Now that the film has been released I think it deserves a new thread. I have not seen the film yet so cannot comment on it, although I am hoping to do so in the next few hrs; gotta work the connections for tickets

Based on the reviews so far, it looks like the film has turned out to be great.

Rediff review --> http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/jul/28omkara.htm


Ofcourse 'Mr. MORON' as always has a different opinion and gives it only 2.5 stars.
IndiaFM review (story narration) --> http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/12773/index.html *WARNING* As always I would recommend not reading his review completely, that is if you do not wish to know everything that happens in the film. I personally only read the first and last paragraphs of his reviews. Does this remind anyone of another review by 'Mr. Moron'? Did I hear someone say 'Lagaan'?
Who cares about the box office, a review is supposed to speak of the merits of the film not how much money it will make. 2.5 stars from a film you term as "Brilliant", now that is a contradiction if there ever was any.

If the stars are for expected bo performance he might be right. Since when does such cinema attract large audiences in India?

My issue is not whether he is right about what the Box Office outcome of the movie might be, but rather with the fact that a review is not supposed to be about the Box Office success of a film. A review is supposed to focus on the merits of the movie independent of it's Box Office success and to rate a movie based on what he thinks the Box Office prospects of a film are, is nothing less than just stupid. But then again with Mr. Adarsh we ought to be used to it by now and personally I don't really care what he thinks of a movie anyhow. The problem is there is a large number of a people who unfortunately read his so called reviews/script narration and are therefore influenced by his incorrect rating of movies.

I totally agree!! I totally agreed with critics who slammed DEAD MAN CHEST despite 300 million$ buisness!! amd march on the box office!

I just got back from watching 'Omkara' and I found the film to atleast be every bit as good as I expected it to be, if not more. Vishal Bhardwaj has really outdone himself and even though I liked 'Maqbool' very much, I think this film is even better. Right from the very first frame of the film, my eyes and attention was glued to the screen, right till the very last frame of the film. In fact several times during the film my wife interrupted me to ask me something she did not understand and I just shrugged her off with "later". I am sure there will be a price to pay for this The music is also very good and Gulzar's lyrics are specially apt. The background score I found to be specially very good. There is no doubt that in Vishal Bhardwaj Indian cinema has one of the most exceptional talents. Last but certainly not the least are the performances in the film, the only actor/casting I had a slight problem with in the film is Bipasha Basu. I felt her diction and speech were simply too correct for the role she plays. As for the rest, GREAT is all that needs to be said. Except for in the case of Saif Ali who seems to grow as an actor with each new film. His performance in 'Omkara' is nothing short of 'BRILLIANT'. Every frame that he appears in, he lives the role of 'Langda Tyagi'. He is easily my nominee for 'Best Actor' since I seriously doubt anyone will outdo his perfomance this year. But then again I am also quite sure he will not be even considered in the Best Actor category by the morons that decide the film awards in India.

In closing let me say that I can't recall the last time there was such a pin drop silence in a house full theater in India throughout the film. Other than the sound of laughter in the funny parts of the film.

My rating: 9 out of 10

PS: Be prepared for a lot of foul and crude language, more so than any other Indian film that I can recall. So guys please leave the children behind for this one and maybe even ladies that might be squimish about such things.

I felt the same way for MAQBOOL, and I wished film wont end, I wanted more of this extremely well crafted quality goods!! thnx for your input!

another film, that I felt the same was ZUBAIDA!!I was sad that film ended!

He's not a film critic but a trade analyst. It all becomes simple if you separate the stars from what he says about the film. In the text he admits the film is superior, in the stars he ignores what he just said about the quality and gives a 'trade rating'.

Is this PARENT friendly? Meaning, are there a lot of steamy scenes that might make some people uncomfortable to watch with their parents?

It's not so much 'steamy' stuff, but rather very crude and vulgar language with a lot of explicitives.

there were a few "suggestive" scenes(a few w/ ajay/kareena and one in particular w/ saif/sen)… though honestly it was really nothing more than the average hindi film these days



saif was disappointing I thought, he seemed to overplay his character, and ended up more caricature than anything else. but you had to luv deepak dobriyal though

hm...I've seen some bad stuff in southern films, done is poor taste. I'll try to catch this one on sunday I don't really mind the language much

Naseeruddin Shah was apparently hesitant to play his part when he heard what was being offered to him was an adaptation of OTHELLO. In his opinion this was the weakest of the bard's play and not the best of choices for adaptation. As in a discussion I was having just this morning with my brother and wife, I realise what his apprehension was all about.

Othello (hence Omi) is an achiever in the brawny sense - a warrior general(as an aside, excellent dialogues by Vishal.B and terrific subtitling as well for overseas audiences), a fighter but he has problems grappling with that success in a distinctly upper class world. While those around him respect him for his sheer physicality, they still will not give him what he deserves in terms of a place in society. Its all superficial as you realise later. Almost every character including Dolly's father conspires in some way and plays havoc with Omi's insecure mind.

And all this is what Vishal Bharadwaj manages to bring about in his screenplay. It has flaws as well, but you have to give it to this man that he so superbly has adapted this age-old play into a rural setting. If there's something to be learnt from him then it is this grasp he has of the rural life and how he brings about to life the various characters. Its a larger than life canvas and technically(outstanding camera work by T.Hussein) its nothing short of brilliant what he achieves.

The follies are in the emotion department. In the end OTHELLO is a tragedy and you are supposed to feel sorry and cry your heart out for its characters. Whether it is Dolly, Omi, Kesu or Indu(Konkona Sen-Sharma's the best actress on display in this film). You are supposed to hate Langda like there was no other vile villain. Alas those emotions did not get evoked.

But I would still recommend that every single Zulmi see this movie. For this is what good movies is all about. Being able to encourage good film makers even when they fail or are unable to satisfy. I will whole heartedly say go to the theatres and see for yourself what an awesome attempt OMKAARA is. Its not a classic, here's an intelligent mind at work that needs support and encouragement.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Although, as apparent by my short review above I liked Omkara very much, I did have the feeling that something was lacking and which left me wanting for more. I think you have hit the nail on the head and it is the lack of attachment to the characters which was what was missing. I really did not feel very sorry for any of them and although Saif did make you feel the evilness of 'Langda' as much as the script allowed him to, I still did not find myself really hating him. Rather, honestly to some extent I almost found myself empathising with him. But it is with the characters of Omi and Kesu that the director failed to really bring out one's emotions as well as should or could have been. Dolly's character is the only one that I truelly felt sorry for and then for Indu, but the same I cannot say for that of Omi. In the case of Omi, I think it was the manner in which he so easily suspects someone who had just recently left everything in the world for him. The script needed to have more to justify his suspicions thus laying the foundation for Langda to build his web of deceit. As for Kesu, the character is just not developed enough for the audience to feel attached to him. I would like to clarify though, that none of this detracts from the fact that the film is still very good. The difference though, as you pointed out is between just very good and what it takes to be a classic.

"I hope to use the tools of cinema and it's dramatic effects to communicate with the audience" - Vishal Bharadwaj

This was a line implanted in my mind heard from a short interview with Bharadwaj conducted by Komal Natha on Zeetv. After having seen Omkara, Bharadwaj's vision seems to cast light upon neorealism filmmaking. Much of Bharadwaj's subtle cinematic language is oblivious to the norm of Bollywood dictates, yet he uses an entire leading cast from Bollywood in his idiosyncratic world. Here is a filmmaker(much like Mani Ratnam) who understands the tools of the medium, well apprehensive with the concept of time and space and uses everything he has to his advantage.

To cut a long story short,(of late, I have bastardized the term masterpiece, so I'll avoid using it) Omkara IS a great film, one that I truly believe will grow stronger with time to come.


(will definitely discuss the film more in detail later on)

Took the words right out of my mouth. Throughout the film, I was saying to myself "Finally - a director who knows how to direct!". He builds sequences, uses strong imagery, employs foreshadowing to his benefit, appropriately matches scenes to settings, etc. As you say, he knows what he's doing, and this is half the battle won in my mind. This film was an absolute treat in comparison to the slap-dash "cinema" we are treated to on a constant basis. It's truly a phenomenal film - not as good as Maqbool me thinks - but damn good nonetheless.

It's a fantastic looking film, well-scripted and brilliantly relocated from the mouth of Shakespeare to the northern province of India. Cast is astounding from top to bottom, with Saif Ali Khan expectedly rising to the top (I didn't see caricature at all - there are only a few moments where the spell is broken and the actor emerges. Most of the time, I saw only Langda). Only weak link is Vivek Oberoi, which isn't really his fault considering he has done this kind of role before.

I must admit that a second viewing is in order since I saw the film today in Dubai sans English subtitles (which are provided on prints in Toronto, where I am from). I think myself able to do without them for the majority of Bollywood films, but the dialect here caught me off-guard.

Some minor quibbles (SPOILERS obviously):
- I didn't like how Bharadwaj extended the credits almost twenty minutes into the film. It's fine to be original, but at times it felt like overkill and self-promoting. Calling attention to yourself as the director in the middle of a transition has a distancing effect on the audience.
- Khan was excellent as Iago, but why did it seem like he was bordering on Richard III with that limp and the deglamoured appearance? This was distracting for me.
- The background score was exaggerated (not the songs, mind you); sometimes silence during tense moments is more powerful.
- Some more time developing Langda's motives would have serviced the film tremendously - when exactly does he put his plan into motion? After his ambivalence in taking those two photos at the birthday party, there is no scene showing him making a determined decision to bring Omkara down.

As for the argument "This is a tragedy and should do x and y", I don't agree. I think some of the best Shakespeare re-imaginings and re-workings are ones that let us approach the material from new directions rather than the standard scholarly/traditional reactions. I liked that Omkara ended on a blunt, strangely muted note - I hate it when art tries to squeeze out tears from my eyes. I wish to be moved on my own terms, not on the artists'.