To Othello or Not to Othello, that is the Omkara.

I am no connoisseur of English literature neither contemporary nor classic. The closest I have ever encountered Shakespeare was during my high school's one act plays where I pretty much memorized the lines and vomitted to the audience. So, I have no clue what Othello is about and don't really care. But with little Shakespeare that I remember, Omkara has done a tsunamic proportion of brilliance in adapting the script to this avatar. I was very pleased that the end of the movie was not altered to fit the sugery fate like it was done in Parineeta. Tragedies do happen.

IMHO, Saif deserves National Award for his role. Level of attention paid to details was amazing. Eg. Bottom of Langda's pants tied with string, long, painted nail of his pinky finger; except one detail - khaini (chewing tobacco) is placed under the lower lip not the upper (experience talks), but this can also be a personal preference I guess. I liked how his limp was subtle and not prominent. One of the finest work I felt was the colloquial language which enhanced the story and presentation. Thankfully, the language was not chastized to sound from a foreign country called Bollywood. Another, good thing I felt was that now people have started to break the dominance of Hindi and started accepting its other dialects.

Omkara (Ajay Devgan, the always teeth grinding constipated man) and Kesu (Vivek Oberoi) were OK. I liked Kesu's name - Kesu Firangi, emphasising his "kind-of"-Anglophillic character. I liked the flow of the movie even though I over heard people cribbing about the movie being too long. Interestingly, the love making scenes besides being sensual profounded the ethos of each character very nicely. Among the ladies of the movie - Dolly (Kareena) best was the dying scene. IMHO, Indu (Konkana) did the best. Not because of her dialogues but her presence and performance. Billo (Bipasa Basu) was the big b(l)ip on the radar screen (read: silver screen).

Music is excellent especially, Naina and Beedi. Naina is extremely sensual and Beedi, what can I say it is top on my current chart. If dialect were a genre Beedi is second only to Raj Kapoor's Chalat musafir le liyo re from Teesri Kasam. Who can question Gulzar's lyrics on subjects like these.

What I found misfit in the movie was the background music. IMHO, for some reason it did not gel. The background music was at times influenced by pop music and other times by English classical, there was a gap left unbridged. Second, pre-marital hanky-panky in rural India did not digest too well with me. Lastly, the dialect which did not sound Bhojpuri. UP speaks Bhojpuri but I will give the benefit of doubt since western UP speaks Khariboli (I think that sounds similar to Hariyanavi as it sounded in the movie).

I am sure some quarters of the industry will use Omkara as an excuse to copy more Hollywood movie stories as "inspiration". Note, Othello is a stage play and a classic and Omkara is an adaptation. Just like Lolita's adaptation on its way.

Now, I am a cheap B and have bought only one movie so far - Sholay. And, the way I will rate this movie is that I will probably own a copy of this movie.

This movie is another message to the likes of Wussy club (Karan Johar, SRK et al); get some real stuff.

My Raapchick item ranking rates the Bipasa and Konkana as the dusky Raapchick items for this term. You think you are Raapchick enuff? Get your own Raapchick t-shirt from Indobundee.