Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

xanadu-65205 Vishal Bhardhwaj's magnum opus. Like Omkara's dark horses,Saif Ali Khan & Deepak Dobriyal : Haider has its very own dark horse - Kay Kay Menon & his gripping rendition of Khurram Meer / King Claudius.Bhardwaj has interestingly adapted Hamlet to the rise of Pakistani-sponsored-terrorism in the formerly peaceful South-Western parts of Jammu & Kashmir in the '90's - the most interesting being , Irrfan Khan's cameo, Roohdar,as the Ghost of Hamlet's father.Roohdar carries the message of retribution to Haider against Khurram Meer & just like the Old King's ghost asked Hamlet to spare Queen Gertrude for heavenly justice, so does Dr.Hilal Meer request the same for Ghazala Meer.Bhardwaj hasn't shied away from Prince Hamlet's/ Haider's Oedipal complex & the undercurrent between him & Ghazala - a beguiling portrayal by Tabu with echoes of ambiguity like Desdemona/Dolly (that confused Othello/Omkara)Gazala is tantalizingly ambiguous,leaving Haider confused about her guilt till the very end - ambiguous about her adultery, her true intent in Hilal's arrest & her manipulation of Haider with threats of suicide.Arshi,like Ophelia is trapped in her loyalty to both Haider & her father Polonius / Pervez Lone.Arshi demonstrates a 'charming' example of asinine subcontinental racism in her opening scene,where a North Indian moronically,refers to a South Indian as 'Masala Dosa'.Bhardwaj has inserted a little red scarf into the film, that poetically traces its path from Arshi to Pervez to Haider & back to Pervez & finally to a grieving Arshi - the scarf being unravelled by the same hands that knitted them. Haider burns in the same confusion as Hamlet did. While Hamlet doubted his father's ghost as a deceptive demon: Haider fears choosing between Roohdar's & Khurram's contradictory versions of Hilal's death.Haider's dilemma is resolved when he finally overhears Khurram's confession while at prayer,displaying the remarkable self-awareness that Claudius possessed while he prayed, "O, my offence is rank,it smells to heaven" Kapoor trembling with a gun,behind an oblivious Kay Kay Menon is one of the several electrifying scenes in the film.Other adaptations from Hamlet are Liyaqat being used by Khurram to kill Haider as Laertes was by Claudius , Haider holding Arshi in her grave as Hamlet did with Ophelia , Haider's wedding dance like Hamlet's play to test Claudius' guilt.In contrast to Hilal's request for revenge,Haider's paternal grandfather's ( Kulbhushan Kharbanda ) voice resonates till the end when Gazala reinforces his wisdom,that revenge starts a vicious cycle & no true freedom is to be attained through it,when he pointed out the ridiculousness of people demanding for freedom when they were already free.After collapse of the USSR in '91, the militants who warred against the Soviets for a decade were unemployed - this dangerous, unsavoury population was put to work by the likes of Zia-ul- Haq ( after humiliating defeats in 3 wars with India-'48,'65,'72 ) who transferred this blood-thirsty crowd from the Western Af-Pak borders to the Eastern Indian borders & started infiltration,brainwashing & bloodshed in the peaceful state in the '90s.Haider is a victim of this brainwashing & shows delinquent tendencies as a schoolboy when he's caught carrying a gun in his schoolbag & defies both parents when they try to send him to Aligarh to save his future from ruin.Later Haider shows no qualms in murdering a guard,bludgeoning two acquaintances ( the Salmans- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern ) to death & killing Arshi's father.Ghazala risks her life to save schoolboy Haider's future & education,while Haider suspects her tactics as manipulation. She obligingly puts an end to her ambiguity when she ultimately sacrifices her life for Haider ( like Gertrude drinks the poison, Claudius arranged for Hamlet )In the blood-curdling finale, Khurram demonstrates that ,though guilty of fratricide - his love for Ghazala was true. While everyone fled from Ghazala, Khurram shockingly & bravely runs towards her .Finally when Haider could've had his revenge & has conflicting voices of his father in his mind clashing with his grand-father's & mother's, he walks away. His grand father & Gazala's voice prevailed.

mohantypranit The movie Haider is one of the best movie of Bollywood film industry.This movie contains some great acting performance from Sahid Kapoor,KK Menon,Tabu and a great cameo by Irfan Khan.The story is really nice, though it is based on Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet but what good way to adapt this Shakespearean tragedy in setting of 1995 Kashmir conflict.Music is also great.Not telling you much about the story I recommend you to watch this movie and get the story by yourself. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In short, MUST WATCH if you are movie lover

dirac-spinor2015 As a subtle philosophical tinge that cinema is a powerful tool for political mobilization and mass persuasion, Slavoj Zizek notes beautifully that, "It doesn't give you what you desire, it tells you how to desire." Haider is the adaptation of Shakespeare's famous Tragedy Hamlet; and the latest Bollywood movie about Kashmir. Question is whose tragedy is Haider? Why many people waited for Haider to release, and see the latest take of Bollywood on Kashmir? There are two reasons why Haider had generated some curiosity among Kashmiri movie lovers: One, it was the adaptation of a play, the story and plot of which was already known to many literature lovers and Shakespeare fanes. Two, its script was co-written by Basharat Peer and directed by Vishal Bhardawaj; Peer known as pioneering English fiction writer amongst Muslims of J&K, and Vishal a successful director for adapting Othello and Macbeth as Omkara and Maqbool respectively. Basharat Peer––whose memoir Novel Curfewed Night gave him unprecedented popularity as a writer of the 'ordeal' of Kashmir Conflict. More than Bhardwaj's credentials it was Basharat's involvement in the script writing that many envisaged a change in the routine Bollywood rhetoric. Haider is a typical Bollywood feature film, no different from: Gangster, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns or Gangs of Wasseypur. It doesn't offer anything on the reality of 'what' is happening inside (or with) Kashmir. Rather, it makes a serious attempt to showcase how a real struggle can be reduced to a family feud under the garb of (mis-informed) adaptation of a Shakespearean classic. In the midst of its mis-informed adaptation it lets the Zizekian tinge (of how to desire) creep in. Film adaption as a derivative work needs to be creative so that the "thin red lines" between the original and its adaptation are respected. An adaptation needs to take care of the background, which forms its foundation–––more so when the background is highly political and sensitive setting like Kashmir. In a new backdrop and setting it needs to take note of minute details such as culture, historicity, contemporariness, traditions, dialect and so on. The question is how far has Haider been successful in adaptation of Hamlet in a highly political backdrop of Kashmir? Is the attempt artistic or political? If it is political, whose politics does its serve? And why do we need to ask these questions at all? Some Kashmiri friends feel highly obliged that Haider has depicted some fractions of conflict. In a Kafila blog, Suhas Munshi writes that "for faithfully adapting the violence done to Kashmiris," Basharat would have to "script a pornographic narrative for screen." The point is not whether Haider succeeds or fails in faithfully portraying the victimhood of Kashmiris from all angles of conflict (structural, political, torture-al etc). This can be a one vantage point to see how far Haider has successfully been able to portray the ordeal of Kashmir that falls within the limits of its frame. And how Basharat ventured to associate the limited frame that forms Haider with its outside–––the power relation(s) that are so central to the familial relations of Haider's characters and yet so distant (and mysteriously absent) from its frame. For the relations between Haider (Shahid) and his uncle Khurram (K. K. Menon), Arshia (Sharddaa Kapoor) and her father Pervez lone (Lalit Parimoo) are not mere personal relations. They have a deep political nature, which Haider has not endeavored to look into. The invisible hand of sovereign amidst these relations is absent in the frames of Haider. Instead the film attempts to cut a slice from these deeply political relations and present it to the audience in an altogether different avatar–––an avatar which reduces a struggle for aspirations and a fundamental right (Right to Self-determination) to a revenge saga. See the full review at http://sanhati.com/articles/12422/

swatiechawla There is something daringly exceptional and unfathomably unsettling about the film Haider. Vishal Bhardwaj sure understands his Shakespeare; I must give him that. So much so as to anoint an underrated actor to play one of the most daring and complex roles in both written, as well as film literature. What Bhardwaj never seems to miss, for me, is context. His context is weaved in a thorough understanding of the time and place of a situation. Except, for the inconsistency of the use of Kashmiri accent in this film. And of course, the Salman Khan anachronisms. Salman had not found his machismo up until the mid 2000s. His Dabangg type depiction was out of order. To point that is to niggle! But, of course.But Haider's craft is in its cinematography. We are not in for the plush Kashmir. We are in to see the boils on the snow, encrusted by bombs; the color code of white and black alongside the gushing shades of red. You can almost feel the gush of blood and gore towards the climax. Contrarily, there is this scene in the garden, where Shahid takes a walk with Tabu, which I feel is a cinematic masterpiece. Think of a selfie in that frame and you are sure to get a dazzling shot; except that Haider reminisces the grim too. The beauty alongside the grim! It is also not all gory. If you have an eye, you can see Kashmir in Shraddha's eyes, Tabu's fingerwaves, pots of kehwa put out on snow, the redness of the scarf woven by Shraddha.I was almost aware of the storyline before I hit the theatre. I was constantly looking for tones of Oedipus, as apprised by the critics. There were undertones. But I don't understand why I felt the obverse! A few scenes percolate down your psyche. But one musn't forget that this is just one side of the story. With that in mind, the scenes- where Peer (also the co-writer) peers through his house gate (read 'comes from a short-story by Kashmiri writer Akhtar Mohiuddin'), Shahid's reference to Anantag as Islamabad, the intermittent, yet consistent use of the word 'curfew'… (I wish I had my notepad handy).But my favorite is the scene at Laal chowk. Right after the point when Shahid finds out the truth about his father. Shahid does manage to pull off a great deal of his thespian skills. But he remains an actor, not a character. What haunts disturbingly in the scene is fragments of truth in Shahid's words- the unfailing want of Kashmiris for azadi- from Hindustan, from Pakistan. I must mention here that Vishal Bhardwaj never ceases his connect with History. It kept resonating in 7 Khoon Maaf in the background through the narrative on All India Radio; in bits and pieces here by talking about AFSPA, the 1989 incident, Nehru's promise of a Plebiscite, the exodus of Kashmiri pundits, etc. But this is a movie. A bollywood movie. It never disappoints with aphorisms in war type/depiction of violence. It ends with an adage by mother to her son – that peace begets peace, rage must be quelled to give way to inner peace. Not entirely incorrect though!Shahid tries his best. What possibly works is his below average performances in the past. With little expectations, he shines! But he is always an actor. Does not get into the grain of the character. That is that. He is watchable. Shradha can be given amiss. Tabu is seasoned. Irfan, Kay Kay Menon are veterans. Actors extraordinaire.Haider is not for the lighthearted, impatient caucus. It requires an understanding of Vishal's cinema. It is a journey, sometimes arduous. One must travel through Shahid's melancholia, up hill and down dale of a story- each frame is important, each frame forming the story. It's a sure watch from me, call it my personal Vishal Bias- I try not to miss any of his movies. I saw Matroo with the same zeal as Haider! Please do not download. It requires a cinematic, theatric experience!