OMKARA / OTHELLO

wow!! mind blowing or rather i'm blown over!! omkara is one of the finest hindi movie released this year and i think it will be for the whole year too what with its competition being kank (for ppl not well versed in bollywood its kabhi alvida na kehna and dhoom 2 and fanaa ). yuck!!

so wats so amazing abt the film.
1. acting- saif ali khan in one of his most verstile and powerful and unbelievably good perfomance takes Iago to new and greater heights. i forgot it was saif ali khan, sharmila tagore's son (i always thot cud never be as good as her). i mean how many of yash chopra's hero have been successful in carrying such a versatile role.

Ajay devagan seems the same like he is in apaharan minus the highlights. His performance is extremely controlled and carries a lot of power. But st the same time he is cold.

Kareena looks excellent sans make up and although the character isn’t convincing she has carried it really well. She looks so vulnerable and child like, she brings out protective feelings in the audince’s heart. Wats with her hair lways on one side?? it distracted me

Kesu firangi alias cassio alias Vivek Oberoi, doesn’t have much to do and quite a wimp.

Konkona sensharma, wat do I say about this lovely lady, beautiful performance, excellent dialogue delivery, looks quite scary when she kills her husband, which by the way is different from the original Othello.

Naseerudding shah his character is supposedly based ona real life don Mr. Bhardwaj met in central jail of XYZ. Small role, insignificant, excellent introduction.

Last but not the least, billo aka bipasha basu? Why d? what d ? how d? I guess u get it. Dialogues and accent perfect; body language zero. She is too sensuous and glamorous for her own good. Common a nautanki wali in UP has to have a bit of crudeness, she cannot have an immaculate crop of hair which she has ironed in a parlour not even at the dhobi…. (bad joke).. I mean she cannot dance her body language is too bold and glamorous and sophisticated.

I was surprised to see Aishwarya Rai bring out cruseness in the kajra re number, but bipasha was a dampner on the whole.

2. VD or Vinay somebody had said, that one can see how much homework a director has done before making the film by the end product. And seriously Vishal Bhardwaj has done tremendous homework. Agreed that the plot, characters, and story existed he just had to adapt, but when one sees omkara one relises adaptation is not an easy job. To put the story in a rural context, and finding the adaptable characters is tough.

The dialogues are bloody well written I don’t know which region the director belongs to but he must have spent quite some time there to get the dialogues right to the T.

Each dialogue has so much depth and mean9ing. Some of the memorable dialogues

Sarat ghodon pe lagayi jaati hai seron pe nahi

Hum agni se bhi gujar jaaye to bhi thage hi kehlayenge sage nahi

Hasi badi mehengi ho gayi is jahan mein

I fell in love with the beginning of the film, the way one after the other each character is introduced, beginning with saif and .. followed by vivek and then jay devgan. Also when u first see ajay u see a calm copmposed guy who gets saved from being shot in his head due to a call made by bhaisaaheb. Its only later when the background score picks up the title track and a fight sequence is picturised on it (what a brilliant intro/fight scene/music/ drums/shots) that we get the strength of the character Omkara.

That introduction was like the peak of my entertainment. It just grows on yo, I was at the edge of my seat wondering.. what next what next. One more thing f everybody feels that the first half of he movie is brilliant and better than the second half, that’s because the first half follows othello’s structure and scenes. Later on it has been tampered with a little bit. Check this link

http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/othello/full.html

almost forgot economy of shots. Thanks to vinay mentioning it and vishal using it.

In the beginning, you see ajay devgan sitting at the background, an old lady using a borewell to draw water, in one shot, he gets up from wide the shot becomes mid and ajay starts drawing water, he hands over the vessel to the old lady while saying his dialogue and the music reaches a crescendo and breaks into the title track and the fight begins. Brilliant!!

cinematography!! wat can i say? the action scene that happens int he train has been really well shot. come to think of it in such a crammed up space there r minimal lights (thankfully to make it look real and also there is no space) characters are running shooting people and the camera has to capture them all. and the brilliant shot that stays with me is the one outside the train at the engine; rain pouring, just one bright light rain and saif and ajay on the tracks!! maybe the light symbolises that omi has only a single chance to overcome his jealousy but then too he relies upon his tyagi who is perpetually in darkness/silhouttes. the framing of that shot where the train is slightly off center with tyagi in silhoutte and omi partially visible can be said is don to show his gradual downfall.

Did u know Orson Welles made Othello in 1952? He starred in it and played the main lead. Wish I could see it, hope to get a copy soon. It even won 1 awrd and another nomination.

I guess the master of cinema himself was fascinated by this Shakespearean play, Vishal Bhardwaj isn’t the only one? Say wot??