Vishal Bhardwaj completes his Shakespearen trilogy with the adaptation of Hamlet into Haider.It is his familiar style of presenting Shakespear's plays in a different milieu.This time he finds his Hamlet in heaven-turned-hell Kashmir.It is Chutzpah on Vishal's part to choose such a difficult play and its more fierce presentation in a Bollywood flick.
We are taken back to the Kashmir of 1995 when the militancy was on on its peak. Haider comes home from Aligarh where he studies poetry and finds everything in ruins.His father Dr. Meer is picked up by the Indian Army for supporting militants and his house is blown in front of his parents.He also witnesses his half-widow mother Ghazala being courted by his uncle Khurram.Haider sets in to search for his missing father in different Army camps.He is helped in this quest by his love Arshia.One day Haider comes across with Roohdaar and learns that his father is dead and his uncle is responsible for his father's death.This treachery by his own uncle turns the poet in Haider into an avenger.
At the beginning of the film one finds the banality in Shahid Kapoor's acting but as the film moves ahead,Shahid's performance becomes remarkable.He speaks less in the film but leaves his eyes and facial expressions to do the talking.He successfully showcases the moist at one point of time and at another the angst in his eyes.
Tabu is another good performer in the film.Her character passes through different shades of life:the sexual conflict,the passionate relationship of a mother and a son and the greedy eyes of a brother-in-law.She has beautifully played all her parts:the enigmatic smile,the flat face and the act of emotional blackmailing.Kay Kay Menon shows he too can perform.Shradhha Kapoor is ok in her depiction of Ophelia through Arshia.
Pankaj Kumar has framed Kashmir from a different angle.Instead of bringing out the beauty of snow,he uses it to capture the coldness of snow bathed in blood and human corpses.This time the Dal lake doesn't remind us of flower laden shikaras but deserted homes.Songs are the poetic work of Gulzar combined with Vishal's music.One would find quantum of local flavor in the songs.The song "Bismil" is a play in itself in the film.Vishal has co-written the film's screenplay with Basharat Peer ,a Kashmiri journalist who painstakingly jots down the stark reality of Kashmiri people.Vishal has taken the liberty to deviate from the Hamlet's plot at the end of the film by not killing Khurram because Vishal propogates a belief "Intkaam sirf intkaam paida karti hai."He has boldly portrayed an issue of Kashmir in this film.But this film tells the story from one point of view,it scarcely finds a mention of the plight of Kashmiri pandits who are still aliens to their homeland.Similarly the film paints the Indian Army into a villain,exception is the one-line phrase that the Indian Army has saved people in Kashmir in recent floods.The film doesn't say about the various humanitarian campaigns of the Indian Army in Kashmir.Though,it subtly advocates that "Azadi to Dandewale ne dilayi thi bandookwale ne nahi."This seems to be the reason why this film was released on 2nd October.
Haider is a piece of art which would not be appreciated by all and would not be missed by few!!
