Haider

An insanely bold movie which would not have been made today in Modi’s India. In spite of the self-censor due to the Orwellian Indian Film Board, it still does an outstanding job. It must be a daunting task to adapt Shakespeare but this is the best adaptation of Hamlet Ive seen so far. It was an incredibly creative decision to set the story in occupied Kashmir. I love how the movie uses real footage of Kashmiri oppression as well as the native language spoken there. There is definitely some parallel with the Palestinian struggle. Also the cold landscape and the mountains of Kashmir were a perfect contrast to this tense story. The performance is insane , everyone including the minor characters just go all in. Of course Shahid gives a performance of a lifetime as Haider/Hamet and the evergreen Tabu shines so much in her role as Ghazala/Gertrude. She’s a much better written character than in the original play in my opinion. It saddens me so much that Bollywood used to produce such poetic and artistic stories and adaptions and has now been reduced to unfunny immature “comedy” movies, soapy romance stories or straight up nationalist propaganda masked as action movies. Capitalism and Nationalism has destroyed this industry which is now filled with nepotism , corruption, profit and which prevent actually creative young people to make a change .This should receive way more praise and attention than Dhurandhar. Absolute Cinema.