Omkara (2006)

A politically-minded enforcer's misguided trust in his lieutenant leads him to suspect his wife of infidelity in this adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Othello'.

Director:

Vishal Bhardwaj

Writers:

Vishal Bhardwaj (screenplay), Robin Bhatt (screenplay)

Stars:

Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan

Top Rated Indian Movies #63 | 19 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ajay Devgn	...	Omi Shukla (as Ajay Devgan)
Kareena Kapoor	...	Dolly Mishra
Saif Ali Khan	...	Langda Tyagi
Konkona Sen Sharma	...	Indu Tyagi
Vivek Oberoi	...	Kesu Upadhyaya (as Viveik Oberoi)
Bipasha Basu	...	Chamanbahar 'Billo'
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Bhaisaab
Deepak Dobriyal	...	Raiju Tiwari
Manav Kaushik	...	Surendra Kaptaan
Kamal Tiwari	...	Advocate Raghunath Mishra
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chetana Das
Rahul Kumar	...	Langda Tyagi's Son
Omkaar
Niraj Sah	...	Police Inspector
Pankaj Tripathi	...	Kichlu (as Pankaj Tripathy)

Storyline

Advocate Raghunath Mishra has arranged the marriage of his daughter, Dolly, with Rajan, knowing fully well that Dolly loves Omkara Shukla. Before the marriage could take place, the groom's party is attacked, they flee, and Dolly is reportedly abducted. Raghunath is able to trace Dolly to Omkara, a criminal and hit-man, a verbal confrontation ensues until Politician Bhaisaab telephonically intervenes, and a crestfallen Raghunath faces the reality that Dolly was not abducted but is here with Omkara by her own free will. He warns Omkara, and departs. Shortly thereafter, Bhaisaab is shot at and wounded, announces that Omkara should stand in the next election, and as a result, Omkara appoints one of his lieutenants', Keshav Upadhyay in his place as the 'Bahubali". Omkara realizes that he may have blundered in having Keshav succeed him, as Keshav is unable to control his temper when under the influence of alcohol, which puts him in the bad books of Omkara. Then Omkara suspects that Keshav ...

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | jealousy | shakespeare's othello | manipulation | emotional manipulation | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

28 July 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Омкара

Filming Locations:

Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$294,988, 4 August 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$789,694, 6 August 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shemaroo Video Pvt. Ltd.,Big Screen Entertainment,Panorama Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

155 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Irrfan Khan was offered the role of Kesu but declined due to lack of dates and thus Vivek Oberoi was brought in for the role.

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Goofs

In the scene where Omkara brings Dolly to his house for first time, Indu runs into the house with a sickle in her hand, but the sickle is missing when she is in the house.

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Quotes

Dolly Mishra: My grandmother used to say that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Indu: What? My grandmother said that the way to a person's heart is area below the stomach!

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Connections

Version of Othello (1951)

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Soundtracks

Namak
Written by Gulzar
Composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, Feroz Shah, Rakesh Chaurasia, Raj Sodha,
Rashid Khan and Raju Dhumal
Rhythm by Jaaved Khan, Raju Sardar, Sanjeev Sen, Musharraf, Ramjoo, Deepak Borkar,
Yusuf Khan, Aziz Khan, Hafeez and Roshan Ali
Performed by Rekha Bhardwaj and Rakesh Pandit
Courtesy of EROS Music

User Reviews

Omkara, Bhardwaj's victory!

Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Omkara' is a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's play 'Othello'. Set in rural Uttar Pradesh, the film deals with everything the original story dealt with, including morality, faith, doubt, love, betrayal and deception. Bhardwaj's direction is marvelous and his portrayal of the rural India is laudable. He skillfully captures the spirit of these wild hinterlands and their effervescent and simple people through his dark narrative style and brilliant writing. The film is very well crafted and is amazingly realistic thanks to the serious proceedings, the authentic dialogues, the simple locations, the lifelike situations and the roundly natural acting. Speaking of acting, I will not stretch it much and will say it straight: Saif Ali Khan did not only outdo everyone in the film, he outdid himself with his performance. As the manipulative Langda (Iago), he is unrecognisable, his dialect and body language are spot-on, and he easily pulls off a role no-one ever expected him to play. Konkona Sen Sharma equals his act totally, and though her part is relatively small, she is absolutely astonishing as the vivacious and sassy Indu (Emilia) and steals every scene she appears in. Again, her dialect and mannerisms were incredible. Kareena Kapoor is very pretty in her deglamorised role of Dolly (Desdemona) and her acting is excellent throughout. Vivek Oberoi is very effective. Ajay Devgan is good as Omkara (Othello) but is very disappointing mainly because though his is the central character, you almost forget about him at the end of the show. Bipasha Basu looks stunning and acts well but she hardly has a role to speak of. Other cast members do a fine job. The film's soundtrack, composed by Bhardwaj himself (another proof to his craftsmanship), is outstanding. My favourite songs include "Beedi", "Namak" and "O Saathi Re". The film's climax is thrilling and the ending is bittersweet, very tragic and sad but still conveys the irony and provides the much-needed catharsis. 'Omkara' is an interesting and artistic movie and truly a gem where Hindi cinema is concerned. I recommend.