OMKARA :: Vishaal Bhardwaj’s cinematic symphony
OMKARA is not strictly Shakespere’s Othello in hindi. Vishaal Bhardwaj learnt the craft while making Makdee, improved it during Maqbool and now he brings his philosophical and psychological understanding about life and connects his past memories with a story and presents all as a concoction through Omkara. Omkara compels to search for other works of Vishaal Bhardwaj and generates huge curiosity about what next he is going to make? Expectations are very high with him.
Perhaps Vishaal used Othello term to spread his umbrella to fetch wider audience else if he was saying that it’s a story set in a small village in western UP then he was going to be immediately classified in to some category. It may be inspired by Shakespere’s Othello but it’s more close to India’s way of looking at life. From Othello he gathers the essence that when in the play, greed, conspiracies, doubts, love, affection relationships, power, intrigues can work then why not in his own story. Thats the connection of Omkara with Othello, else its completely Vishaal’s own creation. That way it can be connected to Indian tale of Epic Mahabharata also where elder Dhritrashtra is not made king because he is blind and thus his younger brother Pandu is chosen as king and seeds of future conflicts are sown in the family. Same way when Omkara ignores Langda and gives preferences to much younger, not so experienced Kesu, then seeds of dissatisfaction are sown. Though consequences take time to flourish but action is started at that moment only when Omkara ignores Langda and moves toward Kesu in that small temple situated on the top of a hillock at the bank of river. One small injustice there and everybody pays a high price later. Rajan aka Rajjo is also a victim of Omkara’s act but he cant dare to oppose Omkara, so he provokes Langda instead, to take revenge from Omkara.
Lies can’t walk too far. Bad doings bring bad end. Whatever we do, we have to face the consequences of that deed. Good or bad whatever a man does his actions are based upon some motives and motive comes from his own understanding about life. Hindu religion calls it Maya- the illusion where we weave a world around us using our mind and then we become a prisoner inside this imagined cocoon. We are the creator of this false world and we become later victim of this “The thought world”. We all work to satisfy our own selfish desires and so many times take for granted our close people and ignore devoted people because we are able to focus only on our own goals and this may create havoc in life. Selfish desires, superficial decisions, conflicts, conspiracies and weak characters are the part of OMKARA. Omkara deals with dark side of human mind but still it has everything in it, romance, cheerful moments, poetry, nature, cultural and social gatherings etc. Omkara has shown different phases of life. If Lagaan was found to be a case to discuss in class rooms of management school, how Bhuvan wins the game, Omkara produce a good case to discuss in the class rooms of psychology, philosophy and criminal science. Omkara is not a straight film and it has subtle layers in the treatment. It’s like onion, remove one layer and there is another layer present inside. It needs to be watched again and again to understand it completely. In one view one may miss the romance present somewhere, like a sandwich, in between the violent moments. One can miss the joy present in the film if treats it as criminal drama. One can miss the complex relation between Omkara and Langda and his family if one takes it as simple story where Langda does conspiracy against Omkara.
Most tough part of this film was to handle the climax and Vishaal Bhardwaj handles it philosophically. He could have shown like any usual hindi film that Langda asks forgiving just before the marriage of Omkara with Dolly, and every misunderstanding is dispelled and they are happily married but then it could have been turned out to be another masala movie. He took danger of being alleged by veteran film makers and cine writers that his climax is based on too many coincidences. Coincidences are fine but director wished to send a message also through his characters. Why such characters will get good ends when they are indulged in dangerous evil liaisons? Life does not show mercy on human being so why a film will show opposite? It hardly matters in this film that how Kesu’s mobile is slipped out from his pocket, how Rajjo gets it and how Langda and Rajjo manage to create a false scene before Omkara, Kesu and Billo. This psychological criminal drama does not select old formula of solving any misunderstanding in the climax so that everything becomes fine and Langda asks pardons and everybody lives happily after that. No its more close to life, no mercy here. What you sow so shall you reap. No manipulation helps in the end.
What makes a film as good film? A good plot which does not leave any room for audience so that their mind can go away from the film even for few minutes? Good characterization? Good acting? Good cinematography and authentic sets which look true to the demand of the story? Good editing? Omkara has all ingredients in it.
One may not know the dialect, used in the film, very well, but viewer is absorbed completely by the film as soon as Raghunath Shukla aka Vakeel saab enters the Tyagi hostel and asks Langda,”
Omi Kahan hai?” ( Where is Omi ?)
Langda does not reply and Raghunath sees towards Kesu who replies,” I don’t know bhai”, he gets a slap from a man of Raghunath.
Enters, Omkara who is descending from stairs where we see “Tyagi Hostel” on the wall. [Tyagi Hostel is a student hostel in Meerut city of UP].
Omkara, Langda and Kesu (all parts of powerful mafia gang), Raghunath (Advocate who provides legal support), Father of Rajjo (Money arranger) and Tiwari Bhaisaab (Political power) are the elements of a powerful nexus which is involved in cast based politics. They represent a powerful group of Brahmins. Omkara’s gang of Langda, Kesu and people also represent a team, where Omkara has full control over everything. Langda does his works with full devotion and Kesu assists them in every way. Omkara and his gang, work in tandem and execute works in a well planned manner. When Omkara is trying to convince his recently risen rival Surendra Kaptan by discussions and money, Langda is already waiting for him at the place of Kaptan and Kesu is engaged in bringing material so that Kaptan could be forced to accept their proposals. Its not only physical power, they are ready and efficient to play any game. That’s why Surendra Kaptan admits and says that,” I accept Omi, you are the biggest Bahubali in the state”.
There are following main characters in the film:
(1) OMKARA Shukla aka Omi aka Adha Shukla Aka Adha Baman (Ajay Devgan)
(2) Dolly Mishra (Kareena Kapoor)
(3) Ishwar Tyagi aka Langda Tyagi ( Saif Ali Khan)
(4) Keshav aka Kesu Firangi (Vivek Oberoy)
(5) Tiwari Bhai saab ( Naseeruddin Shah)
(6) Rajan Aka Rajjo (Deepak Dobriyal)
(7) Indu (Konkana Sen Sarma)
(8) Billo Chaman Bahar (Bipasha Basu)
Omkara : He is called Adha baman i.e. half Brahmin – because his father was a Brahmin but his mother belonged to some other cast lower than Brahmins. He is a fearless person. Tall dark and handsome person for a fair and pretty Dolly. He has certain principles in his life and lives life of an influential chieftain of a group dealing with the politics of Brahmins. He is right hand of politician cum mafia Tiwari Bhai Saab. Omkara has right hand in the form of Langda Tyagi who performs every duty Omkara gives him. Omkara is like CEO of a modern company who thinks only about his own selfish target.
Omkara has a dignified image of his in his own eyes and he does not give liberty to anyone and when Surendra Kaptan, tries to insult him by striking on his weak point of Dolly Mishra, he kills him. He does not care for consequences
Film is a tribute to UP and its art and how to define Omkara and his characteristics better than through the aptly written and composed song,” Dham Dham Dham dhadhya ho sabse bade ladaiya ho Omkara O bhiaya Omkara”. It reminds the way Alhaa’s are sung to praise the bravery of Allha and Udal, the warrior brothers of old princely state Mahoba (Jhansi region now).
Omkara knows what he is, and when a pretty and educated girl Dolly confesses her love towards him, he is swayed away by the emotions. But he never overcome his doubt that why a girl like Dolly would love him, a goon, less educated, and not attractive in looks at all? Omkara is very reserve in his behaviour and very few can take liberty from him. He has full influence over his gang and everybody fears him. He is strong in his field but weak in the field of heart based emotions. He cant handle his doubts regarding Dolly and thus become victim of situations produced by Langda Tyagi around him.
His reasoning is weak. When its time for him to select a new Bahubali, because he himself has been chosen by Bhaisaab to contest election for the post of MLA then he does not consider Langda Tyagi and neglects his devoted services of past 15 years rather he selects Kesu Firangi, under the impression that Kesu is educated and speaks English and colleges of district are under his influence and election will be easy to win. He takes for granted Langda Tyagi and this avoidance of Langda brings destructive results for everyone. He could not see that Kesu is relatively a new entity in his gang and it may be a little difficult for old members to accept him as their chief. Even if he was making Langda as Bahubali and Kesu as his right hand man then also Kesu was going to work with full devotion. But due to Omkara’s poor decision, Kesu gets unexpected gift for which he is not yet suitable and Langda gets unexpected loss for which he thinks he does not deserve. So Omkara’s decision does not help anyone. Omkara’s doubts over Dolly’s devotion towards him ultimately destroy everything around him. Deep down he is never confident that a pretty and educated girl like Dolly will like and love him and his less confidence provide ground to his doubts..
Langda : He is a strong character and he is the back bone of gang of Omkara. In the past 15 years he has fulfilled every order of Omkara with full devotion and he is most close person of Omkara as far as his gang’s activities are concerned. Even Omkara thinks he is his brother like. Langda is simple yet most complex character of the film. His is a full journey from a devoted and fun loving Lieutenant of Omkara to a wounded person who tries to get back the lost things which he thinks he deserves most. Langda enjoys playing glass marbles like kids, he enjoys flying kites, he becomes very happy when Bhaisaab asks him to pull the chain so that train can be stopped, he applies nail polish on his nails, he enjoys teasing policeman in the jail, he enjoys company of males while drinking, he enjoys song and dance and dances himself also. Nobody gives company to Rajjo in his gang but he sits with him also. His sense of humour is liked by everyone.
Given his services and devotion towards Omkara, he gets a heavy blow when he is ignored and superseded by a relatively new comer in the gang, Kesu Firangi. He has treated Kesu, by now, like a younger and immature brother but Omkara’s decision changes everything in his life but he tries to control his feelings and continue to support Omkara and Kesu. But when Rajjo fuels his feelings they start burning inside and he plans to get the position of Bahubali which he has lost to Kesu without any mistake of his. He thinks Kesu is the culprit and plans to show Kesu in bad light before the eyes of Omkara. He knows Kesu is a womaniser and he takes advantage of this habit of Kesu. Soon in the film Langda becomes the “Master of the Game”. He plans and every other character become just puppets in the drama, he has scripted.
Langda is harmless to anybody in his gang till Omkara is bahubali and he is second to him. He becomes dangerous for Kesu later when he finds Kesu has taken away his right to become Bahubali. Film can be titled as Omkara but it’s a journey of Langda. He may not be hero of the film as he has grey shades as well but he becomes the central character and events are handled by him.
Langda does conspiracies and plots to affect lives of Omkara, Dolly, Rajjo and Kesu but his crimes are having motive behind them. He gets negligence, gets negative and become negative and spread destruction in his surrounding. He is not initiator and he could not control his negative energy and is indulge in destruction. He has his eyes on the position of Bahubali and he does not realise that through his conspiracies he is playing with fire which will burn everything. Soon things slip from his control and Omkara is filled with doubts against Dolly. Omkara gives him threat that if Langda does not bring proof of illicit affair between Dolly and Kesu, he will kill Langda. Langda has to save his life and he plays his last gamble through Rajjo. But when sees Omkara has killed Dolly and because of his own wife Indu, his lies are exposed, he still tries his last by claiming that Indu too has affair with someone. But soon he realizes that he is in helpless situations and he becomes again stiff and says to Omkara,” Now you should know what you already know”. He becomes ready to die and says,” Shoot a bullet in my chest and give me freedom from this body”.
Do audience hate Langda in the end? Does Omkara hate him? Hate is shown through Indu only, who kills Langda.
Kesu: He is a college boy who enjoys shelter of mafia bosses, Omkara and Langda Tyagi, belonging to his cast and because of this association he gets protection and blessings of politician Bhai Saab. He is happy in assisting Omkara and Langda but as luck is favouring him and Omkara selects him as Bahubali. It is like winning a lottery for Kesu. He gets that for which he did not aspire yet and he is quite immature in his behaviour and very easily influenced by praise and criticism. As he has got gift of Bahubali’s post, he is flying in air and does not realise the pain of Langda. New responsibilities make him very powerful in his eyes and during the dance of his lover- the dancer Billo, he tries to kill Rajjo and a police officer who comes to rescue Rajjo.
Soon scene is changed and he is fallen in the eyes of Omkara, who asks him to get lost and never to show his face again. Kesu tries to win the trust of Omkara with the help of Langda Tyagi, who suggests him to take help of Dolly and thus he falls in the trap of Langda because Omkara starts doubting that Kesu and Dolly have an affair. Events proved in the film that Kesu was not a right choice for Bahubali and Omkara should have waited till Kesu was ready to own such responsibility.
Dolly: She is daughter of an influential lawyer and she secretly falls in love with Omkara who comes to visit her father. She is impressed by the personality of Omkara and when her father arranges her marriage with Rajjo. She knows whats the status of Rajjo before Omkara. Though Rajjo belongs to a rich man but his father’s business is flourished because of the Bhai Saab and Omkara’s blessings and without them he is nothing. Rajjo himself is just a flatterer of Omkara and Langda Tyagi and feels good if they talk with him nicely. She decides to confess her love towards Omkara and threats him to take her life if she is married off to Rajjo. For her decision of Raghunath Vakeel is not good as Rajjo looks very odd in comparison to pretty Dolly. There is no match and he is almost like nothing before Omkara and Langda.
Dolly loves Omkara and lives under the impression that he also loves her equally and as he is important for her, she is equally important for him. She has full faith in her love and she does not know why Omkara doubts her devotion and love. In the end when she realizes that Omkara thinks she has affair and physical relationship with Kesu then she is a completely broken woman and says she does not wish to live more. Omkara kills her.
Indu: She is wife of Langda Tyagi and Omkara treats her like adopted sister. She is happy in her life and enjoys life at village living with her son. She has no objection to her husband’s illegal activities. She does not have any clue that the chaos she is facing in the lives of Dolly and Omkara is created by her own husband, Langda Tyagi and when she realizes in the end that Omkara has killed Dolly and Langda is the creator of these situations, she kills Langda and jumps herself in the well to do suicide.
Rajjo:
He is son of a rich Brahmin businessman. His father gets business because of Bhaisaab and Omkara’s protection and Rajjo feels good with the feeling that Langda treats him as friend and he has access to Omkara. He has no clue that Dolly loves Omkara and he already loves Dolly. On his marriage day he finds that Omkara has taken away Dolly. His father sends him to village of Omkara to pay money for coming election because father and son cant afford bad relation with him. There Rajjo sees Dolly enjoying her time with Omkara and he feels pain inside. He suffers from the lost feelings and Langda’s experienced eyes catch this and when Langda soothes him that he had given him chance to save Langda but he had no guts to do so, he strikes back and asks what he did when Omi made Kesu as Bahubali and ignored him. He fuels Langda’s frustrations because as businessman he cant afford fight with Omkara but he wishes to take revenge from Omi through Langda. Later Langda promises him that he still can get back Dolly if he acts as per plan thought by Langda.
Under the greed of getting Dolly again he becomes ready to support Langda in his endeavour. But he is not knowing he is a witness of a crime and he has to die later because of this very fact that he is the only one who knows secret liaison.
- — – — — — —- — — — – — -
Though when first scene comes on the screen we see a shining day, a hillock and sounds of birds and crows but a depressive music running in background and this music is present there throughout the film, even if its marriage music on front this sad and depressive music plays the role of fortune teller that coming moments are having something bad in their basket.
Film has fantastic continuity and when Rajjo comes on the roof where Langda is sitting with Kesu then Rajjo feels hitch because of the presence of Kesu because later had beaten him just few days ago.
When Kesu is dancing during marriage ceremony of Omkara, then all of sudden, police officer with whom Kesu had fought earlier and Bhai Saab come there, Kesu stops, seeing that police officer in his vicinity and when Bhai Saab and officer start dancing only then he again starts dancing.
These small human behaviours could be ignored but director has maintained deep attention on micro details even.
There are six big named actors in the film, Naseer, Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoy, Kareena Kapoor and Konkana Sen Sarma and all deliver their most astounding performance in recent times.
Ajay Devgan’s moments: He plays the role of Omkara with efficient use of, eyes, face expressions, body language and voice control. Though his acting will be suppressed because of the acting of Saif Ali Khan but Ajay Devgan leaves no room left for searching any loop hole in his performance. This actor is astonishingly living his characters without making any noise. He is different than other contemporary actors. Aamir khan does try to do different roles but his efforts are too much talked about and fetch too much attention. Ajay is doing same and more in numbers and still he does not give weak performances. His personality completely resemble with Omkara, a self confident and reserve person. Unlike other contemporary body builder actors, he has toned his body in different manner and has developed in the shape of leopard, lean and tight. Watch his waistline in Omkara where he is standing besides Naseer on top of Hillok after performing rituals of prayer in the temple. Ajay beautifully brings out different shades of character Omkara.
Dolly’s father Raghunath Mishra aka Vakeel Saab comes with his gang to search Omkara there and there we see Omkara first time. Omkara who knows no fear, touches feet of Vakeel Saheb as he has been doing since past. Vakeel in anger and frustration insults Omkara with Dialogue, “ Kutta bhee dus ghar chhor ke mutta hai Omi,
Pure predesh mein hamaree hee beti milee thee tujhe
Par mein bhul gaya tha ki tu baman to hai par adha khun to tujhme us
kanjari ka bhee hai, haraamee sale” ( Even a dog spares 10 houses before peeing, you got only my daughter out of whole state, but it was my mistake only, I forgot that you are half brahmin, your mother belonged to a lower cast, bastard)
Omkara: Hamaree jaat to khub pahchani vakeel sahib, apnee beti ke dil kee baat nahin pehchan sake kathor”. ( Vakeel Sir, you recognised my cast very well but you could not gues whats there in the heart of your daughter?)
Inside the jail Omkara says” Jo aguvai ka kaam kare wo Hijra Bhai saab. Agar inkee beti ye keh de kee maine use jabardasti uthaya hai, to apne jibh kaatkar usse saree jindagi inkee jutiyan chamkayega Omkara” ( If I am proven guilty of forcing his daughter then I would cut my tongue and will polish his shoes whole my life with that tongue). Rage, confidence on face and and shining in eyes is there.
Dolly is telling her story how she started loving Omkara and we see that during her engagement Omkara is showering flowers on the Dolly and Rajjo. He also likes Dolly and understands that she loves him but he is helpless because he cant express his feelings. A helpless smile is there on his face and eyes show contrast feelings, he is sad yet trying to look happy.
What he can do only through his eyes and facial expressions can be seen in the scene when he asks wounded Bhai saab about how he knows that Omkara has fixed marriage schedule next month and Dolly enters the room and says she has told him. She further tells that she came here with kesu. It is high class performance from Ajay. His eyes and face expression convey all, to audience what his mind is thinking. Seldom audience get such scenes. Saif, Vivek, both add more ingredients in this scene from their sides also.
When he kills Surendra Kaptan and says to kitchlu,” Shart ghorhon par lagate hain sheron par nahin kathor ( Bets are played on horses and not on lions, man)” and when he pours water on his face and head after the fight then he shows mannerisms of a character like Omkara, proudy, self confident, believer in his power and strength and yet he does not fall in to overacting in these shots.
Whats the difference between two actors, its visible in the case of Ajay Devgan and the actor who played the role of father of Kareena Kapoor.
When Raghunath realizes that Bhai saab has given his protection and blessings to Omkara and Dolly, he walks out and calls Omkara near his car and says,” Bahubali, Aurat ke triya charitar ko mat bhulna, Jo ladki apne baap ko thag saktee hai wo kisi aur ki sagee kya hogee” ( Boss, dont forget the treacherous character of woman, who can cheat her father can not be devoted to any man). These are the dialogues of a father, whose heart and feelings are brutally damaged by the fact that his own daughter has cheated him to choose a local goon. He is defeated and angry and frustrated. Inside the room he was crying before Bhaisaab that Omkara has done crime against his daughter but he says abovementioned dialogue with sarcasm on his face, a smile is there on his face as if he is ridiculing Omkara. He was needed to say this dialogue with frustration, anger on his face and in such a way when someone curses his close person because his heart is burning in hate.
On the other hand Ajay Devgan also repeats almost similar dialogue before Indu (Konkana Sen Sarma) and brings out anger, frustrations, disillusionment, conflicts of mind, doubts and his helplessness on his face while he says the similar dialogue. He shows complete command over craft of acting.
Omkara listens jokes of Naseer and says,” ek chutkula ham bhee sunayen ( I also say one joke)” ………—-
“ ek baar ek dami ki saadi huyee” —– bas khatam. (One man married once …— finish)
He is facing pathetic mental conflicts and he is caught between his doubts and his love towards Dolly.
When he says to langda in the end,” sharer se to mukti mil javegee par atma se kadi bhee mukti nahin pavenge na tu na mein” ( Will get freedom from the body only but souls would not get any salvation, neither mine nor yours).
Or when he says to Kesu in his last scene,” ek lafj bhee aur bola to kahani khatam ( If you say any more word, story is finished)”
Kesu says,” ab bhee kuch bacha hai khatam hone ko ( Is there any thing still remaining?) ”
He says,“ haan bacha hai, yaad hai,———–. ( Yes, there is something more —-)
This is one of the best scene in film, when audience thinks that perhaps he has shot Kesu, because kesu has covered completely the space between camera and Omkara, we see later that its actually Omkara who has shot himself at his heart.
There are many moments in the film where Ajay proves his selection as Omkara was so perfect. Ajay successfully represents the transition in the life of Omkara, and performs according to the requirements of different mind sets of the Omkara in different phases of his life. He played different roles in past but he beats all his old roles in Omkara.
Saif Ali Khan’s moments: He is aide of Omkara and thus his role is of second to Omkara in the story and heroic things are not associated with his role yet he emerges as most powerful actor in the film. Is this due to his flexible approach that he went under the skin of the character and even opted a suitable short hair cut.
He is not out of Langda’s character even for a second in the film. How this oxford educated actor brought that desi villager look on his face, only he can tell. He walks, talks, sleeps, wakes up like Langda. His mannerisms in this role are praise worthy.
In the very first scene he shows that he is binded with the responsibility of his duty towards Omkara and though he feels Raajo as friend but he has to fulfil his duty.
Rajjo takes his threats as jokes but Langda brings bit cruelty in his behaviour and make him believe that what he is saying is true.
When inside the Tyagi Hostel he is shown playing with Kesu, he is irritated by teasing of Kesu and goes back to lie on the cot. Kesu comes and requests him to play again. He angrily says,” ek baar tay kar le kaun see goli —–, harna to tane hai hee, By god ki kasam” (Decide finally which sphere you wish me to strike, your defeat is fixed, I swear by God).
When he wins, he jumps and dances. His body language needs praise in that scene because that suggests about his character.
He is sleeping on the roof and gets up set when Rajjo wakes him up but when Rajjo calls him new bahubali, then watch his face, hand movements and eyes expressions. That’s a performance, one actor tries to play atleast once in life time.
His high standard of acting as Langda is more than visible in the scene when Omkara comes towards him with “Pujathal” in his hands and Langda anticipates that now he is going to be chosen as new Bahubali and a smile comes on his face but Omkara gives only Thali in his hands and surpasses him and goes near Kesu, who is standing beside Langda. Langda realizes now what is going to happen and he sees his newly woven dream shattering. In those few moments he passes through first emotions of joy, then astonishments, then desperation and then he controls beautifully his frustrations and conceals his inner feelings. He blinks his eyes to stop the tears coming in to his eyes and a smile of desperation, a smile of helplessness, a smile concealing his frustrations comes on his lips. What passes through his mind he just shows by his facial expressions without saying anything.
When Rajjo is there at village and offers money to Omkara and expresses his regrets that he was not knowing about his affection with Dolly and Omkara does not show any interest in his talks, he sees towards Langda. Langda gives him a glance of sympathy and when Langda finds that Rajjo is sad by seeing Dolly with Omkara he tries to console his wounded heart but through his eyes and face expressions only. He speaks only when Rajjo asks him, kitne saal ka ho gaya apna ghoul?
He adds humour and lightness in the heavy atmosphere by asking Gholu,” kyon be tu aath ka hai kaa nau ka” ( Hey, you are 8 years old or 9?).
When initially Rajjo points out his loss because of Kesu and injustice done to him by Omkara, Langda feels to kill Rajjo for focussing towards his weakest point and Saif Ali Khan shows that killer instinct through his eyes. Rajjo is speaking in his mesmerised phase but Langda is passing through a tough phase. Langda controls his emotions and puts everything on his bad fate but he could not forgive Rajjo for pointing his weak point out and he pushes Rajjo in the river and walks over the bridge as a broken commander who is full of revenge. This scene where he is walking over bridge with his rifle on his shoulder is like a painting. This is most appealing scene of the film. In the background we hear light voice of Rajjo who is shouting, save me but Langda is walking ahead completely absorbed in his own feelings. Sun is yet to set down and its rays are shining on the mountain behind the bridge and it has no tree, no grass, nothing, a barren mountain, a barren heart.
In another scene he is enjoying drink with police men and enquires about Kesu and when he sees Kesu coming towards him, he welcomes him but with sarcasm,” Are Bahubali tanik idhar bhee to ayiye, hum chhote logon kee khujali par bhee to dhyan dijiye. Tikaiye hujur, kahiye kya pesh karein ( O Boss, please pay attention to lowprofiled people like also, please sit here and say what would you have?)”
Kesu says,” bas chai aa rahee hai apnee” ( No thanks, My tea is ready)
Langda shows exclamation and asks Kesu,” chai? Kyon madirapan nahin karenge hujur?( Tea? Why? you would not have liquour`?)
Kesu,” nahin bas yahi ek cheej hai jo sambhaltee nahin hamse.” ( No this is the only thing which I cant control)
Langda,” Achcha!! Oye Mental abhee ke abhee shahar ja aur bahubali ke liye ek doodh kee bottle la, nipple wali”.( O! Oye Mental, go to city just now and bring a milk bottle from there and that too which have nipple on it)
And when Kesu as egoist person, starts drinking there are signs of winning on Langda’s face. Saif wins all the moments in this long scene in his favour.
When Ajay Devgan finds in the hospital that Dolly has come with Kesu, and Kesu also enters the room, then Langda gives him glance of praise and says,” sabash” ( Very good).
In next scene he is shown walking alone in a dim lighted corridor.
His walking is suggesting that things are going in same way as he has planned. “ Master of the Game”. Visually this is another one of the best scene in the film.
There are many moments where Saif has proved his excellent command over the role but in the end when he enters the room of Omkara then his gestures are especially noticeable. He is conscious and eager to know the happenings and he enters with gestures of a thief or say cat which is entering in kitchen so that she gets what she needs.
And the moment when he realizes that he has been exposed before Omkara and now there is no way he can say lies and he says,” ab jo jante ho wahi jano, ab mere sach aur mere jhooth mein koi fark nahin. Utar do goli mere seene mein aur mukti de do mujhe is sharer se” ( Now believe that only which you already know, there is no difference remaining in my truth and lies. Shoota bullet in my chest and give me freedom from my body).
Langda is quantum leap from the time of Gabber Singh. No other villain comes in between who has shown such skill in the craft. If he does not win national award for this performance then it would be a pity.
Naseer’s moments:
Naseeruddin shah deftly plays the role of a mafia politician, as he had played a singer politician in Sarfarosh. He has small role in Omkara but he brings vitality to the role with his gestures and dialogue delivery. It’s a powerful performance by Naseer saab.
He starts showing his skill even when he is not shown on screen only through his voice.
Watch the drama material in the film, as soon as Vakeel brings out pistol and keeps on the head of Omokara, Kesu’s phone rings and we hear first time voice of Bhai saab (Naseeruddin Shah). His control over every one is visible by his phone call even.
When in jail, Naseer is having shaving of his head and someone asks that why Indor Singh is trying to do this, he says,” Jab Ghorhe ke nal thuktee hai to mendhaki bhee taang uthaye letee hai bhaiya, hmmm”. His face expressions are fantastic when he finds everybody has praised his saying.
Naseer is sitting in his room inside the jail, Premchand’s Godan is kept behind him and he is signing some legal papers brought by Raghunath Vakeel. He says to raghunath,” Bachpan se dekh raha hun Omkara ko, kabhi kisi londiya ka chakkar suna nahin” ( I am watching Omkara since his childhood and never came across any case where he is involved with any girl).
His voice when he asks Dolly,” khul kar bol beta kisi ne, kisi ne matlab kisi ne bhee tere saath jabardasti kee hai? ghabra mat beta hum hain yahan”( Say Openly daughter, dont have fear, I am here).
When he comes outside of Jail with Omkara and says to him,” ab itnaee bhee jaldee mat karma shadi mein, mere bahar nikalne ka intjar karma. Nahin Jail mein rehne mein haemin koi pareshani nahin hai, par agar gawahi ho gayee to chunav ayog hamara loksabha ka nomination cancel kar dega” ( Dont make hsate in marrying now, and wait till I am out of jail, I dont have any problem in jail but if witnessed is produced in the court then Election commision will cancle my nomination for parliamentary election).
His glances: he looks at Omkara oustdie of the temple and Omkara tells,” Janpad ke sare college kesu kee muthi mein band hain. Bahubali jitna shikshit aur sabhya hoga chunav utna hee ektarfa hoga” ( Kesu has full influence over all the colleges of our district and if Chief of our gang is educated and mannerful then it will be very easy to win the election) .
Naseer extends his hand having his glasses, moves his face outside towards the crowd dancing and asks, aur Langda?( and what about Langda)”
In the train Naseer is lying on his berth and talking on his cellphone to Auntiji. He has a glass in his left hand and holding his cellphone by his right hand but keeping it at his left ear. He is shown to say,” Haan to aa to rahe hain ghabra kyon rahee ho”( Ok I am reaching there, dont worry).
He says further to Omkara and Langda,” Aunti ji hameen se chupane kee koshish kar rahee hain. He laughs and says CID kee report hai hamaree jaan ko khatra hai, ab do teen din to lagenge unhe dilasa dene mein” ( Aunty is trying to conceal facts from me, there is CID report that my life is in danger)
When Omkara asks him what then?
He says to Langda,” chain kheench de beta”.( Pull down the chain my son)
A TT comes and asks,” Kya Hua bhai saab?” ( What happened Sir?)
Naseer says,” haan, garhee ghuma lo, inhe teshan pahunchana hai wapis” ( Ohh, turn the train, these people have to go back to the station)
TT is astonished and asks,” hain jee?( What? exclamation)
Naseer replies in same tone,” haan jee”.( Yes!)
Naseer is lying on his bed in hospital and extends his right hand towards Omkara and says,” sanyam beta sanyam”.( Have patience my son)
Naseer joins the dancing people in the marriage ceremony of Omkara. Every body is just stopped having seen him there. Police officer requests him to dance and everybody is watching him and all of sudden he starts dancing.
Nasser has lived his role very well and after a long time he has got a role where he could do something new. He was there in Maqbool but similar acting he has shown earlier also. But here in Omkara he brings a new kind of performance.
Kareena’s moments:
Playing Dolly is the best acting performance for Kareena so far. She looks like Dolly the character. This film suggests that she can act very well if director is good. Dolly Ahluvalia has given her looks of dead poetess of UP- Madhumita Shukla, in the scene where she comes with Kesu on his motorcycle in the jail.
Kareena takes charge of good acting once she reaches in the village of Omkara. She is making Halwa and asks Indu,” Indu Didi pandit nahin aya” ( Indu Sister, priest has not come yet?)
Indu comments,” are meri pandtayeen shradhon mein saye nahin parhte sadi ke” thora to sabra karma parehga meri dulhaniya ko. ( O my priestess, there is no good time for marriage in these days, its time to pay debt of ancestors)
When Indu asks her,” aree tu kadhee rasoiya niklaee, kya khusboo hai, sasuri kahan se seekha tane itna achcha halwa banana? ( Ohho, you are very nice in cooking, what a smell, from where you learnt this preparation of puding)
She says with proud and smile,” dadi se, wo kehtee thee, admi ke dil ka rasta uske pet se hokar jata hai” ( My grandmother used to say that the way to reach heart of man, goes through his stomach).
When Kareena calls Ajay at door and asks him if sweetness of halwa is fine, he says,” na, ek baar apnee unglai aur karhahee mein ghuma de phir theek ho jayega” ( No you must use once more your finger in the pot and then it will be more sweet).
She feels shy and hides her face in chest of Omkara.
She is learning English song from Kesu and when he tries to correct her pronounciation of “bottom of my heart” and she does not understand and he surrender and says,” theek hai aap ye hee kaho”. ( Ok you say that only)
She becomes uncomfortable and asks,” kya” ( What). He says nothing aap gao. ( nothing you sing)
She again becomes happy and start singing. This shows her nature, i.e. nature of Dolly the character.
When Omkara comes back and asks her about Kesu and she sings her song for him and he laughs. She asks why he is laughing and he says,” jab bhee tujhe ankh bahr kar dekhta hun, ye baat man mein atee hai ki ya to tu lul hai ya churail? (when ever I see you with full attention, I feel either you are a stupid or a sorcerer)
She becomes angry and start throwing utensils over him
Kareena performs very well in whole sequence till Omkara is fallen outside and she puts rifle on his chest and asks huffingly,” ab bata lul kyon hun mein?( Now tell why I am stupid?)
Aur churail?
She delivers very well in all romantic moments and film has enough romantic moments between Omkara and Dolly.
Even in their intimate scene, when tears of joy are shown in her eyes, she has delivered a praise worthy performance. After their first physical encounter when next day Omkara wakes her up by reciting poem, she is shown to wear Omkara’s black shirt. Director’s simile that she does not mind black activities of Omkara and her love is unaffected by his work?
When Omkara comes back under the impression that she has given jewellery to Kesu and she is sleeping and she gets up by his sound. She gives good performance here also.
She also has learnt to express her feelings through the eyes when its time of marriage and Omkara is putting vermillion in her hair her eyes are asking him,” what is her fault and why he is sulky and angry”.
In the end when she finds the real reason behind Omkara’s anger and when he charges her with illicit physical relation with Kesu she just breaks down and she brings her best moments in the film.
If somebody is biased towards her performance only then can deny her good acting in Omkara otherwise she does full justice and brings out her best performance till now.
She cant pronounce “ bottom of my heart” properly but when she is telling Bhai Saab about her love story with Omkara and reads her letter written to him, she says in the end with convent pronunciation.
I love you Om.
Yours forever
D.
She should have said these lines with the required level of English and not with convent accent.
Konkana Sen’s moments:
She has small role but right from the first scene when she appears on the screen she wins the heart of audience by her sincere performance. Be it her expressions, body language, command over language, she impresses audience.
In all the light scenes she excels.
She teases Omkara when she finds that Dolly is too fair in comparison to dark complexioned Omkara and gives clue to audience that she can take liberty from Omkara.
This scene shows director’s full command over his medium also as there is crowd of people and they enjoy this cat and mouse game between Indu and Omkara and they just laugh because none of them cant take any liberty from Omkara and they enjoy this. Scene shows the message that how others enjoy such scenes.
In the Halwa scen with Kareena, Konkana Sen Sarma wins the next scene with her ace dialogue,” lo meri dadi to kahe kare thee ki pet ke neeche wale hisse se hokar jata hai”( O my grandmother used to say that way reches through part of body below the stomach).
When she brings food to Kesu, who is sitting before Langda and is crying.
She consoles Kareena at roof top. And again she along with Langda, consoles her in her home.
She rebukes band party.
She says to Omkara,” Triya Charitar! Haan? And long dialogue she says with perfect command.
Why such strong character, who kills her own husband, will do suicide, that’s a weak point in the film. She is mother of 9 year old son also and did she not think about him when she jumped in to the well?
This angle is weak in the film.
Vivek Oberoy: He also has played his role very well and does not go out of the boundaries of the character. His scenes have shared screen with other characters but he keeps hopes alive that he is a nice actor and Company and Yuva were not by chance.
He has a certain potential and he needs good roles.
Deepak Dobriyal:
Its his first role where audience can take notice about his presence and because of Omkara people have searched him in Maqbool also that he was there for a minute scene with pistol in hand. He got a chance in Omkara to perform and he performed well. He had got a good role and he did not miss the opportunity.
This is a strange factor that Omkara, Langda, Indu and to some extent, kesu too speak almost similar kind of language but Rajjo does not speak their dialect and he even does not speak language Dolly speaks?
Manav Kaushik:
He plays very well small role of Surendra Kaptan and perfects his dialect based dialogues.
Bipasha Basu:
She is there as dancer and is given two songs. She has few dialogues also and says them in good manner when she is with Kesu just before the song- beedi jalaye le.
She is astonishingly good in abusing based dialogues.
O mere lehkat londiyabaj,
O re haramkhor etc she says with perfection.
But she also forgets at one place that she does not belong to convent educated category in the film and when she says to Kesu,” pehle to tu mujhe multiplex mein picture dikahne le gaya, beech mein pop corn bhee khilaya, mall road pe walk ke liye bhee le gya—- ( First you took me to multiplex, showed me film, bought me popcorn also, took me then for a walk on mall road also)
Listen her pronunciation of multiplex, popcorn, mall road and walk.
But like other actors in Omkara Bipasha Basu also generate hopes that she can also give good performance.
In Omkara nobody wins in the end and it’s a lost game for every character and every actor has given his best performance of recent times. Seldom a film like Omkara comes.
[Vishal himself about Omkara : “I took only the masterline from Othello and sketched it from there on my own. I almost felt as if I had written it …only 400 years ago." ]
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
“He could have shown like any usual hindi film that Langda Tyagi asks forgiving just before the marriage of Omkara with Dolly, and every misunderstanding is dispelled and they are happily married but then it could have been turned out to be another masala movie”
How can he? He is following Othello and he got no choice but to follow its CLIMAX too.
Vishal is extremely talented. He is wasting his talent doing these adaptations. If Omkara was ORIGINAL movie, I would have called it classic but not when every part is an adaptation. I mean, thats the real test for the director as how he would merge the characters and play with them.
I mean, Saif getting jealous when Vivek is made the Bahubali has got nothing to do with Ramayan but plain OTHELLO. His taking revenge is again OTHELLO and Omkara killing Dolly is again Othello except the Saif killing. I would have liked Vishal’s original story and wanna see as what he’ll make his characters do. Here, his screenplay is already fixed and all his energy is used to make the scene look great and excellent dialogues. But if it was original script movie, this would have been CLASSIC and remembered for next 100 years. Thats the reason OTHELLO is remembered even after 400 years. :-)
Sorry, I didn’t read this post. But, the length of the post clearly idicates that you live upto the name of the site – Passion for Cinema.
And so do you, Reddy, as you manged to read the entire post and the comment on it.
Keep it up.
Ok, I haven’t read your entire post (it’s very long!!). I just wanted to say that Shakespeare deserves a lot of the credit. Also, the reason why Bhardwaj might have stuck to the ‘unconventional’ ending is because that’s the way it’s supposed to be; Othello is your Shakespearean tragedy. Just goes to show that his plays are timeless. Omkara is an ode to the best screen-writer that ever lived.
Awesome post! Awesome film!
@ Jahan my man..how are your Boards coming through? Good Luck and see you soon..
this is the first time i m seing such in-septh analysis of any movie on PFC..i hd certainly missed on many points despite of watchin the movie lots of times…grt wrk rk
Awesome RK. The only problem with Omkara was Ajay Devgan. He could not bring out the real Omkara on screen.
btw your post is better then the film itself
Long Live Vishal. Long Live Indian Cinema.
After their first physical encounter when next day Omkara wakes her up by reciting poem, she is shown to wear OmkaraUN:F [1.7.5_995]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
RK: That was kinda doctorate thesis on Omkara…said it all.Now everytime I will watch this movie, I will remember about this post. Congrats for the damage you’ve done to my viewing
^:)^
Reddy: if you would look Omkara in the light of “Othello” then cant enjoy the film completely.
Question of Omkara is how distant or near to Otheelo is not so important because as a Film Omkara is a brilliant product. A cinematic feast for Audience. Every frame speaks.
I think we were discussing about Mahabharata and not Ramayana. That point I raised because 5000 years before Shakespere we have such tales where zealousy, injustice etc bring disaster to all.
Nothing is original work in that sense because long before Shakespere happened, writers have been writing tales having all the human emotions.
What do you mean by : Vishal is wasting his talent in adaptations? He has to take a story to show through the film. It can be short story, a novel or a play or a story written by him. Does it matter. Because for that matter Bimal Roy’s Devdas has no value as its not original?
That means Prakash Mehra did crime when he gave shades of Devdas to Amitabh Bachchan’s Sikandar in Muqadar ka sikandar?
When Vishal could change othello in that way that Indu kills Ishwar in the end then he could do anything he liked.
Last night I came across saying of Vishal Bhardwaj, where he himself says that he just took main theme of Othello and stretched it in his own way and went deep with his own story. On surface it may look like Othello but its not.
Every Dacoit is not gabbar singh though we can keep his name as Garbrah Singh or Gobar or Gabir Singh. Film matters in its treatment of the subject.
Important thing is, a person must watch and like the film, he sees it as Othellos hindi adaptation or a diferent film, does not matter much. a poor version always raise questions but not a better version.:)
Shashikant, Pratik: thanks for not having pain to read long. its better to watch the film and pls do that again and again as film deserves several watching:)
Jahan Bakshi: ATB again!
Sammy: Thanks man
Magik: yes Long Live Vishal and long live Indian cinema. Vishal is the biggest hope at present in hindi cinema. he is keenest observer of life there in hindi cinema world. He will gift us many many beautiful films in future:)
Jwalant: First and foremost point, no post about Omkara ever can be better than the film. Film is SUPER class. Performancewise, technical aspects, cinematography, music, background music, scenes planning, editing, very authentic sets, posters etc everything is near to perfect.
Friend, I disagree with your disapproval of Ajay Devgan as Omkara. What his character was, he underplayed that very well. He becomes object after he takes decision to appoint Kesu as bahubali and Langda is always a doer. There are moments when Omkara too become doer, like when he insults Kesu after Beedi song, vouch to take revenge from Indor Singh and Kitchlu, gives threat to Langda, kills Dolly and in the end when leaves Langda and kills himself. But most of the time he is just a object and he has shown difference between his two kind of Omkaras very well. He is razor sharp only in his own field but he is not able to handle his personal life. And Vishal is very intelligent and has given Ajay name Adha Baman, his mother did not belong to brahmin cast and thus he might have suffered all his life with a kind of inferiority complex which he overcomes by becoming powerful cheiftain thats why he does not care for anyone and does not listen to anyone. His father did not marry his mother and he has this complex and his love life has to be affected very easily. He does not have powerful dialogues and he is always at recieving end and others are saying him powerful dialogue. He has only two dialogues: one he says jo aguvai ka kaam kare wo hijra bhaisaab and second time when he says to kesu,” meri nazron ke samne pariyo mati, chahe kuch ho jaye warna khal utar kar dhup mein sukha dunga”. otherwise he has very normal kind of dialogues and had little chance to rise above the script. Even Rajjo has been given better dialogues. Ajay was not less than any other actor in the film. He lived his character very well, (not talking about how othello should have behaved) and behaved like a character Omkara.
He did not impose his own mannerisms on the character and he did not even laugh with his trademark laghing, whatelse we can expect from an actor?:-?
WB: thanks,
I am amazed to see how Vishal could bring romantic moments in this film. They look like part of Gulzar saab’s film.:)
Thats right about editor [but If I edit a film then director also has to shoot so many scenes again and has to leave so many scenes- kidding]:d
Its so coincidence that when I was watching second time Omkara on LT, in a train, I had missed my stop and when got sense train had moved so had to go 20 km more and then back, so 40 km :d
Bishu:
Thanks,
its not possible to discuss Omkara in one post or 20 pages. Vishal’s treament of woman needs a post,
and the way his actors has spoken the dialect.
and a search is needed that were they all actor in small roles?
Like that old lady who says after seeing Kareena,” Dekh rahe hain bhaiya, kahin khariya chuna to na pot ayee warna hamre desh mein kahan se aa gayee sasuri?
or that police man in the jail, with whom Saif cut jokes that he is carrying all restricted things inside and that policeman says,” chal jhutha”.
They both were so real and dont look like actors.
These small things of film needs coverage,
and then film has certain flaws:((
simply amazing