HAIDER- Movie Review

Every once in a while, comes a movie, which is either an adaptation of an infamous work of a literary laureate, or a biopic, which is based on someone’s life!

Both these movies are Hell Difficult to craft, considering the fact that there would be a milestone already set for the movie and the expectations would be a tad too high, because we already know what’s in it for us, as an Audience!

And then come, movies like Haider, which, according to me, truly justify their worth of being in a niche, which is a bit far-fetched in contemporary cinema (being well versed with the fact that a Movie’s a hit, if it has the “Entertainment Quotient”, Humongous Budgets & Ever-So-Charming Sets these days) and a niche which doesn’t cater to the entire set of Audience.

Haider is a movie, which would be Loved by someone who has an Emotional Bend of Mind! That can be the Bottom Line of the Entire Review, if we want to sum it up in a jiffy! But, I would go a bit deeper here! 

So, the movie is an Adaptation of Shakespeare’s renowned play- Hamlet! But, the story has been bent a bit and has been appended with Kashmir’s plight & its plea for freedom during the post-independence Era of India!

Haider, a young boy, pursuing his Masters in Poetry, has been played by Shahid Kapoor; And Boy, has he played it well! His Acting, according to me, was by far one of the Best performances this year and there is no Doubt about that.

I wouldn’t go too deep in the story, or else, it would ruin the whole idea of thrill and anxiety that revolves around the Screenplay through the 2 Hours & 40 Minutes. But, a little bit of the story won’t cause any harm to the entire plot, trust me! This would give you an idea whether this one’s for you, or Not!

So, Haider’s (Shahid) father is a doctor, who is the quintessence of Humanity and takes the risk of operating and helping a militant in his own House, even though he knows that the repercussions may be too severe.

This secret doesn’t remain a secret after all, and the army officials soon find it out; take him with them to one of their camps & completely devastate their house, leaving only her mother’s tears and some scrapes of their home behind! Well, the Mother here is played by Tabu- A very nice comeback, I must say!

When Haider returns from his studies in Aligarh, he starts on a mission to find his Father back! Being all Gloomy and dreary, the only breath of fresh air for him is Arsha (Shraddha Kapoor), a reporter and the Love of Haider!

The story takes endless, almost Frantic turns, which are the Major basis of the movie and the most important of them all is: When Haider finds out that his long lost father is no more! An even bigger turn is when he finds out about the murderers!

From here on, the story changes to Vengeance! Haider sets himself on a track to avenge his Father and kill his murderers! He loses quite a lot of possessions while on his path, but finally, in the climax, it quite seems that he achieves what he was really looking for! I really adored the picturesque & scenic locations, set amidst the valleys of “The Heaven On Earth i.e. Kashmir”!

Another thing that I liked about the movie was the only palpable song, which almost depicted the entire life events of Haider’s Family and his Barbarous Uncle (Kay Kay)- the Bismil song.

This song Literally gave me Goosebumps! Shahid’s phenomenal dance moves, the music, the Sets and everything completely fit to the mood and was also quite necessary to bring the movie out from the dreary ambience.

The actors and the Director, Vishal Bhardawaj, really need to be Applauded for their Phenomenal Performances, especially Shahid!

He has worked brilliantly for the role, and I could really see and, moreover, feel the anger and the fire of vengeance in his eye and his moves! Hats Off, Shahid!

Now, let me come to a few things which I didn’t like about this movie!

The first was that it is a Really Slow Movie! I cannot emphasise more on the word “really”!

And the really Edging part of the movie, which makes you sit on the edge of your seats, comes up only in the last part of the story!

The intermission comes up really soon though and you look at your watch and say, “Hey, there still is a long way to go”, because, the story hasn’t gotten hold of any strong matter till at least half an hour AFTER the interval and that is a big thing to say!

But, to justify this on the Director’s part, I would also say that the story had to be slow, to make it tangible for the Audience!

That being said, I really liked the movie and would say this strongly enough, that Yes, this was a Good Change from the same old Love Stories that we find in Contemporary Bollywood and that, You should really go for it! Don’t miss it and see it even if you just want to see some phenomenal performances by the actors!

P.S.: Irffan Khan has a special appearance in the movie. Another Reason to watch Haider, you see!