Comments on: Omkara- Review by Priyangini Mehta

by: Daniel

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:53:21 +0000

I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Omkara- Review by Priyangini Mehta, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

by: Pooja

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:26:13 +0000

Hi there, i must say that the views given by you were extremely helpful. It must be mentioned without fail that this film tends to raise semiotic meanings which are lying deep. The conotations and the denotations offered by Vishal Bharadwaj give an insight of the humans. Though Omkaara is just a work of fiction, still it makes us draw and identify to the characters. The similarities and differences can be realised by a simple fact that how simple integrities are reflected in the film in the most subtle manner.

Your review has helped me in a great deal as I have taken up to do a semiotic analysis of Omkara for academic purposes.

by: priyangini

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:18:19 +0000

hi manishbhai, point taken but to my defence I will say the following, firstly I think sterotyping is a harsh word, you can call it generalising but to say that I fall prey to sterotypes is unfair. When I bunch up UP/ Bihar I am guilty of a common error which we all make. I don’t know the languages or the dialects of the state of UP or Bihar or MP, I am not supposed to because I am a gujju in the same way as you are not supposed to know the difference between surti, kathiawadi, kutchi or Mumbaiya gujju.
Whenever you see a gujju character in a movie you generalise its behaviour and language because that is what believe gujjus to be. similarly there is a certain type of dialects which may differ from each other but for people like me and many other Bengalis, south Indian, punjabis who are not from that particular state would bunch it up as North Indian or UP/ Bihar.
I did the review as a layperson and for a layperson thats what the language seems like.

by: priyangini

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:03:26 +0000

hi Mahek, hope you have seen omkara by now. and how did you like KANK?

by: priyangini

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 05:02:29 +0000

hey gaurav, long time, kahan rehete ho? You can disagree abt Kareena but have you read Othello? If you have you will know the intensity of Desdemona’s character. She is a complicated woman sometimes negating her own positive and vica versa, I could not see any of that in Kareena not that I had expected to see it but I had hoped that Vishal Bhardwaj would be able to bring something out of her. btw thanks for liking the review.

by: illusion

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:19:05 +0000

A very good read. Priyangini is right when she says Maqbool had set very high standard…right, Omkara lacked Maqbool’s pathos and intensity. Thanks, Deepak…for you effort…

by: Gaurav

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:39:15 +0000

Very true Manish…
Am from Northern MP and i was able to comprehend the dialect totally!

by: Manish

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:21:05 +0000

Hi Priyangini , though I have a slightly different take on the movie, but review is excellent. Definitely, movie is not a patch on Maqbool.

The only problem I found was that you also fell prey to stereotypes. First of all, UP and Bihar are not siamese twins so please treat them differently. I will tell you why.

The dialect(not language) in the movie would be as difficult to comprehend to a Bihari, a central/eastern UPite as to you, or for that matter any Hindi knowing(MP/Rajasthan etc) person in India.

Bihari speak Bhopuri and Maithli dialect. Urban UPites speak Khadi Boli - the Hindi in the text books. Rural UPites speak Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Bundelkhandi.

But the dialect used in the movie is used in Harayana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Northern Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

So no Bihari would understand, not many UPites would understand. But yes, whole of Haryana, Westen UP, Rajasthan would understand it properly.

by: Mehak

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:37:52 +0000

have to watch this movie…probably this weekend.
Saw KANK yday.
n Sir update karo

by: Gaurav

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 05:24:04 +0000

Here after a long long time..Infact to anyblog after a long gap! Havent been to mine either! And the surprise!! Priyangini managed to come out of self imposed hibernation and wrote this beautiful review..Brilliant…I loved the movie too..so much that i have already watched it twice! But yes..Maqbool will remain the best..
The only point where i beg to differ with u is Kareena Issue..I mean i second ur opinion that she is a pathetic actress, but i guess she was pretty OK in this movie..afterall she didnt have much to do in the movie apart from ” giggling in the first half and crying in the second” which, i think she did pretty well! I mean u cannot compare her with the goddess Konkana!