William Shakespeare's Hamlet has made it to Bollywood. Haider, starring Shahid Kapoor and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, is the third in a trilogy of films by the director – all modern-day adaptations of the bard's work. In 2003, Bhardwaj adapted Macbeth for his film Maqbool, moving the action from Scotland to the Mumbai underworld. Omkara, his 2006 adaptation of Othello, was set in Uttar Pradesh.
But Haider pushes the envelope – it is set in war-torn Kashmir, the political hot potato that symbolises enduring tensions between India and Pakistan. Filming didn't go smoothly – the portrayal of Indian-occupied Kashmir and its residents irked the locals and the chief minister, Omar Abdullah, and filming at University of Kashmir was disrupted by protesting students, among other troubles.
The trilogy
Both of Bhardwaj's previous adaptations Maqbool and Omkara were met with critical acclaim, and the director was deemed a leading figure in "cross-hatched Shakespeare" – referring to the transferring of the Bard's stories to other countries and times.
But when it came to the third film in the series, Bhardwaj was unsure.
"I was deliberating between King Lear and Hamlet," says the filmmaker. "But the more I 'got into' Hamlet, the more I realised that it was a better fit with Maqbool and Omkara – it has the same sort of gender conflict. Also, a lot of people [in Bollywood] wanted to make films about Hamlet, so I wanted to beat them to it."
Being Haider
In the title role is the 33-year-old Kapoor, the actor who previously worked with Bhardwaj in the 2009 smash hit Kaminey: The Scoundrels. Kapoor is also a producer on Haider, having given up his usual salary to ensure the project got the green light.
“The way we structured the film is that we are all partners, and we wanted to put the money in the film,” says Kapoor. “We didn’t want the pressure of putting his [Bhardwaj’s] salary and my salary in the film, because if we did do that, someone would come along and say: ‘Now shoot a musical number because the budget is big now.’ We didn’t want that kind of pressure.”
But Kapoor was under a different kind of pressure – to play Hamlet, a character famously essayed by the veteran actors Laurence Olivier (in 1948) and Kenneth Branagh (in 1996).
“You know what? It’s not an easy part to do, but I’m just glad I didn’t have to do the part on stage – I don’t know if I have the temperament or the acting style to suit the daily grind of theatre,” says Kapoor, adding that it would also lead to comparisons with his father, Pankaj Kapur, one of India’s great stage actors.
Kapoor says working on a cinema version was definitely easier.
"I don't think Hamlet has been interpreted very well on screen yet in Hindi cinema," he says. "There was this production of Hamlet in black and white, which is supposed to be really good, so I got that and saw half of it and got bored. It was from the 1960s; it was slower and had a different vibe."
It’s not about Kashmir
The decision to film in Kashmir was seen as controversial, but Bhardwaj and Kapoor don’t see what the big deal is.
"Originally, I envisaged Haider as an espionage thriller," says the director. "Then I read the book Curfewed Night [by Basharat Peer] about Kashmir and I thought Bollywood hasn't been very sensitive to Kashmir and that is a big tragedy. I was wondering, why do we never see it from the inside, the story from the perspective of the people themselves?"
And this was where Shakespeare came in handy.
"The great thing is that Shakespeare allowed me to have a great story – with the backdrop remaining firmly where it should be – in the background. If you say you are making a drama in Kashmir, then people are sceptical, but if you say you are making Hamlet in Kashmir, then it's not a problem."
Kapoor adds: “I think it’s amazing that Bhardwaj has pitched it as a family drama. Yes, Kashmir is where it is located, but ultimately this is a film about human relationships.”
The cast of Haider includes Shraddha Kapoor, Haider's love interest; the veteran actress Tabu, who plays his mother; and Irrfan Khan, as his father.
In the Bard’s words
The most difficult part of adapting Hamlet was making it work in a different language. But this was a challenge that Bhardwaj met head on.
“That was the excitement for me – to get to adapt the monologues and poetic phrases,” he says. “All the famous lines – he has a punchline every second page and they have been recited over centuries. There are a lot of things that I’ve added and deleted from the play. I kept taking liberties until the very end.”
This particular trilogy may be finally done, but Bhardwaj says it doesn’t mean there won’t be more Shakespeare adaptations. Next time, though, he says he’ll try his hand at one of the Bard’s comedies.
• Haider is out in cinemas on Thursday
artslife@thenational.ae
