Omkara

I watched Omkara Friday, first day last show. Next day rediff.com ran a story "Nobody is watching Omkara". I guess thats how I got my tickets.



My years, Opu's cynicism and my disgust for journos make me give a damn about reviews. But I do read reviews. Only after watching the movie. They help me form an opinion about the reviewer. Most come cheap. Some, a little more expensive. Depends on which publication you belong. So Raja Sen be damned. Rediff is not as big.

My schooling helped me to catch up with Shakespeare very early. That definitely contributed to my going on and studying English. That is helping me to earn a living today. So I owe a lot to the bard. Tongue in cheek, many might thus give only 50% of credit to Vishal Bhardwaj. But I guess somebody like him would not care. He is possibly busy shaping his next milestone.

A little about the movie and it will all sound too hackneyed.

Omkara is poetry in motion. But think of the poem as a Trekker on the roads of a hot and sweltering Gorakhpur. And you catch some pretty but burnt nubile damsels who are washing their hearts and soul along the ghats oblivious to any onlooker.

Omkara is sweet, salty, gross and intoxicating. The UP badlands could not have looked more bad and authentic. The characters seem to have just walked out of a train from Chapra.

Ajay was expected to be in his motions just like he was in so many before. So it was given. Kareena for a change looked small and non-Kapoorish. Konkona consistently surprised. This time we saw her bare back. But its the devilish Langda Tyagi that takes the cake. Saif strode, strutted and walked away with the film. India's Iago will be etched in my memory. What a performance.

Omkara is all gyro. It sends you in a spin. Everything about the movie goes to your head. The violence, the romance and ofcourse Bipasha's "Beedi". The mother of all items, Bipasha made me feel like a physically challenged. I am 32, son of one of the best whistlers and I could not whistle. Like an untamed testosterone she was running through the veins of Saif and Vivek and choreographing their aggro dance.

But that is the beauty of the movie. Everything seem raw and uncooked. Everything is left to be natural. As natural as a raw mango on a summer afternoon tossed with coarse ground chilli and dandi salt. But that is easier said than done. Its a lot of hardwork.

My high point of the movie apart from the Beedi number - Langda pats on the back of Raju and you can catch a fluff of dust that his shawl gives forth. This is cinematographer's Tassqud Hussain's first movie. But the canvas that he paints will make me wait for his next.

It was indeed a strain to understand the Avadhi. But does it matter. Omkara is about the visual and emotional. It does not need a language to enjoy.

Vishal Bhardwaj calls it his sophomore effort. Go on Vishal, I am waiting for your graduation. Make your next movie with Aamir and I will watch first day first show. Karan Johar, you have your crowds to please and pockets to fill but this is moviemaking at its best.