Bollywood News

After a lot of heartburn, confusion and passionate debate, the title of Vishal Bharadwaj's film based on Shakespeare's "Othello" has been decided by a poll. "Omkara" it is.

When the cast and crew failed to choose an apt title out of three options - "Omkara", "Issak" and "O Saathi Re" - it was decided that it should be finalised by an audience poll.

Kumar Mangat, the producer of the film, tied up with newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Net and asked readers and listeners to send their opinion. More than 80 percent voted for "Omkara".

"We received 2.5 million votes from all over the world and 80 percent of the people voted for 'Omkara'. 'Omkara' is larger than life and we always wanted to have a title beginning with 'O'," said Mangat.

Ajay Devgan, who plays the title role in the film, is not so happy. He said: "I wanted 'Issak'. People were a bit confused and that is why we had an audience poll. Now there's no confusion."

However, Saif Ali Khan is thrilled with the result and said: "I am very happy, as I was always partial to the title 'Omkara'."

Bipasha Basu, one of the female leads in the film, gave a diplomatic response.

"'Omkara' is the director's vision and when the director is happy, everyone is happy. Keeping the essence of 'Othello' intact, 'Omkara' is an entertainer with commercial actors, treated realistically in a completely different set-up and with beautiful cinematography," she said.