Lights. Camera. RCNM.

  Haider is a crime drama that was written, produced and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj in 2014. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Tabu as the lead roles. Set in the Kashmir conflicts of 1995, Haider is a modern day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Haider, the protagonist, is a young poet who returns to Kashmir at the peak of the conflict to reach to the depth of his father’s disappearance. He ends up being tugged into the politics of the state.  Hamlet consists of a lot of blank verses that prove to be extremely impactful and pivotal. Haider certainly bores the same power when it comes to blank verses. The play and the movie both have notable references and commentary about the prevailing social conditions. They end at a very open cliff, leaving the audience to interpret on their own; it also plays on psychological levels. The most striking similarity between the play and the movie, according to me, has to be the chilling gravedigger scene. The primary differences between th...

  When William Shakespeare originally wrote his play Othello in the 17th century, he could possibly not have imagined Bipasha Basu performing Beedi in 2006, but here we are. Omkara is the second part of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespeare trilogy based on Othello, following Maqbool and followed by Haider. Omkara details the story of its eponymous character, Omkara (Othello), a man from a lower caste, who falls in love with Dolly, (Desdemona), who comes from an upper caste. Like Brabantio - Desdemona’s father in the play - does not approve of Desdemona’s marriage to Othello because of his ‘moorish’ backgrounds, Dolly’s father Adv. Raghunath Mishra does not approve of Omkara’s caste. Othello’s military pursuits are now Omkara’s equally ruthless and bloodthirsty Indian elections. Othello’s manipulative friend Iago is Tyagi, who lies and cheats and moves around Kesu, Raju, like pieces on a chessboard until the culmination – convincing Omkara to kill Dolly, and an assassination attempt on Kes...

  With the rise of Bollywood’s popularity, adaptation films have been playing a prominent role in its success. These adaptations are being made to represent the good old classics with the twist of modernism in it. One such sentimental adaptation is Maqbool. It is a 2004 Indian crime drama film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, which is based on the prominent play Macbeth, written by Shakespeare. With the Mumbai underworld on its backdrop, this film revolves around the love story of Miyan Maqbool (portrayed by Irrfan Khan) and Nimmi (Tabu) who is a mistress. The love between them leads to the murder of Jahangir Khan a.k.a. Abba Ji (Pankaj Kapoor), who is the employer of Maqbool and also the Don. His murder leads to transfer of the Don’s throne to Maqbool which leads to guilt and a series of unfortunate events. Also, two corrupt policemen (played by Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah) play an excellent supporting role by giving rise in numerous conflicts and playing a crucial role in the climax...