Vishal Bhardwaj is the lone present-day Indian filmmaker with the imagination and gumption to tackle transposing Shakespeare works against a contemporary Indian setting.
In 2003, financing "Maqbool"—his iteration of the Scottish play—proved tough, but the film's box-office and critical success enabled more adaptations. "Omkara" (Othello) followed in 2006, and now comes his best Shakespearean effort to date: "Haider", a dark, daring, layered take on "Hamlet".
His master stroke was placing "Haider" in 1990s Kashmir, when communal and geopolitical tensions—festering from the time of India's independence from British rule—explode with devastating consequences. The land itself, referred to in antiquity as "Jannat" (Heaven), has been riven by decades of strife, fought over by India and Pakistan.
(Hundreds of thousands of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits fled their homeland to live as refugees elsewhere in India – do not look to "Haider" for their story. For that, one should watch filmmaker Onir's omnibus film, "I Am" (2010) where one narrative strand "I am Megha" looks at post-Partition Hindu-Muslim relations through the eyes of Megha, a displaced Kashmiri Pandit.)
"Haider" is set amid the Muslim majority that populates Indian-administered Kashmir. A segment of these Muslim Kashmiris have allegedly been radicalized, trained, financed, and armed by Pakistan to destabilize the region. The decades-long armed conflict between these insurgents and the Indian military forces deployed to maintain Indian sovereignty has effectively turned Kashmir into hell on earth. The lives of the ordinary citizenry—who only ask to be left in peace—are filled with turmoil, their personal freedoms drastically curtailed by curfews,check-points, random raids and imprisonment seemingly without just cause.
By staging the action of "Haider" in this context, Bhardwaj politicizes the Shakespearean text brilliantly (albeit with a few startling, strategic changes) to make a plea for the end of the cycle of revenge and retribution. True freedom, he and his co-writer the Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer say, can be achieved only when one renounces the quest for vengeance.
The beauty and genius of Shakespeare's timeless works is that they can be superimposed over any geography, any period, any genre of cinema, and still resonate with undiminished immediacy and universal truth.
Dr. Hilal Meer (Narendra Jha) is a politically neutral, dedicated physician whose altruistic deeds in desperate times fill his more savvy wife Ghazala (the glorious Tabu) with apprehension. When he brings home an insurgent leader for an emergency appendectomy (I'm simply doing my job), the frantic Ghazala berates him for the foolhardiness of his actions. "Whose side are you on?", she demands; his response: "I side with Life."
Almost immediately the military shows up, arrests Dr. Meer for treason, and blows up his home. Ghazala moves in with his brother Khurram (KK Menon), a lawyer with political ambitions, and appears to carry on with her life. Haider, her son (Shahid Kapoor), returns from university in Aligarh in search of his "disappeared" father, and is incensed to find his mother apparently delighting in the amorous attentions of his uncle, who still addresses her as Bhabhi Jaan (beloved sister-in-law).
Bhardwaj and Peer cleverly conflate the characters of Horatio and Ophelia, thus giving Arshia (played surprisingly well by relative newcomer Shraddha Kapoor) more to do – as a journalist, she is Haider's helper, confidante, and lover. Her father Pervez (Polonius) is part of the Indian security forces, and keeps a close watch on Haider.
Haider scours Kashmir's prison camps and detention centers in vain for his father. In these modern times when paranormal phenomena would be scoffed at, Bhardwaj comes up with another smart device. He introduces the ghostly apparition—the spiller of the beans in Shakespeare's play—without challenging audience credulity. Roohdar (literally Spirit-filled One), a mysterious visitor with possibly questionable motives (Irrfan Khan doing a dandy job), confirms Haider's father was put to death, his treacherous uncle Khurram was the police informant, and his father's dying wish is for Haider t0 avenge him by killing Khurram.
Haider returns home with photographic evidence of his dead father. Funeral rites are performed alongside preparations for the wedding of Khurram and Ghazala. Wishing to discover the truth for himself, Haider enacts the betrayal of his father in the form of a song and dance for the entertainment of the wedding guests. Khurram calls an abrupt end to the performance, sealing his guilt Haider's eyes.
Now it is open war between the two. Khurram dispatches a pair of buffoon-like, yet treacherous Salman Khan fans (former schoolmates of Haider, they run a video rental shop stocked mainly with Salman Khan blockbusters)to kill Haider. Haider outwits this story's perfidious Rosencrantz & Guildenstern and finishes them off.
Will Haider live long enough to avenge his father's death? Whom should he believe: Roohdar,Khurram, or Ghazala? How does his romance with Arshia play out? For answers, I highly recommend watching "Haider".
Apart from the writing which is, unquestionably, the star, "Haider" boasts outstanding performances by the entire cast. Shahid Kapoor sets aside his lover-boy image and is practically unrecognizable as Haider. His initial diffidence vanishes as his character gets more and more embroiled in the machinations of his loved ones. This performance marks his entry into the ranks of grown-up thespians. KK Menon, Irrfan Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, the men playing Polonius, Laertes, and the Salman Khan clones – they are all excellent. Motivating the actions of all the men;goading them, yet wishing desperately to prevent their doom is the great Tabu. Her Ghazala Meer is a Gertrude for the ages – her entreaty to Haider to break the cycle of revenge echoes long after the film ends. Maternal love was never so fierce – what recourse does the hapless Haider have but to heed her.
Despite a few jarring tonal shifts (the Haider-Arshia love song and the gravediggers' jolly ditty), and the mispronunciation of "chutzpah" in a soliloquy, "Haider" is the most profound and provocative Hindi film thus far of 2014.
In 2003, financing "Maqbool"—his iteration of the Scottish play—proved tough, but the film's box-office and critical success enabled more adaptations. "Omkara" (Othello) followed in 2006, and now comes his best Shakespearean effort to date: "Haider", a dark, daring, layered take on "Hamlet".
His master stroke was placing "Haider" in 1990s Kashmir, when communal and geopolitical tensions—festering from the time of India's independence from British rule—explode with devastating consequences. The land itself, referred to in antiquity as "Jannat" (Heaven), has been riven by decades of strife, fought over by India and Pakistan.
(Hundreds of thousands of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits fled their homeland to live as refugees elsewhere in India – do not look to "Haider" for their story. For that, one should watch filmmaker Onir's omnibus film, "I Am" (2010) where one narrative strand "I am Megha" looks at post-Partition Hindu-Muslim relations through the eyes of Megha, a displaced Kashmiri Pandit.)
"Haider" is set amid the Muslim majority that populates Indian-administered Kashmir. A segment of these Muslim Kashmiris have allegedly been radicalized, trained, financed, and armed by Pakistan to destabilize the region. The decades-long armed conflict between these insurgents and the Indian military forces deployed to maintain Indian sovereignty has effectively turned Kashmir into hell on earth. The lives of the ordinary citizenry—who only ask to be left in peace—are filled with turmoil, their personal freedoms drastically curtailed by curfews,check-points, random raids and imprisonment seemingly without just cause.
By staging the action of "Haider" in this context, Bhardwaj politicizes the Shakespearean text brilliantly (albeit with a few startling, strategic changes) to make a plea for the end of the cycle of revenge and retribution. True freedom, he and his co-writer the Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer say, can be achieved only when one renounces the quest for vengeance.
The beauty and genius of Shakespeare's timeless works is that they can be superimposed over any geography, any period, any genre of cinema, and still resonate with undiminished immediacy and universal truth.
Dr. Hilal Meer (Narendra Jha) is a politically neutral, dedicated physician whose altruistic deeds in desperate times fill his more savvy wife Ghazala (the glorious Tabu) with apprehension. When he brings home an insurgent leader for an emergency appendectomy (I'm simply doing my job), the frantic Ghazala berates him for the foolhardiness of his actions. "Whose side are you on?", she demands; his response: "I side with Life."
Almost immediately the military shows up, arrests Dr. Meer for treason, and blows up his home. Ghazala moves in with his brother Khurram (KK Menon), a lawyer with political ambitions, and appears to carry on with her life. Haider, her son (Shahid Kapoor), returns from university in Aligarh in search of his "disappeared" father, and is incensed to find his mother apparently delighting in the amorous attentions of his uncle, who still addresses her as Bhabhi Jaan (beloved sister-in-law).
Bhardwaj and Peer cleverly conflate the characters of Horatio and Ophelia, thus giving Arshia (played surprisingly well by relative newcomer Shraddha Kapoor) more to do – as a journalist, she is Haider's helper, confidante, and lover. Her father Pervez (Polonius) is part of the Indian security forces, and keeps a close watch on Haider.
Haider scours Kashmir's prison camps and detention centers in vain for his father. In these modern times when paranormal phenomena would be scoffed at, Bhardwaj comes up with another smart device. He introduces the ghostly apparition—the spiller of the beans in Shakespeare's play—without challenging audience credulity. Roohdar (literally Spirit-filled One), a mysterious visitor with possibly questionable motives (Irrfan Khan doing a dandy job), confirms Haider's father was put to death, his treacherous uncle Khurram was the police informant, and his father's dying wish is for Haider t0 avenge him by killing Khurram.
Haider returns home with photographic evidence of his dead father. Funeral rites are performed alongside preparations for the wedding of Khurram and Ghazala. Wishing to discover the truth for himself, Haider enacts the betrayal of his father in the form of a song and dance for the entertainment of the wedding guests. Khurram calls an abrupt end to the performance, sealing his guilt Haider's eyes.
Now it is open war between the two. Khurram dispatches a pair of buffoon-like, yet treacherous Salman Khan fans (former schoolmates of Haider, they run a video rental shop stocked mainly with Salman Khan blockbusters)to kill Haider. Haider outwits this story's perfidious Rosencrantz & Guildenstern and finishes them off.
Will Haider live long enough to avenge his father's death? Whom should he believe: Roohdar,Khurram, or Ghazala? How does his romance with Arshia play out? For answers, I highly recommend watching "Haider".
Apart from the writing which is, unquestionably, the star, "Haider" boasts outstanding performances by the entire cast. Shahid Kapoor sets aside his lover-boy image and is practically unrecognizable as Haider. His initial diffidence vanishes as his character gets more and more embroiled in the machinations of his loved ones. This performance marks his entry into the ranks of grown-up thespians. KK Menon, Irrfan Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, the men playing Polonius, Laertes, and the Salman Khan clones – they are all excellent. Motivating the actions of all the men;goading them, yet wishing desperately to prevent their doom is the great Tabu. Her Ghazala Meer is a Gertrude for the ages – her entreaty to Haider to break the cycle of revenge echoes long after the film ends. Maternal love was never so fierce – what recourse does the hapless Haider have but to heed her.
Despite a few jarring tonal shifts (the Haider-Arshia love song and the gravediggers' jolly ditty), and the mispronunciation of "chutzpah" in a soliloquy, "Haider" is the most profound and provocative Hindi film thus far of 2014.