Vishal Bhardwaj the maker of “Omkara” which is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Othello” has given a dash of Uttar Pradesh’s politics to Shakespeare’s masterpiece. He has made sure that a person from this state can actually relate to the characters, which have been played beautifully. He does not alter the main idea of the story of “Othello” but just makes a few changes here and there.

The movie revolves around the characters Othello known as Omkara played by Ajay Devgan, Desdemona as Dolly Mishra played by Kareena Kapoor, and Iago as Langda Tyagi played by Saif Ali Khan, Cassio as Kesu Firangi played by Vivek Oberoi and Indu his wife played by Konkana Sen.

It begins with a conversation between Langda Tyagi and Rajan (Roderigo) who is on his way to marry Dolly. Langda tells him that Omkara has abducted Dolly who had fallen in love with him. Bhai Saab played by Naseeruddin Shah is a political figure who is Dolly’s father; he is outraged when Omkara chooses Kesu Firangi as his successor.

On the other hand, Langda who was always in the hope of being Omkara’s successor is filled with envy. He plans to create a rift between Omkara and Kesu as soon as possible. First he gets Kesu drunk who creates a brawl, which angers Omi, and then he tries and convinces Kesu that the only way he could win back the trust of Omi was through Dolly.

Kesu asks Dolly to plead his case to Omi, when she does it completely poisons Omi’s mind as he starts suspecting that there is something going on between the two. Langda too takes advantage of this situation and plots a story that Kesu and Dolly are having an affair.

But Omi wants evidence about Dolly’s unfaithfulness, which comes in the form of a cummerbund that had been given to Dolly by him. Indu who later gives it to Kesu stole this cummerbund. Omi sees this cummerbund with Kesu’s mistress Billo played by Bipasha Basu and his fears are confirmed. After this Omi destroys his own world as jealousy blinds him.

Omkara may not be liked by a large number of people to make it a super hit but it certainly makes an interesting watch. All the characters from Billo to Dolly have been played very well; one can definitely call them as roles of substance.

Vishal Bharadwaj with his integrity and professionalism has certainly made a laudable attempt in making the film by mixing drama, violence and humor in bits.

Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivek Oberoi, Bipasha Basu and Konkana Sen.