Stages to Screens- Omkara

 

When William Shakespeare originally wrote his play Othello in the 17th century, he could possibly not have imagined Bipasha Basu performing Beedi in 2006, but here we are. Omkara is the second part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy based on Othello, following Maqbool and followed by Haider.

Omkara details the story of its eponymous character, Omkara (Othello), a man from a lower caste, who falls in love with Dolly, (Desdemona), who comes from an upper caste. Like Brabantio - Desdemona’s father in the play - does not approve of Desdemona’s marriage to Othello because of his ‘moorish’ backgrounds, Dolly’s father Adv. Raghunath Mishra does not approve of Omkara’s caste. Othello’s military pursuits are now Omkara’s equally ruthless and bloodthirsty Indian elections. Othello’s manipulative friend Iago is Tyagi, who lies and cheats and moves around Kesu, Raju, like pieces on a chessboard until the culmination – convincing Omkara to kill Dolly, and an assassination attempt on Kesu.

This dark and sickening tale of treachery, seduction, and a commentary on the human condition could not have been translated from script to screen better, taking a play from 1603 and applying it to an Indian context so seamlessly that it might as well be an original story.