Omkara

Omkara poster for sale.

Featured here is an actual surviving original Bollywood poster of the critically acclaimed 2006 Hindi movie directed by Vishal Bhardwaj that starred Ajay Devgn in the titular role as Omkara ‘Omi’ Shukla.

Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Bipasha Basu played supporting roles in the film.

Adapted from Shakespeare’s Othello, Omkara was a massive success overseas. The film quickly entered the UK’s Top Ten. Ajay Devgn’s performance was considered to be the finest of his career and Saif Ali Khan’s depiction of “Langda Tyagi” received unanimous critical acclaim. Konkana Sen Sharma won a National Award for her performance as Indu Tyagi in the film.

Omkara won three National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards in total. Internationally, the film won three awards at the Kara Film Festival and an award at the Asian Festival of First Films. Omkara was showcased in the Marché du Film section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival along with a book on the making of the film. It was also screened at the Cairo International Film Festival, where Vishal Bhardwaj was awarded for Best Artistic Contribution in Cinema of a Director, making this Ajay Devgan movie poster, highly collectible!

Printed and circulated on 7th January, 2006, a full seven months before the first release of the movie, this Ajay Devgan film poster was originally designed for publicity of the film but never ended up being used.

The three key characters of the film, Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan and Vivek Oberoi are seen in large profile close ups in this Hindi film poster. The sizes of the faces almost seem to be directly proportional to their screen time in the film. A washed out and rustic background is seen in this Ajay Devgan movie poster.

The title of the film appears in a very stylized Devanagari Hindi font in this Omkara poster. A line at the bottom of this Saif Ali Khan movie poster reads, “Based on Shakespeare’s Othello.”

The soundtrack of Omkara was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and the lyrics were penned by Gulzar. Upon its release, the film’s music became a rage throughout the nation. Songs from the film, most notably “Beedi Jalaile” sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and “Namak Ishq Ka” sung by Rekha Bhardwaj are played till today as well as watched on video for Bipasha Basu’s iconic dance moves. “Naina Thag Lenge” sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and the title track “Omkara” sung by Sukhwinder Singh are fondly remembered as well.

The track “Beedi Jalaile” was used as the theme song of a Brazilian TV soap opera called Caminho das Índias. Following the release and popularity of the soap, “Beedi” was played on pop radio stations all over Brazil, becoming the first song sung completely in Hindi to achieve this feat.