Kareena Kapoor is slated to play Pesdemona in Vishal Bharadwaj’s Shakespear adaptation of Othello where Ajay Devgan will portray the legendary role of Othello.

After witnessing what Vishal Bharadwaj’s Macbeth adaptation Magbool did to Tabu’s career, Kareena Kapoor is keen to take up the director’s offer to play Desdemona in his version of another Shakespearean tragedy Othello. Ajay Devgan has been finalised to play Othello.

Kareena, who is currently shooting for Priyadarshan’s film confirmed the news. “Vishal has offered me the role and I’ll be sitting on a script-reading session as soon as I return from Chennai. I loved Tabu’s performance in Magbool. Even Shabanaji and the child actress Shweta Prasad were outstanding in Vishal’s Makdee. Desdemona is possibly one of the most challenging characters ever scripted for an actress. I’d love to do it, if all goes well.”

Kareena is on a roll with plum assignments opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Farhan Akhtar’s Don and Aamir Khan in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Mr Mehta and Mrs Singh. But it is her role as Desdemona that has got her excited considering it is her first attempt at a literary adaptation, and that too Shakespearean.

Bharadwaj, who recently returned from the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea where his film based on children The Blue Umbrella was screened on October 12, refuses to divulge any details about his Othello. But it is expected to be as contemporary as his Macbeth.

Recounting his experiences at the festival he says, “Its one thing to make a film and watch it privately with a select audience. But to see the reaction of an unprejudiced and open-minded audience comprising thousands of people from across the world who do not understand the language, is an exhilarating experience. God has been very kind to me. Both Makdee and Magbool were very well received.
Now I’ve to be careful about what I do next. I have left Mumbai to focus on the writing of the script for Othello.”

The film will also see a new screen pair - Ajay and Kareena. The two nearly came together in Rituparno Ghosh’s Raincoat. At a particular time in the industry, it was believed that Ajay felt awkward working with Kareena because of his differences with her sister Karisma. However, Kareena and Ajay did share some screen space in Mani Rathnam’s Yuva.