FILM · 2006 · INDIA
Omkara
27 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (27)
- #001
This was Saif Ali Khan's second negative role. It was appreciated by both critics and audiences, and he won awards for his performance.
- #002
Aamir Khan was initially willing to play the role of Langda Tyagi. He was ready to take the part; however, director Vishal Bhardwaj later dropped Aamir and instead signed Saif Ali Khan to play the role. This caused tension between Aamir and Vishal for a while, but they later patched things up and were on good terms again.
- #003
The film's title "Omkara" was decided through a public contest. Three names were shortlisted for the title, and the public voted by SMS to choose their favorite. The shortlisted names included "Omkara", "O Saathi Re" and "Issak" (the western UP pronunciation of the word "Ishq"). The public voted overwhelmingly in favor of "Omkara". However, all three possible names are songs in the film's soundtrack ("Issak" is another name for the song "Namak").
- #004
Om Puri and Anupam Kher were considered for the role of Bhaisaab before Naseerudin Shah was cast.
- #005
Irrfan Khan was offered the role of Kesu but turned it down due to a lack of dates, so Vivek Oberoi was brought in for the role.
- #006
Apparently Aamir Khan suggested the film's idea to director Vishal Bhardwaj. At one point Aamir was to co-produce the film with Vishal and also play the role of Langda Tyagi, but after Bhardwaj's later meeting with Saif Ali Khan, he decided to cast him in the role, which left Aamir out of the picture.
- #007
In the film's final section, Saif Ali Khan (Ishwar 'Langda' Tyagi) shoots Vivek Oberoi (Keshav 'Kesu Firangi' Upadhyay) by resting a rifle on Deepak Dobriyal's (Rajan 'Rajju' Tiwari) shoulder. This symbolized the role reversal of the two characters. At first Rajan influences Tyagi and uses him against Omkara, but later Tyagi uses Rajan to save himself from the consequences of the chaos he created.
- #008
Manoj Bajpayee wanted the role of Langda Tyagi in Omkara, but Vishal could not sign him due to financial reasons with the distributors.
- #009
At the Goa film festival, Vishal Bhardwaj presented the film's script to Naseeruddin Shah; Shah mocked it, saying he considered Othello the weakest play and that making a film of it would be a disaster. The next day he pushed Vishal to give him the role of Bhaisahab, and after reading the script no one else played it. He told Vishal that this would be an important film and that he wanted to be part of it.
- #010
Saif Ali Khan was very excited and learned the U. P. dialect for the film.
- #011
Vivek Oberoi read the script and wanted to play the role of Langda Tyagi. However, Ajay Devgan insisted that he play the role of Kesu.
- #012
Vishal Bhardwaj drew on his childhood experience with a gangster named Tyagi who lived near his school. The 'Tyagi Hostel' in the film is named after him. The name Langda also comes from a schoolmate who was disabled but a bully.
- #013
The names of all the main characters begin with the same letter as the corresponding characters in the original Shakespeare play The Tragedy of Othello. Omkara is based on Othello, Dolly on Desdemona, Keshav on Cassio, Billo on Bianca, Rajan on Roderigo, Ishwar Tyagi on Iago and Indu on Emilia.
- #014
Vishal Bhardwaj composed the music while traveling and scouting locations, and he had no time left because casting was complete and shooting was about to begin. Nevertheless, the film's music is regarded as a masterpiece.
- #015
Dolly Ahluwalia's official photograph is used as Satya Tripathi on a political poster at Tiwari Bhaisaab's rally.
- #016
The scene in which Dolly (Kareena Kapoor) confesses her love to Omkara (Ajay Devgn) is the only scene in the film featuring all the main characters (Omkara, Dolly, Langda Tyagi, Kesu Firangi, Tiwari Bhaisaab and Dolly's father).
- #017
The song in the first trailer is sung by either Vishal Dadlani or Sukhvinder Singh.
- #018
Omkara is part of Vishal Bhardwaj's trilogy of Shakespeare adaptations. In all three films, the title character's name matches the title character of the story or play they are adapted from: "Maqbool" matches "Macbeth," "Omkara" matches "Othello," and "Haider" matches "Hamlet."
- #019
This was the fifth and final time Vivek Oberoi and Ajay Devgn appeared together in a film.
- #020
While rehearsing the song Namak with his wife Rekha, he used the slang phrase 'haaye… namak issk ka.' At that moment Vishal decided to give her a break, thinking no one could sing the song better than she could. She also sang another song, 'Laakad.'.
- #021
Saif Ali Khan and Ajay Devgn appeared together in a film for the third time.
- #022
The film was released in cinemas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- #023
The film was shot with synchronized sound.
- #024
While shooting the first scene together, Saif was impressed by Deepak Dobriyal's acting and asked Vishal who he was and where he came from.
- #025
Kareena and Bipasha worked together after their fight in Ajnabee, but they had no scenes together.
- #026
Vishal Bhardwaj considered Aamir Khan for the character of Langda Tyagi. However, during discussions he asked for changes, which did not work out.
- #027
Esha Deol was first offered Kareena Kapoor's role.
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