{"id":4608,"date":"2014-10-14T16:18:28","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T16:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indialegalonline.com\/?p=4608"},"modified":"2017-10-16T12:20:20","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T06:50:20","slug":"kashmirs-hamlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indialegallive.com\/film-review-articles\/kashmirs-hamlet\/","title":{"rendered":"Kashmir\u2019s Hamlet"},"content":{"rendered":"
Vishal Bhardwaj rarely disappoints. Look at how he dealt with complex Shakespearean plots in Maqbool and Omkara. With Haider, he shows what a celluloid craftsman can do within the confines and limitations of Bollywood. When you hear ranting, fanatic voices from the growing Hindutva brigade demanding that the screening of Haider, an adaption of Hamlet, be stopped, you see what I mean. They do not understand fiction or poetry for that matter, and so, they can be forgiven.<\/span><\/p>\n Along with celebrated writer Basharat Peer whose first novel, Curfewed Nights, which dealt with Kashmir, became a bestseller, Bhardwaj transforms scriptwriting to a different level. The dialogues are loaded. That Basharat is from Kashmir helped bring reality to the gruesome violence, midnight raids, simmering anger and guerilla justice in the story. The film does not let you relax even after it is over. The helplessness of the characters hau-nts you. The truth is not easy to fathom; there are many shades of black, grey and white. The characters struggle in a timeless tragedy that seems to have no end.<\/span><\/p>\n Set in the Kashmir of 1995 when mili-tancy and terror ravaged the countryside, the film forces you to think of the continuing tragedy of broken lives and dreams of what was once Paradise. Haider (Shahid Kapoor) returns home to discover that his father was spirited away by the army for treating injured militants as he felt that saving lives was his job as a doctor. He later learns how he was tortured and killed. <\/span><\/p>\n