, Saif Ali Khan as Langda Tyagi, Kareena Kapoor as Dolly, Konkana Sen Sharma as Indu, Bipasha as Billo Chaman Bahar, Naseeruddin Shah as Bhaisaab and Deepak Dobriyal as Raju.

Omkara Shukla or Omi is a dreaded gangster and is feared by one and all, he and his group of outlaws have made their dreaded presence felt everywhere. Omi also does the dirty work of a politician known as Bhaisaab. Omi has two people who are extremely close and loyal to him amongst his group, Kesu Firangi and Langda Tyagi. They are extremely loyal to him and would do anything for him. But each of these two trusted aides have an extremely different personality, while Kesu is literate, sophisticated and suave, Tyagi is the exact opposite uncouth and unabashed. Even their physical appearances differ to a great extent. But both of them are extremely loyal to him and would do anything for Omi. They even help Omi to ruin the marriage plans of Dolly with Raju as she is in love with Omkara. Finally Dolly’s father has no choice but to consent to their marriage.

Tables turn and trouble begins when Omi appoints Kesu as his chief lieutenant. Tyagi is outraged by this move from Omi, his pride and ego is hurt, he is burning with uncontrollable jealousy and is further goaded by Dolly’s scorned ex-fiancée Raju. Tyagi hatches a plot to destroy his rival Kesu and for this he uses the help of his wife Indu and Raju. Tyagi hatches an evil plan to implicate Kesu the loyal lieutenant and Dolly the loyal lover in a love affair. Langda plots the downfall of Kesu by planting seeds of doubt in Omi’s mind about Dolly having an affair with Kesu. The crafty and manipulative Langda uses many people and situations to keep poisoning Omi’s mind. Finally when the great warrior Omi is engulfed by rage and jealousy he shatters his own world. And in the climax one gets to view the disastrous consequences of Omi’s rage and jealousy.

A brilliantly executed adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, Omkara has been adapted extremely well by Vishal. The style with which Vishal has managed to adapt the film for Indian audiences is simply remarkable. The film is set in Uttar Pradesh and Vishal has adapted every single aspect of the film to blend in with the setting including the location, costumes, sets, dialogues, accent and even the mannerisms of his characters. Vishal tells the story with extreme finesse, the flow of events, the depth of the characters and finally the culmination. On the surface the film depicts the tragic end of a love story but the way Vishal depicts the several shades of love, the passion, the jealousy, the rage, the betrayal, the manipulation and even the grey aspects of his characters is simply astounding.

Vishal has incorporated commercial as well as realistic aspects in his film even though the subject is dark and brooding. Firstly Vishal has enlisted performances by commercial actors like Saif, Ajay, Kareena and Vivek, he has maintained a very vital aspect of Indian Cinema which is song and dance, but at the same time he has given almost all of his characters grey shades in the film and most importantly he has done justice to Shakespeare’s Othello. There is everything in the film, drama, romance, song and dance, emotions and finally tragedy. There are many sequences in the film that leave an indelible impression on the audiences apart from the tragic climax, like the scene where Ajay appoints Kesu as his chief lieutenant and the various emotions that come forth through Saif’s expressions at this time are simply amazing, Saif poisoning Ajay’s mind, the sequence when Ajay asks Kareena for the Kamarbandh and the second half is filled with high voltage drama and awe-inspiring scenes.

There is no doubt a darker side to the film too; firstly it is not a light time-pass love story. It is a film which explores the darker side of love. It deals with emotions that people often prefer not to confront like jealousy, possessiveness, betrayal and destruction. The film is filled with these emotions which at times can be a bit overbearing for the audiences. Even the constant dark look of the film may be unappealing to some. The UP dialect may result in the audiences taking a little more time to comprehend and the slow drawn out pace of the film is a deficiency. Another aspect that works against it is the abundant usage of bawdy phrases and galore cheap expletives. Although no doubt Vishal has used the UP dialect and expletives so as to bring more realism to the film, nonetheless it could have been toned down a bit.

Omkara’s music is definitely original and will be appreciated by those who have an ear for tunes, style and deep https://lyrics. The songs which will be most appealing to all segments is the one featured on Bipasha, Vivek and Saif the ‘Beedi Jalaiye Le’ song. Even the songs ‘Namak Issak Ka’ and ‘O Saathi Re’ are average. But on the whole the music may not be appealing to the masses as it is not of the popular catchy variety. Cinematography by Tassaduk Hussain has been done well but could have been lifted at times with a lighter look.

An extremely important aspect that has given the film that amazing edge is the splendid performances by all the actors. Saif Ali Khan simply delivers an astounding performance, one of his most brilliant performances. He makes the character of Langda Tyagi a despicable and abominable creep. Even his look is in keeping with his character, his close shaven haircut, his grungy clothes, his paan stained teeth all make up his loathing personality in the film. The varied expressions on his face during many scenes, his uncouth behaviour and his conniving ways are simply as good as it gets. Saif has truly done a commendable job. Ajay as Omkara too gives a good performance, his dark serious look suits his character and he especially excels as the betrayed lover.

Kareena Kapoor too looks the part in her deglamorised avatar and she does her part well. Konkana as Indu comes through as a seasoned actor in every frame that she is present in. Vivek no doubt does not have a very complex and powerful character but his effort and potential definitely comes across. Bipasha is simply sensuous and hot in her dance numbers and is effective in her special appearance. Naseeruddin Shah gives an average performance and Deepak Dobriyal as Raju too gives an enthralling performance.

Vishal Bharadwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello is remarkable. Omkara is a realistic, different and intellectual film. Those audiences who prefer realistic and different cinema will definitely find this film appealing. However the masses may not identify with this dark and tragic love story, also they may find the tragic climax depressing.