CANNES: The Omkara book launch party took place in style on Cannes Carlton Nikki plage, one of the fanciest addresses to party in the sea resort..Vivek Oberoi summed up the occasion in the perfect manner when he said, that the adaptation of Shakespear’s Othello was the best way to communicate to the cinema world that Indian filmdom means business.
Hosted by Eros International ‘s Kishore Lulla, the party had the creme de la creme of the filmworld in presence. Distributors from the US, East Aftica, Canada, India, England, France, Germany, Poland – they were all there to raise a toast to Lulla and the team that is creating the movie.
This apart the film’s star cast: Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, scriptwriter Abhishek, director Vishal Bhardwaj, singer Rekha Bhardwaj, Ashok Amritaj, Jagmohan Mundra, Sahara One’s Sandeep Bhargava, One Dollar Curry maker Paris based Vijay Singh, Gurinder Chedda with her husband, Ruchi Narain, Bobby Bedi, Krishna Shah, Sabbas Joseph, film producer Mangat, Poonam Dhillon, BBC’s Parminder Vir, Karan Johar, Suneel Darshan – it was almost as if Bollywood had descended on Cannes.
Bhardwaj who has also directed Maqbool and Makdee said it had been his dream to make Othello but he never understood Shakespeare in school. Then he read a simplified version of the same, and he was hooked. He mooted the idea to Ajay Devgan who then agreed to work in the film as Othello.
The book was launched by Ashok Amritaj and Kishore Lulla who also celebrated his daughers birthday.
The food was exquisite, the drinks continued to flow, the promo of the film drew applause and the title song had many a foreigner tapping their feet.
With a reaction such as this, the film looks likely to be a runaway winner
