Vishal Bhardwaj’s attraction for Shakespeare is undeniable. Earlier, he made Maqbool, which was an adaptation of Macbeth, and then Omkara, which was his version of Othello.
Now, he has adapted Hamlet into his upcoming film Haider, which is famous for being Shakespeare’s toughest play, but that did not discourage Vishal Bhardwaj from adapting it, in which Shahid Kapoor has many diverse looks, from his long hair to going totally bald.
When asked Vishal Bhardwaj about it, he said, “Shahid goes through an emotional journey in the film, where he starts from being a simple student in search of his father, grows his hair long and learns that his father has been probably killed and then almost becomes mad to finally taking his revenge. When he came to know that I was adapting Hamlet, he was keen to play the character of Hamlet, who is Haider in our film and within a second I asked him, ‘Will you go bald or not?’ So that was a prerequisite for the role.”
Further asking the filmmaker, what attracts him most about Shakespeare, he said, “His stories have timeless human drama. His stories may be 400 years old, but yet, the human conflict is the same. Human beings may have progressed, but the inner self is still 400 years old.”
Haider, starring Tabu, Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, and Kay Kay Menon, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, produced under the banner of UTV motion pictures, is slated for 2nd October 2014 release.
