Bollywood is Shakespeare's stage

New Delhi: For Shakespeare all the world's a stage and in this past decade, lovers of the Bard have ensured that Bollywood becomes an extension of that stage.

Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara, is the latest Indian adaptation of Othello, one of the four great tragedies by Shakespeare.

Cleverly translocated to the rustic township in Uttar Pradesh, Vishal has been promising not to tamper with the theme of extreme sexual jealousy.

Guess audiences will have to wait till Ajay Devgan smothers Kareena Kapoor to account for that.

In 2003, Bharadwaj's adaptation of Maqbool based on Macbeth was unanimously hailed. Commercially it didnt really create records, but loves labour was not entirely lost.

Outside the Mumbai film industry, Suresh Gopi's performance as Othello clinched a National Award for him in Jayaraj's Kalliyattam.

This Malayalam film was path breaking because it reimagined Shakespeare not in context, it successfully recharacterised some major roles too.

As you like it - or not - there is more Shakespeare around us, than we can clearly see.

The 1988 Aamir Khan launcher Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, the tragic tale of starcrossed lovers - innocent victims to the vicious cycle of revenge and death set in motion by their respective families - had stark and too many similarities to Romeo and Juliet.

So will Shakespeare continue to keep a 'Midsummer Night's Dream' alive at the Indian box office or will it stray to manafacture a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing?

Well we just have to wait and see and hope that all's well that end's well.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)