By:
Upala
KBR,
Mid-Day
Friday,
March
17,
2006
On
March
14,
Ajay
Devgan
threw
a
surprise
Holi
party
for
the
cast
and
crew
of
Omkara
(working
title)
at
the
Cliff
Inn
Hotel,
Mahabaleshwar,
and
the
revelry
continued
till
2
am
the
next
day.
In
Mumbai,
Devgan
is
rarely
seen
celebrating
Holi.
Though
during
the
shooting
of
Prakash
Jha's
Gangaajal,
he
played
Holi
on
the
sets
and
fed
everyone
bhang
ki
golis
and
vodka-soaked
rasmalais.
So
how
did
he
decide
to
host
a
Holi
party
in
Mahabaleshwar?
Says
producer,
Kumar
Mangat,
"Ajay
is
very
happy
that
Omkara
is
getting
completed
on
time
and
wanted
to
celebrate.
He
suddenly
decided
to
have
a
party
and
organised
it
in
a
day."
Who
was
there?
"Ajay
had
invited
the
whole
unit,
which
consisted
of
350
people,
including
the
cooks
and
lightmen.
We
ordered
food
from
the
restaurant,
and
there
were
lots
of
snacks
and
red
and
white
wines.
It
was
a
great
party.
It
started
from
9
pm
and
went
on
till
2
am.
Almost
the
entire
cast
(except
Naseeruddin
Shah
and
Bipasha
Basu)
-
including
Saif,
Kareena,
Viveik,
Konkona
and
other
character
artistes
came
and
stayed
on
till
late
in
the
night.
Even
my
daughter,
Amitabh
and
son,
Abhishek
came
for
the
party.
But
in
spite
of
the
late
night
revelry,
every
unit
member
and
cast
was
so
professional
that
they
promptly
reported
for
shooting
the
next
day,
at
7
am,
and
completed
an
entire
shift."
No
bhang
So
what
pranks
did
Devgan
play
this
time?
"This
time
there
was
no
bhang,
as
we
had
to
shoot
the
next
day.
But
every
person
present
was
covered
with
gulel
and
thrown
into
the
swimming
pool,
including
Ajay
himself."
And
did
they
dance
to
Holi
songs?
"No
we
danced
to
all
the
six
songs
of
Omkara." The
film's
music
has
been
composed
by
Vishal
Bharadwaj,
and
lyrics
written
by
Gulzar.
The
title
of
the
film
is
still
a
matter
of
contention;
director
Vishal
Bharadwaj
is
very
keen
on
Omkara,
Ajay
Devgan
is
fixated
on
Issak
(coming
from
the
word
ishq),
while
producer
Mangat
is
still
undecided
between
O
Saathi
Re
and
Issak.
But
they
are
prepared
for
any
eventuality.
All
the
three
title
tracks
have
been
recorded
-
Omkara,
O
saathi
re
and
Issak
-
so
whoever
gets
to
the
title
of
his
choice
will
get
the
song
to
be
played
too.
A
story
of
love,
jealousy
and
deceit
is
set
in
rural
India,
this
is
Vishal
Bharadwaj's
interpretation
of
William
Shakespeare's
Othello.
The
film
has
been
shot
in
Pune,
Satara,
Wai,
Lucknow
and
Allahabad.