Aesthetic Experience across Media: A Study of Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara and William Shakespeare's Othelllo in The Light of the Rasa Theory as Expounded in Bharata's N¹­Ya¶¹Stra

Abstract

That art has a universal and timeless appeal is a fact we are well-acquainted with, which is why texts and movies, plays and musical performances travel across spatial and temporal boundaries. The present paper seeks to study the principle of aesthetic pleasure in William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello (first performed in 1604) and Vishal Bhardwaj's Hindi adaptation of the same, the Hindi motion picture Omkara (2006), by drawing categories from the tradition of Indian poetics and aesthetic philosophy, with special reference to the rasa theory of Bharata, keeping the movie at the centre of the discussion and drawing comparative references from the play. The primary aim of the paper will be to locate the sources of the aesthetic appeal that both the movie and the play have for the audience, also shedding light on the process of the aesthetic experience in the audience.