Acclaimed filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj returns to direct Haider, the third instalment of his Shakespeare trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006). The film starring Shahid Kapoor, Tabu and Shraddha Kapoor is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Set in the beautiful Kashmir valley, Haider promises to be one of the best films of 2014. Does it live up to the immensely high expectations that comes with every Bhardwaj film? More importantly, will the filmmaker finally get commercial success? Let’s find out.
Story: Haider (Shahid Kapoor) returns to his hometown after he receives news that his father is missing. After returning home, Haider gets to know that his father has been abducted by the security forces and his mother Ghazala (Tabu) shares a relationship with his chacha Khurram (Kay Kay Menon). On a mission to find out the whereabouts of his missing father, Haider takes a journey that is filled with deceit, betrayal, pain and revenge. His only solace is his fiance Arshiya (Shraddha Kapoor).
Review: Shakespeare’s longest play Hamlet is widely regarded as one of his best works, a powerful story that has been adapted and retold by several filmmakers over the years. He captured human emotions like no other writer, which is why his plays have an evergreen quality about them even today, centuries after his death. When the film was first announced, it immediately generated quite a bit of curiosity. After successfully adapting Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Maqbool) and Othello (Omkara), how would Bhardwaj adapt a story as complex and layered as Hamlet to suit Indian sensibilities? How would he handle the sexual tension between Haider and his mother Ghazala? Thankfully, Bhardwaj not only gets it right with Haider, but delivers a film that will be remembered for years as one of the best adaptions of a Shakerspeare play to be made in the country.
Haider is made for those who love cinema, not the typical melodrama-filled or over-the-top masala movie lovers, but for those who have the patience and appetite for films that require you to be completely involved. Forget a loo-break, Haider is a film that requires your complete attention and understanding throughout. Cinematography is top notch and the soundtrack works well goes well with the film.
Like every other film, Haider has its own share of problems. Understanding the language can sometimes be a problem unless you understand Urdu. The pace tends to dip quite considerably at times and the film feels much longer than its runtime.
Coming to the performances, if you happened to walk in expecting Shahid Kapoor to deliver the performance of his career, you won’t be disappointed. He handles the toughest role of his career like a seasoned actor and by the time the closing credits roll, you can’t imagine any other actor in the industry nailing the character of Haider like Shahid has. Both Kay Kay Menon and Tabu leave a lasting impact on the audience. Menon is outstanding and Tabu deliveres a heart-wrenching performance, an act that will make you cry. Shraddha Kapoor does her best, she looks beautiful and acts well.. but expecting her to match-up to the onscreen histrionics of the other actors in a role that doesn’t really demand much, isn’t fair.
Overall, Haider is Vishal Bhardwaj’s best and by far the best of 2014 after Queen. But the response it gets will be mixed as Haider is not something that everyone will enjoy watching.
At the box office, Haider is expected to take a good start. But the business of the film will be affected by Bang Bang, which is sad because Haider deserved a solo release and complete attention of the audience. Releasing with a more mass-pleasing and audience-friendly film like Bang Bang is suicidal, but for the film that Bhardwaj has made, we hope it does well enough to be perceived as a success.
Rating: 
hope shahid gets his reward as a best actor filmfare award…nd a commercial suces too….
Good review Indicine……would watch it…….
But Haider should have had a solo release……….Wom of Bang bang is coming positive and Hrithik’s performance being appreciated, hence I think Haider is in danger in terms of Commercial success because BB will remain as first choice of movie goers.
But I think best actor awards would be going to these 2 actors only
Best actor popular-Hrithik, Critics-Shahid
hope it bcms vishal bharadwaj’s 2nd hit/succcess after kaminey.anyways I will skip it bcz I hvnt liked a single film directed by him so far but if it does well at bo I may watch it
Also Indicine you missed out to appreciate the power house of talent Irfan Khan, in a short role he makes his presence felt. Great actor.
Review: Haider may be Vishal Bhardwaj’s best film
Vishal Bharadwaj’s Haider is one of the most powerful political films we’ve ever made, a bonafide masterpiece that throbs with intensity and purpose.
Something is rotten in the state two countries call their own.
Not that we’ve really let that show on screen.
Hindi cinema hasn’t looked into Kashmir, preferring to gaze at it instead.
Haider changes all that, with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj probing into the valley nimbly and incisively — we may, at this point, picture the director as a particularly poetic insurgent, wearing Shakespeare for a cloak.
This is not a simple adaptation, this takes not a simplistic stance; Haider is a remarkable achievement and one of the most powerful political films we’ve ever made, a bonafide masterpiece that throbs with intensity and purpose.
It is a staggeringly clever take on Hamlet, one whose departures from the Bard’s original are as thrilling as its closely-hewn loyalty.
The film is set in 1995, with Kashmir in the murkiest of limbos, at a time when it’s anybody’s guess whether any man wearing a long, all-shrouding phiran is hiding either a pot of hot coals or a hand-grenade. Haider — in case you haven’t guessed — is the kind of film that carries both.
The Hamlet here is Haider, a poetry student returning to Kashmir, summoned by the destruction of the family house and the disappearance of his father.
He finds his ‘half-widowed’ mother, Ghazala, laughing dazzlingly by the sunlight and his uncle, Khurram, dancing.
He is disgusted, depressed, and desperate for an answer, for a way forward.
And, on one not-so farfetched afternoon given the state he’s in, a mysterious man appears to replace his loathing with fury — to arm a clueless, restless young man with murderous intent.
The allegories are elegantly drawn and exquisitely sharp, like bejewelled daggers.
The film is written by Bhardwaj and acclaimed journalist (and former Rediff writer) Basharrat Peer, and it is bold for many reasons.
The two stunning Shakespeare adaptations Bhardwaj made before this stayed close to the structure of the originals: Maqbool whimsically played fast-and-loose with characterisations but managed to wrap a crime-boss film neatly around the Scottish play; Omkara stayed so ingenuously loyal to Othello that it even translated lines of dialogue and had pacing similar to the play, but left out the monologues.
Haider, while leaving in the crucial monologues, makes audacious changes to the film — for example, the play’s plot only kicks in when the ghost (or the man with the ghost IDs, more accurately) appears, around the midway mark — and several key moments deviate dramatically from the original.
These are not subtle changes but these shifts are what make Haider a truly ambitious film.
It bludgeons away from the original because, just like the world it is set in, harsh changes are called for.
A young man finds himself fatherless — de-fathered by the machinery of the state, in fact — and tormented by local demons, terrorists and politicians.
In Kashmir, this saga of disappearance and drama, of uncertainty and unrest, cannot be the tale of one prince or one exalted family; in Kashmir, where mothers know the name ‘Kalashnikov’ all too well, there are too many Hamlets.
The detailing is a marvel.
Characters speak with, as Robert Plant would say “tongues of lilting grace,” in that delightful, characteristically Kashmiri way of hardboiled consonants and fluid vowels.
A doctor’s coat is chequered, just like the local phirans and jackets, chairs and beds are ornately whittled into works of art we can sit on, and the bedsheets are beautiful, chain-stitched wonders.
The authenticity is constant, and cinematographer Pankaj Kumar captures detail without lingering gratuitously on it, preferring instead to shoot from the characters’ un-touristy eyes or — better still — to eavesdrop close to them, hovering too-close with brilliant, hand-held unpredictability.
We see the distractingly attractive world around them, sure, but the narrative stays grim and, thus hand-in-hand, Kumar’s composition centres on things so close you can touch — the smoke rising from a cup of kahwa in the cold, an accusingly large dot of mehndi on the back of a hand, letters handed out by the postman in plastic packets as if he were delivering cold cuts.
This is a film you could watch with the sound muted.
But you shouldn’t.
Oh no.
The music is gorgeous, underscoring the narrative perfectly. (The gravedigger song is my favourite.) Yet while we’re used to Bhardwaj the director making way for Bhardwaj the composer (and, when we’re luckiest, Bhardwaj the singer), the Haider soundtrack knows its place and is allowed no room to showboat.
The grim narrative carries strong political heft, and so assured is Bhardwaj of what he’s saying and the way it needs to be said that he doesn’t seem to feel the temptation to sugarcoat, to entertain with either song or wink.
The film stays intense throughout, almost breathlessly so. Like a chokehold from someone you love.
The performances are uniformly stunning.
Shahid Kapoor, dealing with one of Shakespeare’s most challenging heroes, does so with impressive sincerity. He manages the many shifts of mood skilfully but always appears like an actor performing a role gamely instead of an actor who has become the character: he’s very good, just not as unaffected as the actors around him.
An actor called Narendra Jha who plays a doctor is an absolute find, Lalit Parimoo is excellent, Shraddha Kapoor is very believable in the Ophelia part, two Salman Khan fans (Sumit Kaul and Rajat Bhagat) are a lot of fun, and it’s good to see Kulbhushan Kharbanda get well-forged lines of dialogue.
At the heart of the film stands Tabu.
Her Ghazala is a heartbreaking character, all passion and preening and perpetually inappropriate relationships.
She looks luminous the first time we see her, but the great actress can amazingly adjust that candle-wick lighting up her face, so not just does she shine and simmer, but she can flicker.
The way she looks into the mirror while her son kisses her… It’s haunting.
Old Bhardwaj alumnus and former Macbeth Irrfan Khan, meanwhile, is striking in a very clever role that both shows off his screen-presence and kicks the film into a different gear.
The best performance comes from Kay Kay Menon in the Claudius role.
His Khurram is a slimeball aching to be accepted as a success, an unctuous man and yet one who likes to strut, who likes to revel in his victories — but who, at the singular point of triumph — can only find a fellow conspirator to embrace.
This is a traditionally meaty part, immortalised by Derek Jacobi in the 1996 Hamlet, but Kay Kay gives the character his own terrific edge, twitchy and tentative and surprisingly warm.
One particularly unforgettable moment in the film features Peer himself in a cameo as a man afraid to cross the threshold into his own house.
That particular scene, and its subsequent, immediate resolution, comes from a short-story by Kashmiri writer Akhtar Mohiuddin. It is a great story of such frightening clarity that most filmmakers would have milked it into a longer scene, if not a short-film.
Bhardwaj, now more than ever, seems assured of the power of his content, and knows when to pull his punches and doesn’t fall for obvious temptations.
The result is a knockout, a film that makes you smell corpses, that makes you shudder with melancholia, and a film that points accusing fingers. A film that doesn’t flinch.
Is Haider Vishal Bhardwaj’s best film?
That is the question. (The answer, naturally, lies behind the fact that we can even ask.)
Rating: *****
best movies of 2014
Haider 4.5/5
Queen 4/5
ishqiyaa 4/5
Haider is’nt for everyone…i think it will go lootera n finding fanny way at the B.O
All the best to shahid for his performance..best actor goes to u
Haider is strong movie!! all the best to team … I m Hrithik fan and I hope bang bang will rock the nation…
all the best to both teams
wao already some indicine users are writing their review of haider.they must hv been invited to the special screenings of haider
My bang bang show is going to start in 15 min. …EXCITED!
if cirtically fanny couldnt bcm a success despite negligible competition then it will b even more difficult for haider to bcm a hit.anyways happy that critics and niche audience r liking it
Its time we should support Shahid. Hrithik already has a big career. Shaid acts as good/better than HR. He looks as good/better than HR. He dances as good as HR. And most importanatly he can do comedy faar better than HR. Watch Haider. It is a masterpiece. Some critics have rated it 5 stars. Kudos to Shahid for doing such a non-commercial film. He deserves box office success.
going to watch tomorrow..with friends..cant wait..
I was sure HAIDER is SHAHID BEST PERFORMANCE DESERVE MIN 10+ CRORE OPENING
They are not showing Haider here. Going to watch Bang Bang soon. I will leave my review for Nipun and Babaji here…
@indicine spreading negativity about Haider .. despite being a superb movie according to indicine it will get mixed responses. Double Standards !!
trying too hard for Bang Bang indicine ? everyone can see that ? but no use .. Haider will definitely work big time.
those who wanna peefect movie will go to haider but those who prefer stars over concept will go to bang bang. i prefer haider. all the best shahid for haider dont wanna bett kyunki sarat ghodo pe lagaate hain kathor shero pe nahi.
3.5 by Anupama Chopra! Btw, it was expected from haider to become a critically acclaimed movie. I believe Bang Bang will be better than the 3 action movies(thid year eid release,last year christmas n diwali release) who were rated 4/5 by indicine. Let’s see how the BangBang rating will be.
@zeeshan there is a difference between public wom and a personal opinion of a viewer or section of audience.according to indicine they hv loved the film and niche audience will also like it but among the vast majority of the audience it will get mixed wom.
so stop meaninglessly criticising indicine
For some srkfans and salmanfans, content has become great like anything. Where were they at the time of ce,kick and upcoming hny who were average at Best!
wow…!!!its awsome movie …haider will be the best movie of 2014 after queen & holiday…hope it gone huge…n will be blockbuster…
its sucidal to releasing with the highly commercial film like bang2 but hope it does gud in box ofice ..and i blame the makers of haider for not giving it a solo release ..they just killed all the hard work of vishal and shahid…
haider is no doubt..rocking movie which will be loved by everyone
Bang bang 1st day 29cr and haider 10cr. Best of luck shahid.
i see alot of Hrithik haters around here who can’t see Hrithik have success because he is a threat to their so called fav khans.
@Yuvraj, oh yeah then why bhaitards make fun of art films like guzaarish,lootera etc?? what content you found in salman’s films in recent times??
@Loki, oh shut up you moron, you are a Hrithik hater, let me tell you Shahid acts far better than your stammering srk who can barely deliver a dialogue without crying and stammering. even you should start supporting newcomers and leave your old buddha srk who is giving craps these days but just like most khan fans you too are a hypocrite, we all know how crap happy new year will be but you will forget what content is during its release.
@Zeeshan, butthurt srkian ?? worry about the disastrous happy new year which will be rejected by audience for sure. during Lootera, you all made fun of it but that film was too one the line of haider and other art films. hypocrisy flows in the bodies of khans fans instead of blood.
Currently i am watching bang bang film….i will also watch haider in evening….intermission tak toh bang bang mast hai…dekhte h ab kya hota h intermission ke baad.
regarding haider, it is definitely a different kind of films, deserves accolades and will win lots of awards for sure. well i am a Hrithik fan but unlike most khans fans, i am not hypocrite so i will praise the positives of haider. but if haider had clashed with any khan film, then i guarantee they would have thrashed it.
#Haider is a film that stays with you long after it ends! Don’t miss it this weekend.
Haider is hands down the best movie of this decade.
GGing for haider