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Omkara : Welcome this Bard-waj

The Don rushes into his house to confront his love. The seeds of suspicion sown in his cold calculating brains, are enough to have him seething with doubts, hurt and anger. He is greeted in the corner of his house by his lady love who plays a guitar and sings Stevie Wonder’s “I just called to say I love you”, a song she’s been practicing the entire day to sing for her love. The prickling doubts melt away as the don moves forward to hold lady love in his arms. Such and many more sensitively laced scenarios clearly show you what the team of Omkara chose before embarking on the journey of making this movie…

Creativity over commercialism. Passion over puking copies. Love over lame story-telling attempts.

Vishal Bhardwaj has talent. He has passion. And there is this clearly distinct earnestness and sincerity in his creations. Be it Makdee, Maqbool and now… Omkara.

But above all, Bhardwaj shows tremendous promise when he betters himself with each new product, be it a unique story or inspirations from Shakespeare-jee. There is no room for any Bollywood chutiya-giri in this one, even though the “c” is used galore in this venture.

Laser sharp defined characters (well atleast most of them), sharp chiseled out precision scenes and a constant desire to pull the viewer into each segment of the story - clearly points to the painstaking hard work and limitless creative stretch that went into building this gem.

Ironically the story in itself loses the much desired impact with so much of energy and focus on the individual segments.

So we have apun ka local don, General Omkara (Ajay Devgan) kickstarting his love life by snagging lady love Dolly (Kareena Kapoor) right on the day she’s supposed to marry someone else. Khullam khulla pyar karenge. Things are all lovey dovey. Gun is mightier than the stupid pickup game. Ha!

His professional life is going great guns too. Being the chief muscle man of local politician Bhaisaab (Naseer, easily breezes through this one), he eliminates Boss-saab’s enemies. Boss-jee wins election and promotes General Omkara to the local political arena. Time for General to put someone new in his place.

Bahubali Bahubali Langda Tyagi Langda Tyagi… the dreamy echoes of these words make Mr. Langda (Saif Ali Khan), a long serving lieutenant, smile. Unfortunately for him, it’s Kesu Firangi (Vivek Oberoi) who gets the General’s seat. Meet the new meanie bunny. It ej not phunny.

Thus starts the journey that Shekhu-bhai (Shakespeare-jee) intended to take us all on, which our own desi Bard-waj earnestly attempts again but falls short of.

Dropping in and out is Mrs. Langda (Konkana Sen Sharma) who oscillates between teasing Omkara boss to consoling Dolly-ben in her down and out sunset moments… besides ofcourse her unbashed brutal knowledge of human psychology. eg.? a man’s hunger is not in his stomach but a few inches below it.

Mr. Langda’s attempts to poison apun ka icy cold calculating General Omkara come out as being too simplistic and childish. Is it this easy to sow doubts in the brains of a man who himself has so cunningly assassinated his enemies? Maybe… perhaps… love does do strange things.

Inspite of the side by side comparisons between the original and the adaptation, being made all over the reviewer land, it is equally important to view this story on its own independent platform. Does it have the impact?

To an extent, but it falls short. Focusing on Omkara in its own independent entirety makes you realize that the story of power driven hungry crazed people just does not grow up. It fails to reach its intended goals.

Yet, this one is a gift and can’t be and should not be ignored.

Clearly, the movie was designed in a way that it’s broken up into individual segments. Each segment was then microscopically focused on to fish out some of the most beautiful pearls. The segmented pearls though just don’t add up to form a wishful necklace. And pray why the jumps in the climax? If the intention was to create a heart pumping buildup to reach the culmination, the pace on the tension buildup should have been stepped on much before the jumps started.

Tassaduq Hussain is Bhardwaj’s creative visualizer for the big screen here. The cinematographic quality is of highest level. Bhardwaj uses Hussain’s expertise to “visually” convey the motives and messages all throughout the story -

A small marble occupies the entire space of the wide screen. Breathtaking shot? You bet. The camera follows the defeated but putting up a brave front - Langda Tyagi over a hill top, where he announces the next Bahubali to the crowd below. Using a wide bridge to reflect loneliness is so clearly visible when Langda sits on the bridge along with the Dolly’s could-not-become her husband Deepak Dobriyal. Or the creatively underlined fact about Langda lust for power that pushes him to the edge of insanity, when he ties the “waistband” around his head.

The smooth transition from a blurred vision to a sharp focus of the lens is used quite effectively. Same for the way, where more than a few minutes of a romantic song is canned - in a single shot (bhaee wah!), wherein the camera follows the love couple through the entire house. And ofcourse the struggle to find the truth in his doubts of darkness, when Omkara assassinates a political figure in a rainy darkness, with a large locomotive shining its headlight as the backdrop. Amazing!

Of the cast, surprisingly Kareen Kapoor’s character Dolly is the most underwritten and ill defined. Yet she does convey (with limitations) the innocence of a small town beauty girl who’s in love. Vivek Oberoi rightly holds himself back without letting himself go over the top. Bipasha Basu is in a thankless role here.

Ajay Devgan justifies his selection to play the title role. Yet the emotive delivery in times of doubt leaves you with questions. Could it have been done more effectively? Perhaps.

And please bow and lay out a red carpet for the one and only - Saif Ali Khan. His journey for experimenting and expanding his capabilities as an actor was first noticed in Ek Hasina Thi. Langda Tyagi could as well as be his one role of a lifetime. And he aces it with amazing perfection. Here is one actor who gives movie lovers hope. Hope that there is still passion for creativity in Bollwood.

And even though all eyes were on Saif’s character of Langda Tyagi, the person who slipped through our radar in the pre-release-discussions but stumps us no end, during the movie is - Konkana Sen Sharma. If “being natural” is the epitome of acting then Konkana underlines the meaning over and over again, picking up the challenge and taking the character of Indu, point blank - head on. She may not have more than six scenes in the movie, but each time she walks onto the screen, she brings out this raw rustic appeal in the character, leaving you dazed and begging for more.

Omkara is Vishal Bhardwaj’s sweat and blood. The honesty and sincerity is there so transparent, for all to see. Such attempts need to and should be recognized and commended.

A Minus. Every attempt should be made to go to the theater and enjoy this spectacle. A creative and brilliant endeavor miraculously has found its way to our cine screens, in the dried, parched lands of Bollywood. It’s now your turn to come out and support this outstanding attempt.

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You’re currently reading “Omkara : Welcome this Bard-waj,” written by oz

Published:
07.30.06 / 11am
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Bollywood, Movie Reactions


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