From Ethnographic Impulses to Apocalyptic Endings

Bharadwaj's Maqbool and Kurosawa's Throne of Blood in Comparative Context

Authors

Blair Orfall University of Oregon

Abstract

Cluster: Asian Shakespeares on Screen: Two Films in Perspective

Edited by Alexa Huang

Maqbool's critical success, which was followed by director Vishal Bharadwaj's even more commercially successful adaptation of Othello, entitled Omkara (2006), raises interesting questions about the appropriation of Shakespeare in post-millennium India. What does a Shakespearean tragedy offer to the director and audiences in the (post) post-colonial environment of contemporary India? This essay examines the relationship between Vishal Bharadwaj's Maqbool and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, addressing their mutual ethnographic impulses and apocalyptic endings.

Author Biography

Blair Orfall, University of Oregon

Blair Orfall received her Ph.D. from the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Oregon in June 2009. Her dissertation was entitled "Bollywood Retakes: Literary Adaptation and Appropriation in Contemporary Hindi Cinema." Blair's research interests include: film adaptation theory, especially intellectual property issues in the digital age, and South Asian literature and visual culture.