Watched Haider earlier last week. After Maqbool, I have tracked Vishal Bhardwaj regularly. I found Haider, one of his best works yet, comparable to Maqbool (2003). While watching the movie, I felt I was watching a future classic. A cinematic masterpiece. Apart from the cinematic merits of the movie like breath taking photography, a taut script, authentic and aesthetic locales, it also comes across as an authentic social document of our times. And off course, it can be seen as a political cinema advancing the oeuvre of Bharadwaj, a worthy successor to Matru ki Bijli Ka Mandola. I watched the movie more as an original work rather than an adaptation of Hamlet. But my faint recollections from a college text, Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb, gives me the courage to make the assertion that Haider is quite faithful to the content and structure of Hamlet. Hamlet, as a text, is not for the faint hearted, with its not so covert references to Oedipus complex and also the moral dilemmas of the protagonists. Bharadwaj, in the choice of locale of the adaptations, has pulled off a coup of sorts. An extreme act of moral courage. As an artist, his artifice, is to use a Shakespearean text and locate in contemporary times and in a conflict zone to help us confront our moral ambiguities as a nation. Kashmir has been an old favourite of Hindi movies. But over time the way it has been depicted has changed. From a pretty locale of movies of 1960s and titles such as Kashmir ki Kali which ironically depicts our approach to the area- a playground for the rich and famous of the mainland. Especially, in the phase when Switzerland was out of bounds for the middle class. The depiction changes later, especially during the conflict period. One of the movies which never got made, but keeps coming in my dreams, was Zoonie by Muzaffar Ali. Ironically, the first movie showing the Kashmir conflict as a backdrop, by my favourite Tamizh director Mani Ratnam, Roja, looks like a propaganda movie in retrospect. Two other efforts need a mention- Mission Kashmir, which roughly traversed the same territory as Haider and boasted a script written by Suketu Mehta, no less. And a very sensitive Tahaan by Santosh Sivan (almost atoning the sins of Mani Ratnam. :-)). Haider is quite realistic in its depictions and the soliloquy sequence at Lal Chowk (?) by Shahid is unparalleled as a protest piece. Its mention of AFSPA is again unparalleled for a mainstream Hindi film. I hope there is more discussion and debate in the country on the necessity of continuance of AFSPA. The film also uses jokes very interestingly. One of them being an adaptation of the word Chutzpah in terms of its phonetic similarity to a Hindi word. Apparently, the original adaptation was done by none other than Rajneesh. :-)) I was also happy to see the movie for three very selfish reasons. The character of Dr. Peer, Shahids father was very ably played by a friend (actually my wifes school mate), Narendra Jha. Bravo Kanhaiyaji!!! A standing ovation!!! A very dear old student, Mohommed Ali Shah, aka Ali, has also played a character. And off course, the movie has recitations from Faiz Ahmed Faiz, my favourite Urdu poet.:-))
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 15:27:41 +0000
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