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Haider. As we know is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

To be or not to be ….. that’s the question that haunts haider all the time, all the while….
The movie is based in Kashmir at the peak of militancy in the mid 90s. (What an apt setting, the conflicts within the characters in a conflict zone)

The movie starts with the disappearance of Haider’s (Shahid Kapoor) father, whom he loves so much, after being picked up by the army. He almost losses his sanity searching for his father from pillar to post and trying to dig out details of his whereabouts. Eventually he gets a message, from the militants, telling him that his father was a victim of conspiracy set up by his own family. And the family trying to convince him that the militants were instigating him against the family to take revenge and finish the mighty family.

Haider’s life is just veering on the edges of insanity to know who is lying and who is hiding the truth.
But importantly story is also about the relation between Haider and his mother Ghazala (Tabu), whom too he loves so dearly. And is pained even to think that his mother could be part of any conspiracy to kill his father . For Ghazala its the battle between remaining a half widow of a lost suspected militant or to move on with life and absorb the happiness around. About keeping her Haider, who is getting into unknown and darkness, who is misunderstanding her love. The movie could well have being named Ghazala. Its her character that we do not know till the end, which side it is. It’s a great portrayal by Tabu. One of her best performances.
The movie is almost a masterpiece…!!!

The locales of Kashmir and the photography is breath taking. Kashmir looks so beautiful and the fighting and militancy is in a stark contrast with the pulchritudinous. The movie handles the militancy issue very well.
The direction of the movie is very good. Some of the scenes are absolutely class. The tension that he builds is great. The cinematography is top class. Most of the movie is shot in the outdoor and on location and the camera captures the beauty so well.

The lyrics by Gulzar are awesome, as expected. The music is good and blends the folk of Kashmir very well with the contemporary… Special mention for the song “Jhelum” sung very well by Vishal Bharadwaj himself, the lyrics and the song picturisation is absolutely heart wrenching. The song ’bismil’ is a powerhouse performance.

On the down side the second half is a little slack and gets a wee bit distracting. Some editing in the second half would have helped.

Performances – Tabu- master class, Shahid Kapoor – excellent, KKM – Great, Shraddha Kapoor – good. But a very small and a high impact role belongs to Irrfan Khan – Rock Star.
One dialog remains with you on Gandhi Jayanti.–‘ Revenge begets revenge. Only when you free yourself from revenge, would any kind of freedom liberate you’