Omkara. Vishal Bharadwaj's adaptation of the Shakesperian tragedy Othello. I've seen it twice and I'd gladly go for it a third time, without a second's hesitation, provided it's still running in cinemas after the release of that god-awful Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. No, I haven't seen the latter and neither do I have any intention of doing so - I've successfully avoided most of theYash Raj - Johar banner films since KKHH and I'm damn proud of it! Unfortunately Omkara is already making its way out of cinemas (atleast in Pune) - and once again I am appalled at how culturally ignorant and philistine we can get! I won't bother waxing lyrical about the brilliance of the film - the adaptation to a very believable north-Indian semi-urban milieu, the casting (yes even Kareena Kapoor failed to get on my nerves) and characterisation, the music (I simply can't stop humming the title track and "Bidi"), the attention to detail (did you notice Kareena's nails in the scene at the prison at the beginning of the film?), not to mention the performances (Konkana, being the best - how that lady transforms from a Bengali to an Iyer Brahmin to a hip-young-urban-journalist to an uneducated woman from a UP village is just unbelievably awesome!) are all worthy of a standing ovation.
I won't even bother lashing out at the junta that went for the movie and walked out saying they got bored and didn't understand it - can hardly blame them, if they've been fed sentimental crap like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam (gag!!!), or worse the Garam Masala genre of comedy (puke!!!) - ab unpadh ko kya samjhana Shakespeare kaun tha! What I fail to understand and forgive is the educated lot, who have read a reasonable amount of literature and who walk out saying the film was a torture, that it gave them a headache..and the worst of them all, that Shakespeare was a sadist to write tragedies!!! Mon Dieu - could we indulge in any more blasphemous sacrilege? How do you explain to these people what a wealth of knowledge about the human psychology is to be gleaned from Shakespeare's plays, that all the courses of psychology and HR management couldn't teach you what reading (and understanding the meaning behind the words) Shakespeare's plays could teach you? And pray, tell me what's this nonsense about cinema existing only to provide entertainment (and that too, the senseless variety?) - whatever happened to cinema being the Seventh Art and Art existing to represent Reality, not to mention make us stop and think? Where, where have we gone and donated our grey cells? Why, why are we insisting on turning into this mindless pulp of humanity that cannot deal with an intelligent subject?
[Read Aristera's review of the film - I couldn't agree more with him!]
Current Mood :- On the warpath since Wednesday - have been sharpening my talons and fangs and sinking them into every available (not to mention unsuspecting) victim at the slightest opportunity. Inner angst makes me shed my angelic demeanour!
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What I fail to understand and forgive is the educated lot... who walk out saying the film was a torture... that Shakespeare was a sadist to write tragedies!!!
Did you, my dear, say educated? Nope, not in my book. But then, I'm just an elitist Lit MA, what do I know of plebeians? *evil grin* I will stop now! :D
I think that some films are made for the sole purpose of entertainment - Main Hoon Na and Peter Seller's Pink Panther and Murder by Death and the such like. Having said that, I also think that we are dumbing down as a generation. Too many seem to be happy with too little intellectually. :(
ive been wantin to see this movie but jus aint findin the rite time...beatin myself abt it for long...
i think this 1 too is gonna b watched on DVD :(
I think that multiple forms of entertainment can co-exist. You can have a KANK along with a Omkara. I don't find either awful, and enjoy both. I am looking at cinema as a means of provoking thought and also abandoning it at times. You need all kinds of movies to do that, and trust me, I watch lots of movies.
You walk into WestSide, you see branded jeans and other western outfits on your left and Indian clothes on your right. Which one you buy is your choice. Funky T shirts might not interest you but classy kurtas may. That doesn't mean one is better than the other. Both co-exist.
I have seen Maqbool and Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, I have loved both. Honestly, KKKG more. I am not very good with phrases but I do know that Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder!
Ayyo am dying to see Omkara too...
Whatever floats your boat I guess :) Omkara is superb, but don't throw KANK under the bus without watching it, different movie, different mood, different day :)
Gone through your page, keep it up Geetu!
hear hear!! fellow-shakespearian, where wert thou all my life?! i loved omkara. and i think langda tyagi mopped the floor with idiotic iago too. and the devgun wasn't too bad either. among ALL of shakespeare's characters, i find othello himself the dorkiest. sorry, but that's how i always felt about him. but the devgun now - he had his moments. they could have spent more time developing an aura of menace about him, if you know what i mean. they spent far too much time on roderigo, which i felt was unnecessary. and bipasha was totally an anachronism in this movie. why, ash with her international face looks more dehaati in her ishq kameena song! and one more axe to grind about omkara is the ending of tyagi. i think emilia killing off iago with a scythe and jumping in the well is totally wrong and oh sooo out of character.
"When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well"
Extempore - Oh you Literary Snob you ;-)
Kitana - You can always count on me for some companny IF you're really serious abt seeing this one!
Parth, Abhijeet, Notes to Self - I accept that all forms of cinema exist (like with any art form) - and I normally don't lash out at the KANK genre as I did this time...just when ppl fail to appreciate a film like Omkara saying it's boring/torture/sadistic etc etc.
Having said that, I'll say it again, I don't think I can see and truly appreciate a Karan Johar...sit through yes, watch for the sake of time-pass yes, but not truly appreciate despite it having that yummy younger Bacchan! ;-)
Aristera - LOL I doubt it's anything like the original! See it and post your review..THAT should be FUN!
Wild Reeds - How can you like in Bbay and nt yet manage to have seen Omkara, with those mulitplexes that have spouted up at every nukkad?
Kasturi - Thanks, but pray don't ever call me "Geetu" again! I abhorr that!
Nocturne - Well I don't know if I deserve that compliment of being a fellow Shakespearian, but yes I defi do recognise his genius! There were flaws in the film, yes, but largely ignorable since the film on the whole was brilliant, dontcha think so?
heck, yeah. but that's all we are used to doing - nitpick, nitpick, nitpick. this post actually caused me to brave the dvd [dreadful sound quality] for the 2nd time round and see all my favorite bits again. saifu chilled me - used to think he was such a sad clown. which is your fave tragedy from the bard's works?
One man's meat is another man's poison...
I loved Omkara as well, but I dont understand that others dont. Some do look at cinema as only a source of light-hearted entertainment... cant blame them for it, can we?
Nocturne - Hey you should thank me for inspiring you to see again...though why you didn't see it on the big screen I dunno! My fav tragedy...I guess it would be Macbeth...it was the first one I read and had the biggest impact on me!
Casa - True true, bt yet I HAD to lash out and so I did! *wicked laughter*
thanks for sending me this link. Looking fwd more than ever to viewing the film
I immediately added MAQBOOL to my imaginary list of best films ever
note: best, not most liked
MAQBOOL is also one of the films I liked most but I distinguish those two things
that's why I disagree with Abhijeet: true, beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but viewers who have learned a language to talk about cinema cannot walk out of such a film and say it was a waste of time. Disregarding all subjective standards for beauty and the task of art, there are observable high achievements in photographic arrangement, the work with music, character development, and what not.
I find the Indian/ kurta - Western/ t-shirt analogy unsuitable if you employ it to explain the difference between Karan Johar and Vishal Bharadwaj. To say the more artistic cinema of VB runs by Western standards would be a disturbing misinterpretation. I love the more classically Bollywood films a lot, too, but I find films better or the directors' achievements more commendable, if they develop the art instead of letting the production run by receipe. I compare the latter to something you've certainly heard of: novels, even crime fiction, can be written by computers these days. It's technically possible and the outcome might be interesting but it's always the same pattern, one might discuss the commendability of M. Night Shyamalan in this regard - always the same pattern (I think with LADY IN THE WATER, he's getting off that mystery-revealed-surprise-track, but it ran as long as it was successfull).
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