The promotional material for Vishal Bhardwaj's "Omkara" has landed at the Nice Cote d'Azur airport, the gateway to Cannes. But there is no sign of the man yet. The buzz is
that he will be here any day now.
Bhardwaj's new film is one of the few Indian entries that are being eagerly awaited by both prospective international buyers and festival organisers. The air cargo box that
landed at the airport this morning had the title "Omkara" unambiguously emblazoned on it.
So finally, all lingering doubts seem to be out of the way. After much deliberation over what the title of the film should be, Bhardwaj has decided to stick to "Omkara". As the
film's lyricist Gulzar says: "The title has a nice, evocative ring to it."
When a wordsmith of the veteran lyricist's stature vouches for it, "Omkara" it has to be. It now remains to be seen whether Bhardwaj's Othello adaptation does justice to the
power of the title and strikes a chord in the Cannes Film Market.
Saturday, May 20, 2006 11:36 IST