| Title: |
Remaking Othello in India: Race, Caste, and Colorism in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (2006) |
| Authors: |
Mathur, Maya |
| Source: |
English and Linguistics |
| Publisher Information: |
Eagle Scholar |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
Eagle Scholar University of Mary Washington |
| Subject Terms: |
Omkara; Vishal Bhardwaj; Caste; Colorism; Race; Masculinity; East Asian Languages and Societies; Literature in English; Anglophone outside British Isles and North America |
| Description: |
This essay examines Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (2006), a Hindi-language adaptation of Othello, through the lens of premodern critical race studies and anti-caste studies. Tracing the structural similarities between race and caste, I argue that the film stages a conflict between the rhetoric of castelessness embraced by its eponymous hero, Omkara, and the casteist beliefs of its antagonist, Ishwar “Langda” Tyagi. I consider the repercussions of these narratives on the kinship network to which both characters belong and suggest that Langda favors a patriarchal masculinity based on alliances with dominant-caste men whereas Omkara forges relationships across caste and gender lines. I demonstrate that Langda’s quest for caste-patriarchal domination reminds Omkara of the terms of his marginalization, severs his relationship with his paternal ancestry, and relegates him to the company of women. I conclude by suggesting that Omkara’s relationship with Langda’s wife, Indu, imagines an alternative to the world of caste masculinity. Attending to caste and colorism not only sheds light on the alignment between historical structures of oppression, but also invites us to reflect on the role that appropriations of Shakespeare can play in critiquing these structures. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
https://scholar.umw.edu/elc/28 |
| DOI: |
10.18274/zh8ve027 |
| Availability: |
https://scholar.umw.edu/elc/28; https://doi.org/10.18274/zh8ve027; https://borrowers-ojs-azsu.tdl.org/borrowers/article/view/406 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.D3D736B |
| Database: |
BASE |