Haider

Storyline

Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and co-written with Kashmiri journalist Basharat Peer, Haider completed Bhardwaj's monumental Shakespearean tragedy trilogy (following Maqbool and Omkara), winning five National Film Awards and the People's Choice Award at the Rome Film Festival. Transposing Shakespeare's Hamlet to the snow-covered, conflict-torn Kashmir Valley in 1995, Shahid Kapoor delivers a career-defining, volcanic performance as Haider Meer, a student of poetry who returns to Srinagar to discover his doctor father has disappeared following an army raid, his ancestral home burned down, and his mother Ghazala (Tabu in an astonishing, incestuously charged performance of Queen Gertrude) living cheerfully with his devious politician uncle Khurram (Kay Kay Menon as Claudius). Driven to the brink of madness, Haider is approached by the enigmatic Roohdar (Irrfan Khan in an immortal cameo), who reveals that Khurram betrayed Haider's father to his death in an army interrogation camp. Featuring Shahid Kapoor's unhinged 'Chutzpah' town square monologue, Pankaj Kumar's pristine snow cinematography, and Vishal Bhardwaj's haunting Kashmiri folk compositions, Haider is a cinematic milestone. Vishal Bhardwaj's evocative musical compositions, Gulzar's poetic lyrics, and Pankaj Kumar's snowbound cinematography in Kashmir establish Haider as one of the most intellectually rigorous and emotionally devastating literary adaptations in world cinema.