Haider (2014)

Original title

हैदर

Directed by

Vishal Bhardwaj

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

India

Runtime

2h 40m

Rated

18

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 254 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young poet returns to his hometown in Kashmir during a time of political conflict to find out what happened to his missing father. He gets drawn into the violence and secrets of the region.

tensemelancholicpolitically chargedtragicemotionalbroodingvisually lushslow-burn

What happens

Haider is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language political action thriller film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, who co-produced it with Siddharth Roy Kapur, and written by Bhardwaj and Basharat Peer. It stars Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shraddha Kapoor and Irrfan Khan. Set amidst the insurgency-hit Kashmir conflicts of 1995, Haider is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. It is also based on Basharat Peer's memoir Curfewed Night. Haider, a young student and a poet, returns to Kashmir at the peak of the conflict to seek answers about his father's disappearance and ends up being tugged into the politics of the state. Haider is the third installment of Bhardwaj's Shakespearean trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006). The film was screened at the 19th Busan International Film Festival, and released worldwide on 2 October 2014 to widespread critical acclaim; it was a major commercial success, earning ₹85 crore worldwide and garnering attention from the media due to its controversial subject matter. The subject matter, direction, story, screenplay, film score, cinematography, editing, and performances of the ensemble cast received high critical praise and garnered several accolades. However, the film faced backlash for its graphic depiction of alleged human rights abuses and torture by Indian security forces in Kashmir, which many described as an "unfair" portrayal of the armed forces. Hindu nationalist groups accused it of sympathizing with separatists and launched a boycott campaign, while some audiences and commentators labelled it provocation or propaganda. The film was banned in Pakistan. Haider was the first Indian film to win the People's Choice Award at the Rome Film Festival. At the 62nd National Film Awards, Haider won a leading 5 awards: Best Music Direction (Bhardwaj), Best Male Playback Singer (Sukhwinder Singh for "Bismil"), Best Dialogue (Bhardwaj), Best Choreography (Sudesh Adhana for "Bismil") and Best Costume Design (Dolly Ahluwalia). At the 60th Filmfare Awards, Haider received 9 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director (Bhardwaj), and won 5 awards including Best Actor (Shahid Kapoor), Best Supporting Actor (Menon) and Best Supporting Actress (Tabu). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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