Haider (2014)

It is the last film of Vishal Bharadwaj's Shakespearian trilogy and the most ambitious one. In the first two films (Maqbool and Omkara) the focus was on the plays and adapting it in an Indian backdrop. But in this film the focus was on Kashmir and it's complicated relationships with India. The play is integrated into the conflict. In Hamlet in the end everyone dies and so in the Kashmir conflict everyone loses as the situation has reached a stalemate. The film if taken on it's own merits is a bit slow paced and the acting by KK Menon and Shahid Kapoor is not always convincing. But when the play is added to the equation it makes more sense. It's a ambitious project and Vishal Bharadwaj pulls it off more or less.

I went through the movie and felt like it was flowing into my mind, as it had an innovative sequence of scenes that are classified in such a way, which emits reality out of it and makes you feel the real story of King Hamlet and his madness that causes him too much loss. At one point he faces the loss of his social status due to getting real blame (correctly a misunderstanding) of being criminal and accused of murdering the father of his lover. While on the other hand, he also loses trust of his lover. The desire of revenge changes into a big mistake of Haider's life. In the movie, Haidar, the replacing of character Hamlet with the name Haider really adds charm in the entire scenario. Aside from it, I really liked Shahid Kapoor's role as Haider. The rest is suspense.

Haider is a 2014 Indian crime drama film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, and co-written by Basharat Peer and Bhardwaj. It stars Shahid Kapoor as the titular protagonist; and co-stars Tabu, Shraddha Kapoor and Kay Kay Menon, with Irrfan Khan making a special appearance. The film is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, set amidst the insurgency-hit Kashmir conflicts of 1995 and civilian disappearances.Haider, a poet, returns to Kashmir at the peak of the conflict to seek answers about his disappeared father and ends up tugged into the politics of the state.

Rather hard-hitting, but lacks the uniform macabre of Vishal Bhardwaj​'s previous two adaptations of William Shakespeare​'s dramas (especially "Omkara"). Even its grandeur of screen writing and production design over the conflict striven Kashmir, couldn't engage it enough into becoming an eventual let down. Hauntingly mellifluous music by Bhardwaj, and so-far career best by Shahid Kapoor, and a sublime Tabu​ are embellishments to an otherwise lackluster production. The film is surreal on several occasions, and even uses its cast and plot quite ably, but loses track on the attempt of becoming too-much- of-everything. A reluctant 7/10.