Ajay Devgn played Omkara (Othello), a half-caste political enforcer, while Saif Ali Khan delivered a career-defining performance as the scheming Langda Tyagi (Iago).
FEW playwrights have influenced global film adaptations like William Shakespeare has, and his journey through Indian cinema is no exception.
Given the long British colonial history of India, it’s not surprising that Shakespeare was very popular in the country, with first theatre and, after the advent of cinema, films being influenced by the Bard’s collection of works.
From 19th-century Parsi street theatre to gritty modern crime noir, Indian filmmakers have brought Elizabethan tragedy, romance, and comedy within the fabric of Indian culture.
Across the Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi film industries, filmmakers have not merely translated Shakespeare’s work word-for-word. Instead, they have dismantled his plays, reassembling them within local socio-political dynamics, folk performance aesthetics, and distinct regional sensibilities to appeal to local audiences.
