Mathur Publishes Article on Indian Adaptation of Shakespeare

Professor of English Maya Mathur has published an article in Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation titled “Remaking Othello in India: Race, Caste, and Colorism in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara.”

The article examines how Indian director, Vishal Bhardwaj, draws on Indian cinematic traditions to reshape the kinship networks and central conflicts in William Shakespeare’s Othello. Drawing on the fields of race, caste, and gender studies, Mathur argues that the film’s expanded social network amplifies the authority of dominant caste men while limiting the voices of marginalized caste men and women. Her article illustrates the affinity between historical structures of oppression and reflects on the role that adaptations of Shakespeare can play in critiquing these structures.