Dolly Mishra in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara (2006): A Feminist Reading of the Film.

Abstract

The legacy of the Shakespearean plays has been the subject of much scholarly analysis over the centuries. Indeed, so powerful are Shakespearean creations that they not only dominate English literature and English studies, but also have successfully transcended the bounds of culture. Shakespeare’s “divine worth” has proven to be so overpowering that, “like the sun it burns while generations pass”. Shakespeare continues to speak to us, generation after generation, throughout the countries and cultures of the world. His renditions are still so contemporary, so very modern, posing fundamental questions that have become particularly acute in the contemporary era. Heralding a celebration of the human spirit, triumphant even when it is vanquished, Shakespeare’s plays probe and inquire into the intractable issues of the self and the other, the individual and the community, and the very purpose of life. Rarely if ever, is one of his many plays not being performed somewhere in the world, and similarly rare is the tertiary English literature scholar and teacher who has not examined his work at length. His plays are seen, read, and studied across the globe as models of high culture and timeless art.