Othello

In his lecture on Othello, the critic Harold Bloom has this memorable line: “Shakespeare was the greatest theorist of sexual jealousy the world had ever seen before the advent of Freud and Proust”. While ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ had jealousy as one of its themes, it is in Othello that Shakespeare explores this in all its macabre dimensions.

Othello’s plot is probably the most popular one of Shakespeare. Othello, a Moor is manipulated by his ensign, Iago, into believing that his innocent wife Desdemona has been unfaithful. Consumed by jealousy and unable to see through Iago’s lies, Othello murders Desdemona. In the end, he kills himself when he comes to know of Iago’s malice.

Amongst all the interpretations that I read, some of the most striking ones have been around Desdemona’s choice of marrying Othello. She was royalty from Venice while he, a Moor, was a warrior from a different class. It was clearly a match of opposites. The play also touches upon the tension between domestic and marital responsibilities.

On the choice of naming the villain Iago, Shakespeare again reveals his genius for weaving history, symbolism, and myth into his characters. Iago is the Spanish form of James who as the patron saint of Spain was also called the ‘Moor-slayer’.

Now, coming to the adaptations. Twenty years back, Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Omkara’ boasted of a star-studded cast and did an ok job of adapting the play. By setting it in the Badlands of UP and foregrounding it against the backdrop of gun-wielding gangs, Bharadwaj did something unique. Compared to the usual trash that Bollywood usually dishes out, this one was a commendable effort.

O Saathi Re, with Gulzar’s lyrics and Bharadwaj’s music was also a haunting composition especially when one knows that the love and playfulness is heading towards a bloody, violent end:

Kaliyattam, though released in 1997, was a movie that I’d never seen until now. Jayaraj’s version of Othello, is set against the vibrant and ritualistic backdrop of Theyyam in North Kerala. Manju Warrier as Desdemona was spot on and the lush greenery of rural Palakkad (where the movie was shot) and the cinematography of M. J Radhakrishnan, stole the show. The movie is hands down the best adaptation of Othello.

The song ‘Ennondenthini Pinakkam’ was a hit when the movie released. Now, after watching the movie, the pathos it evokes is all the more profound. A confused Desdemona wonders aloud why the love of her life is all of a sudden so full of rage. Kaithapram’s lyrics and the composition set to Shahana is definitely an evergreen one.  

Orson Welle’s adaptation has some spectacular visuals of Venice which make it worth checking

Earlier this year, the great Denzel Washington played Othello and some of the tickets of this hit show were priced above $900! Washington is apparantly a Shakespeare freak and this quirky clip from the Graham Norton Show has him reciting the Bard’s lines on the spot! How cool is he…

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The Shakespeare Project so far: Macbeth | The Tempest | The Merchant of Venice | Twelfth Night | As You Like It | Much Ado About Nothing | King Lear | Hamlet | Julius Caesar | Antony and Cleopatra | Coriolanus | A Midsummer Night’s Dream