A fantastic adaptation!. Review on Omkara

Sometimes, the most baseless of movies come in the most hyped ways. And on other occasions, a class act would come rather quietly and does what it knows best: deliver! OMKARA, the latest of the films offered by that less popular genre (art/parallel cinema) falls in the latter category. That is, the movie might not have had a bright sort of promotional campaign, yet it truly lived up to what the viewer of such cinema expected from it.

No doubt that with Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Viveik, Naseer-ud-Din Shah, Kareena Kapoor, and Bipasha Basu on board, the movie had to be handled by someone who knew what he was doing. Vishal Bhardwaj, thankfully, comes up with a fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare's OTHELLO that in no respect disappoints the viewer.

OMKARA is the story of deceit, anger, ego, and all the expressions of Pride and Prejudice. All those Shakespeare readers know what the story is all about and the rest have been informed by sources such as the newspapers and the internet what the movie is actually all about. So really, there is no point in covering the story in detail. But yes, it is important to note that a predictable and completely revealed story always requires near-perfect execution to be appreciated. In that respect, I repeat that the director has excelled and delivered all that his movie had ever promised.

It is no surprise to know that OMKARA turned out to be an average success rather than a Block Buster. But our MS community readily agrees that a BO success (even though more beneficial to its financers) is nowhere near the quality of a well-made movie. OMKARA, compared to KANK, is truly pure cinema with no such thing as "senseless novelty" of Karan Johar. Rather, OMKARA defines what REAL cinema is actually all about. Despite being an adaptation of a fictitious piece of literature, the movie is handled very sensibly in the most realistic of ways. So on the whole, OMKARA will be remembered for being Vishal Bhardwaj's brilliant follow-up to his last adaptation of Shakespeare (MAQBOOL aka MACBETH).

So what exactly makes OMKARA so appreciable? Basically the answer should be self-explanatory from the movie's frames all the way: simplicity. Even though a lot has been spent to make the sets believable of the time period, the makers don't want to show off to their audiences how much they've actually spent. That's the best part because simplicity is eventually bound to be appreciated.

No larger-than-life character is seen in the movie. Every character is presented with a set of qualities as well as a portrayal, in some way, as a loser. Ditto for the execution of the entire movie: no scene comes as an unwanted, misfitting, over-the-top part of the movie. The whole narrative, including the placement of all the songs, is smooth and the reels keep rolling in a least complicated way. This makes the proceedings all the more easy to understand. But what makes the proceedings really interesting: the performances from the entire starcast!

There might be other pros such as a decent musical score, amazing camerawork, powerful dialogues, etc. But there is no denying that the performances tower above everything else. OMKARA belongs to Saif Ali Khan. No two opinions on that. Despite being the antagonist, SAK comes up with a performance that should finally silence all his critics. Talk to the biggest of his critics and they agree: no one can criticize him for his performance in OMKARA. Saif shows his gifted ability to be as much a hated character as he is usually a fun-loving character in his other hits (HUM TUM, SALAAM NAMASTE, others). With EK HASEENA THI as his back-up evidence for being a great performer in rough roles, OMKARA offers Saif what he exactly needed to become a top start in the country. With versatility completely achieved by this actor, his contemporaries have all the reason to fear him. In fact it is not wrong to state that RIGHT NOW, Saif is the most under-rated and yet most deserving KHAN.

As said by Taran Adarsh, I finally agree with him on one thing: even though Saif steals the show as Langda, Ajay Devgan as Omi is brilliant. It is hard to imagine any other actor giving such an expressive performance in such a challenging role. But Ajay delivers with ease and does complete justice to the role that required a lot of life. Great job Ajay...way to go! Naseer-ud-Din Shah is another actor in form after being appreciated for his performance as usual in IQBAL. No doubt Kareena Kapoor is a candidate for the numero uno spot as a Bollywood actress in near future. With no make-up, she not only looks exactly her part, but also looks very beautiful. Besides, as a young actress, it is very hard to come up and get noticed in the midst of such a great starcast. Viveik and Bipasha are adequate. Ditto for Konkona Sen Sharma.

Overall, OMKARA deserves to be the a nominee for the best movie this year. It may not be the best to come out so far, but it is at least one of the best, and that means a lot. With 89% recommendation already on hand, I'm sure I am only doing the perfectly right thing to recommend this movie, and that too with four stars.