Movie Name: Omkara
Language: Hindi
Genre: Crime Drama
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Bipasha Basu, Deepak Dobriyal
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Year Of Release: 2006
Set in Meerut, Tiwari Bhaisaab is a local politician and Omkara Shukla or Omi, is his political enforcer or bahubali. Ishwar ‘Langda' Tyagi and Keshav ‘Kesu Firangi' Upadhyaya are Omi's closest lieutenants. Omi is in love with Dolly, the daughter of an advocate. When Dolly elopes with Omi, the advocate plants a seed of doubt in Omi's mind regarding her. When Bhaisaab is elected for parliament, Omkara is promoted from bahubali to the candidate for the upcoming state elections. The trouble starts when Omkara appoints Kesu over Langda as his successor once he enters politics himself. Langda, disappointed with Omkara's poor judgment and jealous of Kesu, swears to seek revenge. He starts to disrepute Dolly by implicating Kesu's visits to her as an illicit affair between the two.
Will Langda be successful in his endeavor? Will love triumph and Omi trust Dolly over Langda? Who gets to be next Bahubali?
What I loved about it:
If you have been following all my posts for A to Z this year, you will notice that I have listed almost all of Vishal Bhardwaj movies here. I love the genius that Vishal Bhardwaj is. The way he interprets a story and sets it in something totally unimaginable and still pull it off with conviction is totally applaudable. This is his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. Earlier he made Macbeth into Maqbool, which I'm yet to watch. Later he made Hamlet as Haider, which I loved. I've read all of Shakespeare’s classics in school and never for once imagined Othello to be set in Meerut!
Ajay Devgn is the perfect Omkara and in my opinion is one of the best actors we have today. He makes wrong choices with movies at times and at times the right movies fail him. Either way, we cannot deny the brilliant actor that he is. As Omkara, he toggles between the possessive lover and the fearless warrior with ease. He's the backbone of the movie and well deserved so. Having said that, if Omkara is the backbone, Langda Tyagi is the flesh and blood of the movie. Saif Ali Khan in his career best role as Langda, is a delight to watch! He's menacing, conniving and yet so adorably funny when it comes to the dark humor. I just cannot imagine the movie without him. Kareena is fantastic in her understated role too. Another actor who stands out in this movie is Konkona as Indu, Langda's fiery wife.
Everything about this movie is so good that I cannot flaw it even when Vivek Oberoi is a part of it. Vishal Bharadwaj's haunting music elevates the movie perfectly making it one hell of a cinematic experience. I love all the songs of this movie! They have the soul of every character in each one of them. The climax of the movie is so well shot that you feel for all the characters involved. Brilliantly conceptualized and an excellent cast makes this movie one of my favorite Hindi movies of all time.
A very special mention to the dialogues to his one. As crass as some are, they are brilliant!
Runners-up: Ocean's Eleven (English), Ocean's Thirteen (English).
This post is a part of the A To Z Challenge for April, where my theme for this year is Movies I Love.
