As Omkara marks 20 years this month, Saif Ali Khan has looked back on one of the film’s most memorable sequences, revealing that director Vishal Bhardwaj had once suggested he perform the scene without clothes.
What’s Happening
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Saif recalled an incident from the shoot when Bhardwaj suggested a different approach for a key scene.
“I remember one incident from the film. There was a kind of long dialogue in front of this mirror. And I remember Vishal ji saying, ‘Would you mind doing it naked?’ It was a very exciting thing, but I was a bit conscious because there was a huge crowd on the set. So I remember saying to him, ‘Listen, if you direct me naked, I’ll do it.’ And he said, ‘No, I won’t.’ So, yeah, that was the funny part,” he said.
Looking back at the moment, Saif admitted he now feels he should have agreed to the idea.
“Even now, when I look back, I wouldn’t have minded. Maybe I should have, in the sense that he shoots from the back, in silhouette. I think it would have looked great. Since we were doing new things, this would have been something. Yeah, I mean, I’d do it today.”
The actor also shared that Bhardwaj made a major creative change to the sequence shortly before filming.
“There was a long dialogue where I was saying, ‘You haven’t made me the Bahubali, and now I’ll do this,’ etc., making very explicit his ideas of revenge to the mirror. At the last minute, he came up to me on set and said, ‘I don’t want you to say any dialogues. I’ve got an idea.'”
Saif then explained how the filmmaker envisioned the scene.
“So he said, ‘I want you to stand in front of the mirror. I’ll come in on a trolley behind you, we’ll give you some metal in your hand, something heavy, like a hammer, and I want you to smash the mirror yourself and break it. Hopefully it’ll fracture into these different pieces of your face. Your hand will bleed from the impact of hitting it, and I want you to rub the blood across your whole forehead, anoint yourself with blood, and you’re going to get him. That’s it. You don’t need to say any dialogues.’ And I thought, ‘Yes, you’re right. I don’t need to. This is the whole scene in one shot.’ And how economical and clever. So there were lots of things like that happening.”
Background
In an earlier interview with Film Companion, Saif also addressed reports that Aamir Khan had initially been considered for the role of Langda Tyagi.
“Yes, that is what I heard later,” Saif said, adding, “Vishal said, ‘He was asking me a lot of questions and he wanted to alter things.'”
He further recalled, “Aamir must have just had a discussion with him, but Vishal apparently said he would call him back and then called me instead. He just said it is not going to work because he wasn’t sure it was going to go the way Aamir wanted. It was not something Vishal was comfortable with following.”
Based on Othello by William Shakespeare, Omkara remains one of Hindi cinema’s most acclaimed literary adaptations. Set against the backdrop of rural North India, the film explored themes of power, caste and patriarchy. Saif’s performance as Langda Tyagi went on to become one of the most celebrated roles of his career.
Saif Ali Khan was last seen in Kartavya.