stupid title imo, the movie should be named after the protagonist of the film (the othello character)...

‘Omkara’ is now ‘Issak’

By Taran Adarsh

Vishal Bharadwaj has finally decided on the title of his new film, an adaptation of the Shakespeare masterpiece ‘Othello’. It’s ISSAK. “My producers are keen to call it ISSAK [that’s how people in U.P. pronounce ‘Ishq’]. They feel a title like OMKARA has its limitations,” states Vishal.

Meanwhile, a section of the media had gallantly announced that this Ajay-Saif-Vivek starrer will be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year. “How can we premiere ISSAK at Cannes when the fact remains that it is not even complete? I guess, most journos don’t understand the technicalities and misconstrue facts,” he sounds sarcastic.

The fact is that a special promo of ISSAK will be showcased to the distributors and media at Cannes. “We are preparing a 10-minute showreel for Cannes. Kishore Lulla [the Overseas distributor of ISSAK] is also putting up a stall there, highlighting his forthcoming acquisitions for the Overseas territory, including ISSAK. As things stand today, the principal cast of ISSAK will participate in a media briefing at Cannes,” Vishal clarifies. Vishal is keen to release ISSAK in August this year, but is undecided about the date since Karan Johar hasn’t confirmed the release schedule of KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA so far. “We plan to release ISSAK after KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA. If Karan’s film arrives on August 4/11, we will bring our film two weeks later,” he reveals.

the first preview!



The film is Vishal Bharadwaj's interpretation of the bard's classic, Othello. A play that has been made four times in Hollywood but is being brought to life for the first time in a mainstream Hindi film in a commercial format. Like Hollywood legendary filmmaker, Orson Wells, Vishal Bharadwaj is fascinated with Shakespearan drama - one of Vishal's finest works remains his interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth - Maqbool. Omkara in spirit stays true to the central theme of Othello and ends up humanizing Shakespeare's characters with the necessary folklore and ethnic charm that is required for a contemporary story setting.

Set against the Indian milieu of political warfare in the interiors of Uttar Pradesh, the film follows one man's descent into sexual jealousy because of his passionate love for his woman and the final destruction of that love at the altar of blind obsession. Love is blind but the flip side of love is jealousy and that can tear apart the strongest and bravest of warriors - in this case Omkara.

Omkara or Omi (Ajay Devgan) is a gifted chieftain who heads a gang of outlaws, which include the crafty Langda Tyagi (Saif Ali Khan) and the dynamic Kesu (Vivek Oberoi) amongst his chief cohorts. The story begins when Omi appoints Kesu and not Langda as his chief lieutenant. Langda's pride is slighted and raging with envy he hatches a plot to falsely implicate Omi's beautiful lover Dolly (Kareena Kapoor), in a love affair with Omi's “favorite lieutenant”, Kesu. With the unwitting aid of Indu (Konkana Sen Sharma), Langda's wife, and the willing help of Raju, a fellow grouch, Langda's plan takes shape and results in horrific tragedy. Using petty insinuations and lies, Langda keeps poisoning Omi's mind till one day it snaps and Omi goes about tearing up his own safe and secure world. By the time he realizes what he has done and the backlash of his actions it is too late…

But like all love stories which never really end…out of the ashes of this one too comes a twist. Omkara's dark issak or love for Dolly, Dolly's unquestioning issak for Omi, Langda's warped loyalty and jealousy for Omi, the vibrant Kesu's unswerving devotion to Omi - all leading up to a dark tragedy where Omi finally realizes what he has done…

You guys can vote now for the name of this film. My vote is definitely going for "Omkara". Here are the posters for the film.




You guys can vote at this link. Don't want to tell you guys what to vote but I believe "Omkara" should clearly be on the top of your list given the other poor choices. I hope Vishal gets his wish.

http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2006/ ... ontest.htm

I find OMKARA the most appropriate title too, only I'm not allowed to vote as I live outside of India.

just voted for omkara

OMKARA, is it!! me too!

The title has been confirmed by Vishal Bhardwaj folks. It will be Omkara!!!!

some stills..

the first teaser looks ok, though they don’t really show much. and aside from the actual film, I can’t wait to hear the vishal/gulzar music for this

the first 2 song promos are up… promo1, promo2

Looks amazing!

sorry rita, am not sure who the singers are. I guess we will have to wait until the audio release, unless someone else here knows…

Isn't it Sukhvinder Singh in the title song?

I don't know who the female singer is in "O saathi re".

Thanks for all the info Mola Ram. Looks like this is gonna be the best movie of this year. Every new bit of news I read about it only adds to my interest level. amazing cast!

Even the song videos are awesome.

To: Rita/Mola Ram/anwar, I heard the songs. The female singer in 'o saathi re' sounds definitely like Shreya Ghosal. The male singer's voice is similar to sukhvinder Singh's. this guy is little more nasal. My guess is he is some new south Indian singer.


just guessing. I don't see any news about omkara music. what a shame!

and I get more than 10 hits when I search for 'Don' or 'KANK'

Some folks at TB have been kind enough to post a brand new promo of Omkara. Expect dynamite acts from Saif and Ajay judging from this promo anyway.


http://d.turboupload.com/d/697213/omkara.mpg.html