“Did you read Othello before signing Omkara?”

  • IndiaGlitz, [Saturday,July 22 2006]

Bipasha was dressed in a bizarre green polka dotted dress. Ajay preferred the black shirt to go with his extra-lean frame. He also had a constant companion in a flickering-with-disdain cigarette (We would have preferred Kajol instead). Viveik sauntered on the horse of bulging ego and was smeared with a full bottle of poisonous perfume.

Saif Ali Khan was a picture of cool-n-etiquettes. I heard a Mom squealing to her two kids “Go get his autograph”. Well, the press briefing of Vishal Bharadwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ ‘Omkara’ at a suburban seven star hotel in Mumbai was an animated affair.

There were three sections for the television personnel (Considering their overwhelming numbers). Each of the stars was allowed five to seven minutes at each junction by their overzealous publicists. And then they moved on to the next juncture like a king or an empress followed by their devotees.

A thin looking man (Eager to be the captain of the media) perched himself in the middle of a hemispherical enclosure surrounded by hundreds of television cameras of all shapes-n-sizes.

He asked the same question in a crow-like-Hindi to all of them “Did you read the play Othello before taking up this film”, “And did you know the character that you were playing”. Viveik Oberoi put him in a spot by replying, “I know as much about my character as you do. I have read the play long ago. I am sure you must have read it as well.”

The bossy publicist seemed to be on a stop watch. For as the women scribes were getting eager to ask questions with Saif, he showed them the red card, “Last question.” To add to the misery was a sudden ringing tone of a mobile phone.

The poor cameraman whose phone it was had to bear the brunt of several scorns-n-shshshsh. I think I would have to wait for ‘Omkara’ to release in theatres on 28th July to get the taste of the classic. This chaotic press conference didn’t reveal much anyways.

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