Bollywood embraces Shakespeare

The Bard arrived in Bollywood yesterday with the release of the first big-budget cinema version of a Shakespeare play in India: Omkara, an adaptation of Othello. Instead of the Moor of Venice, the film’s central character is apolitical strongman in the badlands of north India. Translated into Hindi,the film’s writers say they have been faithful to the story of a warriorhero who is innocent in love and hence vulnerable to the treachery of hiscompanion-in-arms. The play’s universal themes, they say, have merely been transported toan Indian setting. “The jealousy, the plotting and the tragedy are allstill there in Omkara. What has changed is that we have tried to make[Othello] understandable to an Indian audience,”” says Abhishek Chaubey,who co-wrote the film. Most notable is that Othello’s racial difference becomes one of caste inIndia. Omkara is a muscle man born of a low caste mother who has emerged asthe local leader of a Brahmin party. He is set to marry a “fair”” daughterof a powerful political chieftain. “Omkara is literally a `half-caste” ruffian who has become a leader.Because of the insecurity about whether he is accepted or not, everythingis destroyed for him. It’s the same in Othello,”” says Chaubey. The film stars some of India’s biggest actors. Kareena Kapoor, whosecareer has rested on a string of romantic leads, plays the role adaptedfrom Desdemona. One of Bollywood’s leading men, Saif Ali Khan, also departsfrom his trademark romeo roles to take on a limping, scheming Iago. And theveteran Bollywood heartthrob, Ajay Devgan, is the character adapted fromOthello. Bollywood is better known for producing lavish song-and-dance routinesthan the raging emotions of Othello. But Omkara mixes the two by making oneof the characters a chanteuse who belts out songs in dingy bars. The film’s crew were behind the previous attempt at adapting Shakespearefor Indian cinema, transplanting Macbeth from the Scottish highlands intothe Mumbai underworld. Considered an arthouse movie, Maqbool garneredcritical and commercial success. “Omkara is much more ambitious. It has big stars, it is a mainstreamformat.It is not arthouse,”” Anupama Chopra, film critic with India Today,said after watching Omkara. “I am not sure they realised what [thefilmmakers] sought to achieve, but you have to applaud their ambition.””

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