Monday, July 31, 2006

Movie Review : Omkara



Again the team of Gulzar and Vishal Bharadwaj huddle up and produce a masterpiece of sorts. Let's see how many times they've teamed up: 1) Jungle Book (Gulzar: Lyrics; Vishal: Music), 2)Maachis (Gulzar: Direction, Lyrics; Vishal: Music), 3)Makdi (Gulzar: Lyrics; Vishal: Direction, Music), 4)Maqbool (Gulzar: Lyrics; Vishal: Direction, Music), 5)Ishqa-Ishqa (Music Album), (Gulzar: Lyrics; Vishal: Music), 6)Omkara (Gulzar: Lyrics; Vishal: Direction, Music). This is all I recall I mean. There must be more to it. There's got to be more to it.

This is the second part in a trilogy of Shakesperean Tragedies that Vishal is adapting to fit in the Indian context. The third installment of the trilogy will take some time make, he says.

Anybody who has seen Maqbool will realise that it is nearly an unsurmountable task to make a better movie than that. And whoever has seen Omkara will realise that Vishal comes dangerously close to that. Very dangerously close. This post will have a separate section which will compare Maqbool with Omkara because the key to understanding the Director's approach in the latter lies in the former.

First Half of the Movie

The opening of the movie is one of the most brilliant openings you'll see in Hindi cinema. The opening scene shows Saif (more about him in later sections) and the newcomer Himanshu (I think this was the name, but if I am wrong, apologies) and the gun Saif wields throughout the movie (effectively I mean). With the characteristic bawdy rustic Bhojpuri/Hindi/Haryanvi language showcased in this movie, he explains why the marriage procession will not proceed. The movie then goes on to push the viewer into the plunge that the characters take themselves.

The first half is a kind of introduction to the characters and the rural settings that the movie exploits. The recreation of the settings of Uttar Pradesh are brilliantly authentic to say the least. The walk, the talk, posture, the ambience is beautifully rendered in the movie, maybe because Vishal has added personal touches here and there of his own experiences of UP. The movie is wonderfully supported by the cast of actors about whom a lot will be said later.

The bawdy language, the caste politics, the marriage processions, the 'item numbers' etc all of them are deeply rooted in the traditional context that the film manipulates. It is an adaptation in a true sense because only the central idea of Othello is taken-that of slow poisoning due to jealousy-and it is interpreted in a completely indigenous rural Indian context. The fact of Othello being a Moor in Venice is reflected in Omkara being a half Brahmin in a Brahmin dominated factional UP political/underworld scenario. The isomorphism is complete.

The Second Half of the Movie

The key to the second half lies in having seen the second half of Maqbool. One cannot but experience the second half to be exactly, and I mean exactly the same as that of Maqbool. The stylistic techniques (the slow darkening of a scene on a crucial point and then its opening in an indolent way someplace else), the narrative style, the climax-you name it and the chances are that they are the same as those in Maqbool. Some people might call it self plagiarism but I would rather think that it was Vishal's idea of taking his previous movie Maqbool to a larger audience in a more commercial form. However, the influences must be dealt with separately.

Maqbool and Omkara



The name Maqbool is the name of the protagonist in the movie, much in the same way it is in the play by Shakespeare. Similarly the name Omkara is the name of the hero the way it is in the play. Both are tragedies and are supposed to be followed by another Shakespearean tragedy that will form the trilogy that Vishal has wanted to direct since long. Although the star cast of Maqbool is one of the greatest of all times-just have a look: Pankaj Kapur, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Irfan Khan, Tabu etc, the best possible star line from the commercial world is lined up in Omkara. Ajay Devgan, Naseeruddin Shah, Saif Ali Khan (he has become 'What a man' finally in this movie. He was giving indications of this metamorphosis for a long time), Konkana Sen Sharma, 'Viveik' Oberoi (witness the Ekta Kapoor phenomenon), Kareena Kapoor and Himanshu (what a brilliant debut!).

The stylistic techniques that the director employs in Maqbool can be seen pervading the entire space of Omkara too. The language becomes even coarser, though, in the latter movie, keeping with the spirits of the loactions of rural eastern UP that Vishal focusses on. I know that this sort of language is pretty authentically recreated in the movie because I hail from those regions and have had personally seen such apparently 'uncivlised' language used in day to day conversations by both men and women with a matter of factness that is hard to believe until you've seen it for yourself. The previous movie was set in Mumbai underworld while this one goes into the Hindi heartlands. This can be taken to be another proof of the versatility of the director. Telling stories in a similar fashion in different settings is the hallmark of a truly great artiste and Vishal is proving again and again that he belongs to the 'great' and not just the 'good' or 'very good'.

There is one jarring note in this beautiful melody though. Though the setting is east UP, the language used by everyone has major Hariyanvi influences. This is not true if you actually visit these places in East UP but I think because hardcore Bhojpuri would have been incomprehensible to most audiences, the director took this route to make the language understandable to a larger number of people.



The next section will try to analyse the performance of some of the actors in the movie:

Ajay Devgan:

He has proved himself again and again. And he does this once more. Remarkably restrained and intense at the same time, he is Omkara, the great and the gullible. Brilliant, just like himself.

Saif Ali Khan:

Well, initially to be short, I had planned to write just about him in this blog and through him comment generally about the merit of the movie. So incredible he is in the movie! This however comes as no surprise to me personally at least. He has been showing wonderful promise ever since Dil Chahta Hai and this was but expected sometime or the other.

Saif conjures up images of suave metrosexuality and 'heart-throb ness'. He is the eligible bachelor that everybody thought was good in mushy, romantic comedies etc-in a word movies that I generally hate (unless they are immaculate sublimities like As Good as it Gets). But the yellow toothed, foul mouthed, rustic henchman that grows and colours his little finger red is the farthest from what Saif reminds one of. I personally believe that this role is going down in Indian cinema as one of the best ever. It will rank with roles Bhikhu Mhatre's portrayal by Manoj Bajpai in Satya and Sadashiv Amrapurkar in Ardhsatya. Bravo Saif! You have become 'What a Man'.



Naseeruddin Shah:

I will not insult the reader's intelligence by commenting anything about Naseer. He is firmly established in my personal pantheon and even if he fucks something up (can he really ever fuck anything up? I don't think so), I am so biased in his favour that I will find something great in that too.

"Viveik" Oberoi

If people think Ekta Kapoor has something in her numerological fundas, they might just have something to cheer about. Because Mr 'Viveik' does not fuck this one up. Infact he is what he's supposed to be in this movie:Kesu. Not bad at all. Much better than his previous performances, I'd say.

But just what happened to him. The Chandu of Company definitely has lost his way. He drifted off to 'Home Delivery' and 'Kyun Ho Gaya Na?' and other stuff I don't want to recall. But I sure am glad that he seems to be coming back in form.

Konkana Sen Sharma

Wonderfully rustic-and very east UP type rustic, something that wouldn't have been easy at all. She gives a couple of brilliant scenes especially towards the end when she finally quietens Iago. Brilliantly original! Wah ustad wah!

Kareena Kapoor

She doesn't fuck it up. Maybe because she doesn't get a chance to. But if this is the general trend and not just an odd exception, in her filmography, I am ready to forgive her for things like 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum', where acting is something that she even isn't supposed to do.

Bipasha Basu

Not bad at all.

Himanshu

If I am getting his name right (I think I am), then this guy has given a brilliant debut. He is as pathetic as he is supposed to be. Thin, awkward and pathetically funny and unfortunate at the same time, the ostensibly servile yet vengeful lover, Himanshu is able to translate all complex emotions his character feels onto the celluloid wonderfully well. Brilliant!

On a parting note, I must say that I did not expect the censor board of India to have acted as maturely as they did. Congratulations! We finally saw an uncensored, uncut bawdy and ribaldry filled tragedy of epic proportions.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boss.... ur review is gud... but u r very bad with names.... The ladu who plays Saif's wife is Konkona Sen Sharma not Aparna something.. n that person is also not Himanshu....

Nanga Fakir said...

My mistake. Thanks for pointing out! By the way, can anybody tell me the name of the new guy?

Anonymous said...

Nice Review Andy-ji. This is good motivation to see Omkara and is east UP hindi really unintelligible?

Anonymous said...

@ Amritava
There is nothing like east UP hindi is not good...Its more preciously 'bhojpuri' which is one of the dialect of hindi and is generally spoken in eastern UP and Bihar...

So, there is nothing like Unintelligible hindi

Nanga Fakir said...

Some philologists are of the view that Bhojpuri is NOT a dialect of Hindi but a separate language altogether. So considering that it is substantially different from Hindi (trust me, I know this because I can speak it to an extent), one can expect a subset of the janta not understanding it.

Anonymous said...

ganga par essay likhne ko diya jae aur jamuna par likh aao....essay chahe jitne achchaa ho...magar GANGA par nahi hoga...
pehli baat to nomenclature ki....abe naam nahi yaad aa raha tha to google kar lete...jaise photo ki...ab aakhir main kya karta hoon....newcomer ka naam deepak hai...deepak dobriyal

fir ye tumhe kis bewkoof ne kahaa ki film eastern UP ki thi...ab film thi jila mujaffarnagar ki...bhojpuri ka usmi 1% bhi hissa nahi tha....aur vishal bharadwaj ki sabse kamaal ki cheezo me ye rahi ki usne na kewal language ki sthaaniyata ko banaye rakha...balki characters aur landscape ki....

and why do u say trilogy of tragedies...there were 4 great tragedies i guess

in the end....film was awesome...but maqbool was better

Nanga Fakir said...

Yes Maqbool was better because of the starcast alone, other things not counting.

The trilogy of tragedies that I am talking about is the Trilogy that Vishal Bharadwaj has in mind.

Im not sure which tragedy is going to be the third one adapted by the director.

I accept the name as wrong. The newcomer is Deepak Dobriyal and not Himanshu. Apologies.

However as regards it being a west UP movie, I do not agree.

The brahmin politics detailed in the movie is taken up as it is from the east UP scene. This politics has a distinct identity as compared to the others. Omi Shukla, 'Dolly' Mishra, Langda Tyagi etc are deliberately and thoughtfully chosen names. The brahmin politics of east UP is closer in spirit to that practised in Bihar than in West UP. Moreover, the "Bahu_Bali" funda itself is a funda that is used only in paramilitary organisations of the Brahmin class in east UP. All this is much closer in spirit to the Ranvir Sena-MCC fight that goes on in Bihar and is far removed from that practised in west UP.

Concepts like 'tiya_charita' that are used throughout in the movie have uncommonly large usage in villages near Gorakhpur. Plus one might have noticed that the frequency of cuss words like 'Beti Chod' is much more than 'Madar Chod' and 'Behen Chod'. One might think naively that this is done so as to not draw the ire of the Censor Board but I think its a much more thought out trick than that. The frequency of the word Beti Chod is higher in East UP (and maybe Bihar) than anywhere else in India. Places like Punjab, Delhi, west UP etc use more Behen Chod than Beti Chod (trust me, its an observed fact). I am not forwarding a sociological theory to support my argument but have observed it to be so and state it as thus.

The bridal ceremonies and songs that go on in the background of the movie have full time Bhojpuri songs. Bhojpuri is certainly not spoken in west UP. The dialogues though are not in Bhojpuri. Old songs like "Chalat Musafir Moh Liyo Re" and "Nain lad jahiyen to Manwa maa kasak hoibe kari" are also not full time Bhojpuri. They are a crafty mix of Bhojpuri and Awadhi. The point is that Bhojpuri as such has never been used as such in any Hindi picture in its pure spoken form. Earlier it was 'remixed' with Awadhi. In Omkara, it has been dispensed with completely and the normal Khadi Boli has been substituted for it with a liberal dose of Haryanvi.

Even then the imagery used in the movie is quintessentally Bhojpuri. The entire sequence of dialogues that Saif (Langda Tyagi) uses to describe how Kesu gives the cummerbund to Billo could have been heard under some peepal tree in the villages that i have gone to.

I rest my defence for the time being.

Shubhadeep said...

It is indeed ironical that a plot initially set in 17th century Venetian Gondolas can be applicable to t0 the 21st century Jonga Jeeps and Lorries of U.P. Hats off to Vishal for that !!!

Excellently put down fact, dude !!! Nice blog...

Now to some positive criticism - The only point where I seriously disagree is your point of the stage set in Eastern UP. Firstly, from your reply, it seems you are from Eastern UP and so you can correlate things better. But look from a Western UP's point of view, and you can correlate well.

1) Brahmin politics is very much present in Western UP as well, and much more than in Bihar, where the Yadavs dominate...
2) Now this is interesting... I won't comment on Punjab, Delhi and Haryana, but FYI - don't even utter the word - Behen Chod in Meerut, Modingar, Muradnagar, Muzzafarnagra, Roorkee, Baraut, Bijnor - YOU CAN BE KILLED FOR IT !!! The only abuse thats prevalent there amongst all is "Dhee Chodde" (and Dhee = Beti).
So Places like Punjab, Delhi, west UP etc use more Behen Chod than Beti Chod (trust me, its an observed fact). is a WRONG fact for western UP's point of view.
3) Songs - Yeah... they use a lot of Bhojpuri and Oudhi (especially the beedi song), but a reason behind this can be that the Lyrics have been by Gulzar and songs sung by Sukhvindar Singh and others... none have the western UP dialect. So that was a known mistake even from the director's point of view.
4) Vishal Bhardwaj himself is from Bijnor and claims in quite a few interviews that this depicts a background of western UP.
5) Just before Kichloo was killed, Billo had a dance in a police station. This station was shown very clearly to be Budhana Gate Police Chowki, whih is a very famous police chowki in Meerut. Also, Budhana is a village in District Baraut.

I guess this removes many confusions...

Anonymous said...

i agree with shubajit

Anonymous said...

...sorry, with shubhadeep

Nanga Fakir said...

The proof that the story is set in East UP and NOT in West UP:
http://www.gulzaronline.com/default.asp

...Omkara is yet another shakespeare adaptation by Vishal. This time he has chosen Othello and has chosen "Easten UP's political background" for the canvas of the story to paint the colors of Love, Jealousy, Passion and Crime....