Chandigarh, May 16
Vishal Bhardwaj is busy cooking a surprise these days. Carefully treading the razor edge path between aesthetics and commerce, the reticent filmmaker is finally luring his fans with the promise of fair balance.
Small wonder then that his star cast sounds tall as his dream. Working with him on the Hindi adaptation of Shakespeare's classic "Othello" are doyens of Bollywood - from Naseerudin Shah, Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali to Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha and Vivek Oberoi. Also in the team are two humble faces from the city - ones that have lent it an edge when it comes to delivering sensible cinema.
For Kamal and Dolly Tewari, "Onkara" is not the first project with musician-filmmaker Vishal. They have earlier been associated with him in "Blue Umbrella". But the charm of "Onkara" is special, so much so that it sets the film apart from the other projects Vishal has handled in the past.
The couple asserts, "Working with Vishal was challenging and convenient at the same time. He managed to strike a rapport with each one of his team members. Under his wings, the script flowed effortlessly from paper to screen as if it were meant to evolve the way it did."
On the eve of the film's travel to Cannes Film festival where it will be promoted by Ajay Devgan's company Big Screen which has produced it, Kamal and Dolly Tewari discussed its nuances - which are impressive from the surface. The film is a rustic remake of "Othello", and explores the deepest fears of people as they battle the conflicts created by a politics of caste and
class. While Kamal Tewari plays the Desdemona's (played by Kareena) father in the film, Dolly Tiwari stitches up the right patterns to lend a personality to it. As head of the film's costume unit, she spent days surveying the alleys of towns in western Uttar Pradesh where the film is set. Hers' was perhaps the toughest job as it involved appeasing a range of stars - some conflicting ones like Bipasha and Kareena, some fastidious ones like Vivek Oberoi and some self assured ones like Naseerudin Shah.
"I went for cotton and moulded its look to suit the sensibility of the characters in question. We matched Othello's sandy looks by playing with the texture of fabrics and lent somewhat cryptic hues to Yago's attire. On the whole the project was fun, thanks to Vishal who made everything worthwhile. He knew where to draw the line and how," Dolly Tewari said.
Her better half Kamal could not have praised the director more. Faced with the task of matching up to actors like Naseeruddin Shah, he spoke of the facilitation Vishal ensured, and of the right doses of anxiety which enhanced his acting prowess.
"I was taken in by the range of emotions which my part offered. It had shades of grey, black and white. I play a parochial feudal, who is at cross with the world for certain circumstances that besot him. The film is about everything coming a full circle, and it is realistic and contemporary," Kamal Tewari said.
For a filmmaker of Vishal's perspective, "Othello" would have been tempting enough. The filmmaker as has a fascination for Shakespeare (his "Maqbool" was an adaptation of "Macbeth"). But "Othello" is uniquely placed as it touches diverse planes. The film seems to explore contemporary sensibilities in simplistic fashion. On the face of it, it does not sound flamboyant in content, though its production cost is more than flamboyant at a whopping 20 crore.
Expenditure apart, the film reflects freshness. Whether it is refreshing will be seen on July 28 when "Onkara" will hit the cinemas.
