For me Hamlet is now a Kashmiri boy-man named Haider and no one could have played him better than Shahid Kapoor. The grave diggers and the Bismil song and all the elements that went into shooting it just took my breath away. I wanted to see more of Irrfan Khan. In two crucial places Gazala and Haider let me down..I waited and waited for that flash at both those places and it didnt come and I wondered why? Were the actors and the director suddenly embarrassed or did censorship do the deed? The blood and gore in that gorgeous Valley breaks your heart as does what years of army and police rule have done to the people there, however, that was not the story, the story was Hamlet and it fit into Kashmir like a glove. Hot flushes and goose bumps. But the one woman who made me cry was she who sat on a bench next to Haider and showed her missing sons picture and looked at his missing fathers photograph and reached out and stroked his face with quiet sympathy and understanding. The film is factual about the army and the local police. So if the light they are caught in now is not a good one it cant be helped. This is the reason why the local people threw stones at them during the rescue attempt in the recent floods. The fact remains that India and Pakistan are both playing border border with Kashmir. And the people of the valley have suffered over the years as a result. The armed forces protect our borders but they also kill and torture and rape. Look also to the North-East for a situation similar to that of Kashmir. But we dont really care about those chinkis, do we? Coming back to the film - the grasp Vishal Bhardwaj has on the drama and text of the Bard is simply stunning. It made me go back and see the film twice on one day. The first time my eyes took in the film in gulps and the second time I listened very carefully. After a long time I felt it would be a treat to collect a copy of the entire sound track of a film, like they used to have of Sholay, remember? And the Valleys still echo with Hum Hain ya Hum Nahin.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 03:40:32 +0000
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